The Dirt: We Answer Questions About Living Off Grid With Solar

[@Guildbrookfarm]

This wraps up another Dirt! If you are interested in watching any of the videos we referenced or checking out Life Goes North, see our description for links. More in our playlists. Thanks for watching!

[@jkhenderson1]

Another great Dirt topic! Thanks for the information.

[@eddiewatson3759]

How much did solar cost for everything

[@StillSwirling]

I'm so sorry to hear about your friends in Alaska! I've heard about the earthquake and my thoughts and prayers are with them and everyone affected.

[@LifeGoesNorth]

Guildbrook Farm - Off Grid Living thanks so much you guys. The support means a lot. ❤️

[@naturaljuicers3676]

DIY Solar Panel Mounts for 100 Watt Solar Panels- $25 per mount this may be helpfull for you

[@notsheeple2019]

Cloud edge effect is why the cloudy days do better than you would think.

[@CityPrepping]

Always enjoy these videos. Makes me want to sell my home and go off-grid. One day...

[@ericgarcia5108]

Hi City prepping, I was really starting to miss your videos. But glad you're getting back into it!

[@AnAlaskaHomestead]

Wasilla and the Anchorage area got hit pretty hard. Another great video.

[@brandytrevino]

I grab my tea...put ya on in the living room...and just rock in my recliner cuz it's like I'm hanging out with my friends! Y'all are awesome. The vids are always informative and its calming to just sit and shut the rest of the world off while I watch. Hubs and kids know not to eff with me when I'm watching y'all lol🤣🤣🤣

[@Guildbrookfarm]

❤️❤️❤️

[@mexiko41]

Both of you being on the same page and moving in the same direction! Love it. This is THE most truthful site regarding off grid living, and life in general Thank you so much.

[@jesperdahl1486]

If you shove the Sundanzer freezer in the the food storage shed, it would not get to cold to work, and the heat it emits would help keep the shed frost free (if you can fit it in there)

[@caroldorsett8170]

I have followed Life Goes North for quite awhile. They are still posting and seem to be doing ok all but scared with only minor damage to property. The gas is shut off, but they have a wood stove. Fuel for the vehicles may become difficult. So glad the are ok. Keeping them in our thoughts. Thanks for the informative post.

[@50shadesofgreen]

good day to you Jeremy, Jaime, Marina, and Ilaria !! thanks for sharing another awesome update and adventures on & off the homestead 👨‍🌾🎥👍✝ 💕🙏 prayers and blessings 🙏💕 goes out to all affected !! great Q&A video today guys

[@jahzen67]

Trial and error "confessions". Thanks for your conscious willingness to be open/vulnerable.

[@jamescochrane8789]

So nice to get info that has been so well thought out !

[@kan-zee]

*Q&A Time Stamp* 0:31 *Call out to Alaskan Friends* 1:40 *What do you Do about GARBAGE?* 3:10 *Do you have a 5.2KW array......* 4:44 *What about selling it back to the Electric company / or making Money off it* 5:42 *Are your Panels, Mono or Poly?* 8:23 *How often do you gotta run the Generator?* 11:21 *How much fuel (diesel/propane) are you using in the Generator for the winter months?* 13:12 *How much you spending on Propane ?* 13:58 *Are you Satisfied with the Batteries & how do they perform in the cold?* 15:59 *What are you doing about climate control in the new house?* 17:32 *Do you have a hill above the hill site, to gravity feed water?* 18:47 *What about adding WIND and HYDRO?* 21:16 *What about the Wood Stove?* 21:52 *Are you gonna add a Solar Tracker?* 22:54 *What did you do with your old system..old batteries/panels?* 25:00 *The DC Freezer...how does it operate in the Winter?* 26:33 *Do you wish you would of done , anything different..with your Solar?* Very Good Q&A Session...Cheers 💖😍 👍

[@cherilcooper289]

Y'all have a beautiful place..

[@craigjohnson5814]

yes. My wife and I sit here every day after work and watch them. I'm a K9 Officer, and after work I like watching great vids from good people like you.

[@delphakrabbe9499]

You mentioned having less content during the winter weather months, have you considered bringing back or adding more “farm moments”? Silly chicken moments, what’s for dinner, a montage of Ilaria being scared by bugs, time-lapse of the sun passing over the solar panels. Doesn’t need to be a full content video. Just a glimpse of what’s going on. (my favorites were the Ed moments)

[@flyingjeff1984]

Our 10.92 kW (grid tied) would break even or a little better over the course of a year.......except for the $36 monthly fee. If I could afford the battery storage, I would tell the public utility to pound sand. J&J, keep doing what you're doing.

[@carapolley9354]

Happy Sunday be blessed. Great Dirt video

[@sandyoklahomatransient8557]

It's a learning process when it comes to weather and pipes when residing in a movile home.

[@craigjohnson5814]

i Just watched all your vids, and love your channel and family . Please don't change a thing we need more family's like you guys in this world. Thank you for your time.

[@Guildbrookfarm]

Holy Cow! ALL of them? 😳

[@Beecozz7]

Jeremy, for someone who was reluctant to join the homestead/back to the land movement, you've become very good at problem-solving and sticking with it!!! Well done!!! ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE A BASEMENT IN THE NEW HOME? BTW I live in Oregon, we haven't had a freeze yet! Not where I live anyway. My nasturtiums are still growing! Just saying! LOL

[@Guildbrookfarm]

Yes the plan is for a full basement. I don’t really ever want to have a house without a basement again.

[@mysticalwindows]

We are in a similar situation. We sold the house in town and got 73 acres to build a cabin. We purchased a mobile home as a temp house while we clear land. Omg that is hard work. We are on the grid for now but plan on some kind of alt power. I might have questions along the way. Thanks for the videos.

[@Guildbrookfarm]

It’s definitely hard work and takes a long time.

[@ChrisDIYerOklahoma]

Awesome...nice talk. Electrical conservation while off-grid is paramount...much easier to conserve vs produce/store electricity. Good luck with everything...really dig what you're doing!

[@FirstSuiGeneris]

*_Question could it be that you're getting more power from the panels, because of being cooler? I believe panels run better and more proficient while it cooler than hot._*

[@1950boots]

Glad Mindy, Charles & the kids are OK! Saw Mindy's video!!

[@hairtodaydave45]

When designing the house for a wood stove adding a duct system to distribute heat is easy. I had to do it on an existing house and just hung it from ceiling with in take next to stove and a small duct fan inside it. Doing it from design would give you more options.

[@larryceaser1706]

Love THE DIRT videos Keep them coming On a seperate matter Do you folks have access to a home Bio-Digester we purchased one five years ago You can put almost anything in it and forget them we put one garbage bag a month out mostly plastic waste have a compost pile for vegetable grass etc all the rest is either burnt or goes into the bio-digester Just an idea for you to look into returns everything back to nature and feeds the flower gardens directly Have a great week

[@karlar8648]

Prayers to your friends and everyone in Alaska. And as always. great info.

[@Akforgetmenot]

I really enjoy the "Dirt" series you are doing. You always have lots of info and how it's working in your area. We are building a remote cabin off-grid home here in Alaska. Hopefully, it's still standing. We are hoping to be able to have info this coming week when weather is flyable for small aircraft. We are hanging in there here in Anchorage. Thanks again for your great content.

[@annamixner3168]

Thanks for having coffee with me! I always enjoy your videos and walk away with a little more knowledge. Thank you for sharing. :-)

[@MsLippy]

Been a while, and really enjoyed your talk, look forward to many more.

[@Silvermoonhomestead]

I wonder if on the sunny days, the panels get a little warm and that might cause some power to be lost through heat. I'm just spit balling here and may be completely wrong. But I know that energy in general can be lost through heat. Not sure if that would affect the solar panels like that also.

[@robertjackson9601]

Silvermoon Homestead i believe you are correct. I thought the same when I heard what was occuring. You beat me to it. :-)

[@suzie2080]

It's good when life slows down, at least for a little bit. I do find that after Christmas is over that I'd like to go right into Spring but living in Iowa that's not going to be the case. That's the time to get out the catalog and paper to to plan the garden for the next season.

[@home-cookedandhomemade6295]

thank you for doing this video. you do a fantastic job answering the questions.

[@easymac79]

1:20 Thoughts and prayers with those in Anchorage. 16:50 The idea of cooling your home with the same thing that is making it hot. I love the idea of direct solar powered heat pumps! 19:54 Solar has truly become the perfect solution to green energy. There were some major bugs at first, and cost was high. I find it truly awe inspiring, how far we have come with modern solar technology. 26:55 I used a website, suncalc, to plan/troubleshoot my garden last year. Sounds like you have most of the data you need, but if you ever wanted a graphical representation, It's pretty handy. You can select the date, then adjust a slider for the time. The display will show sun -rise, -set, angles; it's pretty cool. There is a bug with Google Maps right now, so it displays an error, but it still works. 33:30 Cheers guys, looking forward to the home build and other future videos!

[@andyguy0610]

HI Both, great video. A question for you, when you have the new house built and you are settled what plans do you have for the trailer? BTW Jamie, your hair looks much nicer that colour than when it was purple :-)

[@kane100574]

Thank you for sharing so much of your experience and life, guys!

[@JohnDoe-vq8bg]

Love and hug each other a lot. I've already had -11 F. Record here is -70 F. I love my winters. Best regards.

[@sailme2day]

Way cool update , Jeremy and Jamie you folks rock. Wonderful balanced explanation of energy , power use , practicality and usability. Common sense and character, what a welcome relief from charter box norm ( as always ) ;) Homesteading is like living on a sail boat . Good planing and constant adjustments according to present conditions :) With the freedom to direct your own family future , your way ! NICE ! With concerns for internal propane use. Each gallon of burned propane fuel dumps about 7 plus lbs of water into the home. h20 that needs managed. Consider an hvac air to air heat exchange system to filter and dehumidify the whole house . So you can manage with a fan system instead of a whole building heat pump system . Building design is a science . I know you 2 are about simplicity and efficiency . Strongly consider the wood stove in the basement . Ease of wood supply loading , etc. You will be storing btus in the basement slab and walls.Radiation can occur naturally . Not an option with wood stove up stairs. 2*6 walls min up stairs ( yep I heard you say sip panels in other videos ) . It is hard to ... for a non builder to wrap their head around comfort . Insulation and air tight construction pays better than a stock portfolio . Pay once and reap rewords for life :) Thermal mass is the comfort btu bank 99% of builders and home designers miss !!!!!!! Just my old super insulation builder thoughts. Your updates are a joy to watch and learn from !!!! I enjoy all you folks make, take time to share during your journey . About time for a video on home made ice cream , he he . Thanks in advance . Bsavage

[@mindyvaughn8217]

I watch “Life goes North”, and really feel so bad for them. They are such sweet people. They seem to be handling the situation as well as can be expected. I have those chairs and just love them. There’s nothing like zero gravity. Thanks for sharing with us. I think you have made such great decisions and are really living in the present while planning for the future and I think that is so important for people to see and understand.💖

[@scottengland6893]

I don't get a chance to comment very often, but I watch a lot. I truly appreciate your videos and the sharing. I look forward to see how the spring treats you since it seems mother nature has been giving you a handful this winter. Much respect, thanks

[@sardar5150]

Thank you for your video. You are the only channel I watch nowadays.

[@punkyroo]

As always, thank you for sharing!

[@howardcase4420]

Love the dirt! Really informative guys!!! Thanks for sharing a cup of coffee and we will catch you later!!!

[@MrsMags]

I was wondering about your food storage, how it worked out for you and what you learned from living off of it. Did you have enough inventory for this past year? Did you find that you were short on certain items or had too many of another? Will you have to start canning (more) again this next year? If you will not be canning much because of time constraints, what other food storage options are you exploring (ex: regular grocery shopping)? If you will be canning more, does that mean that you will plant a garden or will you crop share again? Is the new freezer enough space or will you plan for more freezer space in the new house?

[@dacsoto25]

You guys do a great job explaining everything. You guys are more prepared then 90 percent of people today.

[@studioelon]

I was wondering if in the future you would be willing to put together a manual on solar, which would include supplies needed, links for products and step by step instructions? Just think...extra money

[@evelynatcraneshearth]

Wintertime is when you get to practice hobbies, make outlines for next outdoor season's work projects, etc.... if you're not in the SouthWest below 3k feet. Right now winter means I get to be outside and doing things instead of the other way around. LOL Honestly it's my favorite time of the year. It's also getting into our growing season for those of us in the central and southern parts of AZ. I'm trying my hand at broccoli this year on top of our normal peppers and rosemary. Looking forward to the next Dirt.

[@jameswitte5167]

Every think of a sunken green house ??? Warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer ...

[@evelynatcraneshearth]

Not possible for us at the current time, but it is on our radar.

[@timothyandersen4331]

I am grid tied and I fully agree and respect your decision to not grid tie your system. Keep it up guys! It’s been a little bit since I have checked up and I am very impressed with your progress.

[@LadyMarch]

Sounds like you guys are learning a lot. Wondering if you guys have thought about a 'Solar Math' video, done along the lines of the Chicken Math video? After watching all your chicken videos, Chicken Math really brought all your points from the other videos together in a very comprehensive summary. Thank you for sharing!

[@AutoCrete]

Gotta love the dirt and the fact that you don't make videos just for the sake of making videos.

[@MartinPHellwig]

Just a thought, if the panels appear to perform better in diffused light, there may be a temperature dependency, as in if the panels get hot due to direct sunlight their efficiency goes down. It is a long shot but easily to diagnose to exclude.

[@leslieross7555]

I've really come to depend on your sharing your experiences and learned knowledge. Thank you and with love,

[@SherryEllesson]

Guys, I'm glad you addressed the idea of setting the azimuth of the panels at a mid-point between summer & winter angles. I've been planning what I hope will be a "carport" roof made entirely of panels at a bit closer to the angle where I'd be drawing the most power (in my case, cooling during the summer). Great video! FWIW, I owned my land for 2 yrs before building and learned many of the same lessons you guys are learning. You can't really know a piece of land until you spend time with it before putting in the footings for your house. Good luck & keep up the great work!!

[@wildflower746]

Lots of important information. Thank you! I am taking notes.

[@bushpushersdaughter]

I think the fact your panels do better on the cloudy days is extremely interesting and wish I knew how to start the research to figure that one out. I predict the wind will only increase...from one old woman. Glad to hear from you and you're both looking so well! Thank you for your video

[@JerryLisaYoutube2012]

This is off the subject a bit but have you all thought about an ICF Berm home,very energy efficient. It would be perfect on top of the hill/mountain.

[@Marli2023]

Good information. You answered some of my concerns about my future plans. Thank You

[@kimberlyreeseshipe7384]

I love life goes north!

[@kendenzer9263]

Thanks for the update. I really like "The Dirt"

[@offgridmangogrower]

You brought up an interesting point about difuse or scattered light making more power. In our case our mono's on a tracker can gather enough light after it has completely paseed over the horizon and still pump from our solar well. Pretty amazing.

[@davidrutledge3240]

That's often caused by the pv panels being too hot in direct sun which causes their efficiency to drop.

[@LittleKi1]

I'm here to say that running a mini-split off of solar in the summer is, in fact, "sweet". I have AC from June-September with no power bill. It's incredible. I am currently remodeling and taking out the crappy propane insert that the house came with and putting in a zero-clearance wood stove. That way I have a both a stronger source of heat when it is truly cold in the winter as well as some redundancy. Right now, if the power goes out, I'm grid-tied without a battery back-up and I really want a heat source for the years we can lose power for a week at a time.

[@mindyvaughn8217]

Jaime could you maybe do some cooking videos while things are slower for outside activities? I made your Grandmothers cabbage and dumpling recipe and I am just in love with it. I used a mixture of whole wheat and flax flour for the dumplings. I am gluten free and very little dairy. I really love watching you cook.

[@dianedeck3128]

Hey Jaime love your videos love the dirt videos, and since you said you may be slow with them in the near future, I have a suggestion. You are kinda tiny house living , so I thought it would be nice to see what you are doing to maximize space, or do you have creative solutions for storage , or just space in general.

[@renajones4617]

Thanks for the wealth of info. Stay warm you guys!

[@maggieharrison6656]

How much did your total solar system cost you, once it was all said and done? Also what sources did you use to learn about building your solar system and all the mechanics if it?

[@robertmalis4493]

Well that was a fast response thank you

[@joebarker4211]

We live in Montana and our home is 2400SF. We have two 18000 BTU mini splits which perform heating and cooling. They are very effective down to about 25 degrees, when it drops below that, we fire up our wood burner. The mini splits are wonderful.

[@loganv0410]

Outstanding vid For siting panels consider an app like Sun Seeker which uses your phone's camera For water: consider a standard pressure tank but pressurized from a small pump pulling from your cistern. Then the cistern can be filled from the well when you have excess power available.

[@chiccabay]

I am interested to know what sort of wildlife you have in and around your property and whether you see it very often...for whenever you do another questions and answers video. Take care.

[@jakes.1199]

off the top of your head, and i know you probably cover it in the series........ How much was the panels + contollers + inverters + batteries ? for the new system, Thanks, doesnt have to be exact, just generally what did it cost?

[@iwona4685]

Your mention of the crock pot and energy efficiency made me remember something... don't laugh but maybe you can take advantage of this idea sometime. When I used to live in a dorm I would use this method to cook rice: I would bring a pot with rice and intended amount of water and salt to a boil. Then I would take it off the burner, wrap it tightly in several layers of newspaper, tie it with a string and then I would wrap it in my goose down comforter and put the whole package back in my couch storage compartment. Several hours later when I was back from school I had perfectly cooked, hot rice to have with my dinner. You have to work quickly wrapping the layers not to let it cool too much and probably you don't need a couch for this method of cooking but it does work and saves energy.

[@iwona4685]

UPDATE: I found something online that works in the same manner. There is something called Wonderbag, available in two sizes, for $40 an $50, made in South Africa.

[@davidhicks937]

Have you ever considered a would furnace for your heat? If you do not know about them you should check into one. They work by heating water which can be used for A hot water heater and heating the house all-in-one unit. It is a superior back up System it requires very little electrical power in fact I have seen most people use it as a primary system and it does not use a lot of wood.

[@Christodophilus]

It has to do with the ambient temperature around the panels. The hotter the panels, the less efficient they are at converting to amps. So in Spring and Autumn, you'll get better amps, than in Summer and Winter. I thought it was all about the "daylight" or sun exposure too. But it's controlled by the ambient temperature around the panels. The hotter it is, the less efficient the panels are at converting to amps.

[@southernohiosolarhomestead8477]

I live on a hill but like you so many pines I only get at most 2 hrs of decent sun , gotta love that solar for sure , I can’t wait to get away from aep for good . Great video mam and sir

[@ericday2072]

Earthquakes are scary. I was once on a paved street and saw the pavement move like a ripple moving across the surface of water. Very stressful experience to go through. I hope LifeGoesNorth is ok. It was good to see the Northridge 2000 valve they have that shut off the gas when the 7.0 earthquake hit.

[@marilyn4888]

Seems like you’ve become an off grid solar expert of sorts. Have you considered doing or consultation of systems for other off grid folks

[@rennells]

When we are able to buy our property my hubby wants me to learn from what you all have done with the solar and implement something like that to our home on the land we get

[@cassityart7001]

Happy Sunday in The DIRT! Perfect coffee companion. ☕️❤️. Q: Will you be building a workshop near your new home site? If so will it be solar as well? On a separate array? Thanks.

[@lynnnorton7155]

Thank you! I took copious notes

[@mattrossidesigns]

This series is great guys, love The Dirt. 👍🏻

[@SATXHEESH]

Two questions Any plans on buying a heavy duty diesel pickup? and Has this new off grid lifestyle effected your health in any way?

[@Guildbrookfarm]

No need for a diesel pickup. We have 2 pickups now. I’d say our health is better overall just because we get more exercise.

[@timmybuchanan]

On the cloudy days it can be really good as the rays reflect back from the clouds. There could be a few factors (perhaps heat or type of cloud?), but on some cloudy days we have more solar coming in than without clouds.

[@khwilli1]

What are you planning on for your water situation for the winter this year? Water pump and storage....

[@nellspop1]

great video, thanks

[@gking0887]

I've noticed that with my system that I also get more incoming power on a light overcast day than compared to a clear day in the winter.

[@CarrieNita]

If you get composting worms you can feed them cardboard and reap the vermicompost they make. I bought three of the largest Rubbermaid containers and 3 lbs of worms. So far the worms are keeping up with the cardboard we throw out.

[@Carol_Pearson]

Right now, I am fully on grid, but at some point in the future, I may try going off grid. For the moment, I want to be close to my parents because my dad likes to do yard work and he and mom live in a condo, so it's easy for him to come over and mow. Also, I'm within walking distance to an elementary school, and if I do successfully adopt within the next year, that is also a nice bonus. I have started buying some battery powered lights for those times when I would rather use low level background lighting. For example, late night bathroom trips, I like to have some light, but don't want the change from dark to light to dark again to be so shocking. I'm also thinking of getting a kerosene heater to keep on hand in case I lose heat or want to not run the heater as much in the winter.

[@dianehall5345]

I guess we were fortunate. Our house is at the top of the hill in the woods. The well is a pounded artesian ( 1953 rig !) The well is down 200' and we have enough water for the house, about 2 gallons a minute or more. Good luck with your water project.

[@trekOCLVone]

Great video - I learned a lot about solar systems. It is a science.

[@tonylocks28]

You two are great. Happy I subscribed months ago. Have a good winter. 🤙🏽

[@virginiak3769]

Have you considered a rocket stove? They are so much more efficient at burning wood. Leaves almost no ashes to clean out.

[@lisablake4473]

I'm in Alaska and I'm near them, I just gave a shout out to them as well.

[@rostro2698]

You can pump the water to a pond on top of the hill (with the extra day power) during the day and at night you can let the water down the hill on a 12 inch pipe with a propeller generator to produce electricity for night use and water can be save on a bottom of the hill pond for the next night.

[@ericgarcia5108]

So i live in the country side ( Kansas ), but have never been off the grid. I would like to do this myself one day. But I know nothing about solar panels and how that type of system works. Or how many panels would be adequate for the size of a house. Could you please do a video on solar panel systems for beginners. That would be greatly appreciated!

[@wanderer508]

Heating your new house...just an idea: My house has a combo oil/wood, forced air furnace made by Newmac. In my experience woodstove heat will have one room hot and others cold and it is always a challenge to move that heat around. The furnace pumps your heat to all parts of the house evenly and if my fire goes out the oil kicks in automatically on a separate thermostat. There may be other fuel combinations available? Currently I use 20ish face cords of wood and have only used 1 tank of oil in 3 seasons, with winter temps regularly around -20 to -40C.Good luck.

[@thehippiechic59]

I LOVE your videos! Very informative and thanks for taking the time to make them. We are in South Ga. and have a small farm. We are getting goats and thinking about pigs. I know you have/had kune kune pigs. Do you still have your pigs and what kind of goats do you recommend? Both will be for meat and selling for meat.

[@Guildbrookfarm]

We sold the pigs to a customer and I highly recommend Kune Kune. Great breed and super easy to take care of. As for goats, that is a personal choice. I am debating between Nubian, Nigerian or a cross.

[@thehippiechic59]

@@Guildbrookfarm thank you! Looking forward to next video!

[@reginaldshannon4220]

Another great video found it very useful and enjoyable keep up good work. Reg in Dublin Ireland 🇮🇪

[@alberteinstein9045]

hey you two, love your Chanel. question: Did you harvest the three pigs?? I raise three pigs each year here in Alaska. Sell the meat of two, keep the meat of one. I buy 8 week sucklings and harvest at 300 lbs.. around 5 months. Any longer than that the pigs are just to big to move around safely. Feed: one 50 lb bag of cracked corn has only 12% protein so I add soybean 44% protein. mix 2 bags corn + 1 bag soy. works fast.

[@Guildbrookfarm]

We sold all 3 to a customer that wanted them. We will have more again. They were super easy.

[@babs2522]

Thanks for a very interesting Dirt, I look forward to another Dirt video next, you have given me some ideas for my house, thanks again :)

[@davescorneroftheworld1147]

Oh, Jeremy I forgot, I think in a normal house hold water heater there are two heating elements, I think. Could you get a 12V or 24V DC heating element (and a temp. switch) and replace the top 240V element and run them from your two old 100W panels? I am going to try that. I have two OLD 75W panels for that experiment.

[@Guildbrookfarm]

That’s a good experiment. I’ll probably try that.

[@jimand9532]

@@Guildbrookfarm Yes it can.... check out engineer 775 on his you tube channel