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Home » Blog » 10 Lessons Learned One Week on the Homestead

10 Lessons Learned One Week on the Homestead

By PreparednessMama on July 4, 2018 * 2 Comments

Living in the Country Can Be an Adventure

My family has moved from the comfort of our small town to a 10 acre homestead in the country. It’s been a while since we lived 20 minutes from anywhere and there have been “adjustments” to make our first week, to put it mildly.

10 Lessons Learned One Week on the Homestead | PreparednessMama

Add temperatures in the teens, to the whole move thing, and you can see why I have some lessons to share. I’m absolutely certain that there will be more lessons as the weeks progress.

Shelle’s 10 Lessons Learned One Week on the Homestead

#10 Day 1 – a small wind storm equals power outage. Thankfully, we have a back-up generator that kicked in and still supplies power to the well pump and refrigerators. It does not supply power to the chest freezers. Do you know how much food storage I have in my chest freezers?

#9 – The supply of boxes to unpack appears to be never ending!

#8 – Making an efficient fire in a wood stove appears to be an art that we have yet to master.

#7 – Old houses are hard to heat in 15 degree weather. I have resigned myself to the extensive power bill coming my way next month.

#6 – It’s important to know your plumbing and the amount of insulation they do (or don’t) have protecting them.

#5 – Keep the water dripping when the temperatures get below freezing for a few days. This is basic country knowledge we forgot…so…

#4 – Communicating with your family, in civil tones, when under pressure, is really important.

#3 – Crying can be a great stress reliever but ultimately doesn’t solve anything – you still have frozen and busted pipes when you’ve done.

#2 Day 7 – All hands on deck! It’s Sunday night at 7 PM. You have discovered exactly how important that faucet drip you forgot about was, you live 20 minutes from anywhere and the nearest stores are closed. Water Storage is important when you are looking at a few days of repairs.

#1 – No matter what – tell your family and friends who come to help – that you  love them!

Just so you know: according to The Weather Channel

Letting the Water Run
Letting a faucet drip during extreme cold weather can prevent a pipe from bursting. It’s not that a small flow of water prevents freezing; this helps, but water can freeze even with a slow flow.
Rather, opening a faucet will provide relief from the excessive pressure that builds between the faucet and the ice blockage when freezing occurs. If there is no excessive water pressure, there is no burst pipe, even if the water inside the pipe freezes.

Be smarter than our homestead – read the full article here.

Shared with: From the Farm Blog Hop –

PreparednessMama
Preparedness Mama and its collaborators have created a one-stop shop of critical resources for families looking to prepare for disaster. We know firsthand that getting ready for the worst with a big family poses some particular challenges.
 
We’ve learned from the past so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes again. Fear of the unknown is one of the scariest things in life, but we hope that Preparedness Mama’s treasure trove of practical advice will make that unknown less daunting and ultimately help take the scared out of being prepared for every single one of our readers.

Comments

  1. Cat Lacemaker says

    December 14, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    Laughing at #9. My Mom was upstairs looking for something in the attic, and I heard a pause in the digging. “What’s up, Mom?” “I just found a box from when we moved here that we haven’t opened!” They moved to the house in 1972… The bit about the water running a trickle is vital. We had pipes freeze at the house several times, but never burst, due to that. But as far as chest freezers, at least they keep the cold in longer!
    Here’s hoping that some of the lessons will be of the “good” kind, as well!
    Cat

    Reply
    • PreparednessMama says

      December 16, 2013 at 12:48 pm

      I could write an additional week two lessons learned also! After going without power in half of the house for two days, we discovered additional breakers that are located under the sink in the second kitchen…I wonder what they were thinking when they placed electrical breakers under a sink?

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 8 Chest Freezer Organization Ideas | PreparednessMama says:
    January 6, 2014 at 6:30 am

    […] 7. Use Energy Efficient packing by placing water bottles in the bottom. A full chest freezer is energy efficient and will save me money. If I have excess space I will fill it with 3/4 full pop bottles.  This gives me the flexibility to add and remove bottles as I need to and helps retain the cold if the power is out. […]

    Reply

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