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.

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 –