@Lookout @Lookout check out this diary and video. After reading the diary in March I added Alabama to my list of states to visit.

[video:https://youtu.be/USAaPrCJhAE]

The older cows will continue to be around for several years. I just don't want the young ones going through a teenage phase. They are able to jump fences, kick almost as high as my head, and are growing so fast their awareness of body placement can be slightly off. And no 2000+ lb bulls, beef bulls are much safer than dairy, but still unpredictable.

Your words of balancing needs as we age apply to us all. Every new project creates a new maintenance chore(s). I still have projects. I'm working on a new compost heated warm frame. I still need to build an equipment shed...and on and on. Working toward those things is fun to me. After a teaching career where it is difficult to see what (if anything) you've accomplished, I've found it very satisfying building and establishing our homestead. You both see and reap the benefits of your labor. After 30+ years, I have a great sense of satisfaction... living in a home I designed and built with friends...surrounded by a woodlot I've watched mature...having a garden with increased fertility and soil health...and so on. I think this is what gives me the ability to examine this insane world without going insane myself.

You can develop a real relationship with animals like cows and horses, but large animals can very much hurt or even kill you even though they love you. I've not had either since I was a kid. I always thought I would get goats to help me manage my open spaces and woodlot, but we have so many predators I've never brought it to fruition. I began asking myself about moving fences and animals and the daily chores required. Chickens are much easier (and productive).

I'll catch your geology video later. The geology in your corner of the country is quite involved and interesting. Mine is much, much older, dating back to the Cambrian and ending in the Paleozoic.

Wish you all the best as we continue to age and adapt.

@mimi Then find the right house (wheelchair accessible and low maintenance). Then work on conforming the land. That was the order of step for my current home. Worked better than the other models of finding a property I have used. A courtyard or large patio with good sunshine is large enough to grow food for a small family. Check zoning laws for restrictions on growing vegtables and small animals (if meat or eggs desired).

1. Water
The amount of water for domestic use is based on the household habits of the people residing in the home. Having to haul water for domestic use is the fastest method to learn thrifty water habits.

The method and type of crops being grown and the water holding capacity of the soil will determine the need for an irrigation system and water storage. (see square foot gardening for ideas of small beds) Many areas of the world rely on the weather cycle to water crops. Every state has an Extension Service associated with a Land-Grant university such as the University of Hawaii. Quickest method to find information of local issues. To remain in public favor the Extension program has been refocusing on small farmers and suburban gardeners the past few years.

Cost for drilling a well depend on local geographical conditions. My well is 320 feet through a significant layer of lava rock. Also need to include a water delivery and storage system.

This brings the typical total for drilling a well and setting up a private water delivery system to $3,500-$20,000 or more, but an especially deep and difficult well with a complex water system can cost $20,000-$50,000 or more, depending on depth, water yield and system complexity. A great deal depends on local geological conditions.

Water rights vary from state to state. It Oregon a domestic well can be used to provide household water use and 1/2 acre of irrigation water for about 6 months of the year. Larger areas of crop irrigation are allocated with different water rights.

Any area can have a water catchment system. The complexity and size limits would be based on local water right laws. Oregon law now allows collection and storage of water from building roof, not run off from land. I have been looking at my roofs and possibly diverting the run-off into a planned system after reading so many comments on C99 member water collection systems.

When does it rain so much that you get the blues and landslides. If it rains no sprinklers to change - free time - yeah. If rain comes in winter not shoveling - yeah. If there is several inches of snow and ground is frozen I am too busy preventing flooding to get the blues.

Do not buy in a landslide area, a flood plain, tornado corridor, tsunami zone or on an earthquake fault. With climate change the risk is too great to experience the 100 & 1000 year events in our lifetime.

2. Do you build a shed for tools first (brick versus wood)
First build the tool shed with wood. If the location is wrong it can be dragged to a new location with the tractor or pick-up.

3. What is the reason to build with wood compared to bricks. Cost

Why would you not build with bricks in a tropical climate? Volcanic islands may not have a source of clay locally. It needs to be shipped to the area.

Why do people in cold climate zones build often with wood? Isn't wood less insulating than bricks? Neither bricks or wood are insulating. It is air gaps that slow heat transfer. Air pockets trapped in straw, sawdust, fiber glass, styrofoam, loose dirt and other forms of insulation between walls. Wood buildings are easier to build than masonry, less skill required and lower foundation requirements.

buy a lot to build a home and a sustainable garden to feed yourself, what would be the first thing you pay attention to and consider before settling on a lot:
1. Water, how much do you need, when is it too dry, what would it cost to drill your own well, can you have a water catchment system or does it not rain enough. When does it rain so much that you get the blues and landslides. Can you drill for groundwater in a lava rock area?
2. Do you build a shed for tools first (brick versus wood)
3. What is the reason to build with wood compared to bricks. I kind of need brick walls to feel comfortable. Why would you not build with bricks in a tropical climate? Why do people in cold climate zones build often with wood? Isn't wood less insulating than bricks?

Well, I guess, I could finally find the answers to all my questions myself. But as I haven't found a lot I can afford where I would feel comfortable, I have postponed researching it so far. So, don't yell at me for my laziness.

@The Aspie Corner

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMB-XiewSKw]

@mimi a workers co-op. Everyone would benefit from the technology, not just capitalist owners.

His answer was that all 100 workers demand to only half of the time to now produce same profit for the capitalist, the workers gain free time and keep their jobs with the same level of income (if I had understood him correctly).

I am not going to find the source. But, I was reading on increasing technology in the 1960's and car unions. Union leadership was not worried. They expected workers to share in the benefit of technology with higher wages and lower work requirements forever into the future.

it's excellent (at least to me), because he makes it so clear and easy to understand.
In the end he talks about how to organize worker co-ops and someone asked about the role of technology that eliminates the jobs and how workers therefore lose their incomes with it.

He explained - using a simple example - that if 100 workers produce x amount of products that make the employer or capitalist corporation y amount of profits and a new technology came around that would produce the same amount y of profits, but would do it with only 50 workers, how would the 50 worker protect, who would lose their jobs, their jobs and their salaries.

His answer was that all 100 workers demand to only half of the time to now produce same profit for the capitalist, the workers gain free time and keep their jobs with the same level of income (if I had understood him correctly).

It came to my mind that this would only work, if the workers are salaried workers with job contracts and fixed salary. But I think in reality workers are paid hourly wages and therefore, if the new technology would make the same amount of profit for the employer, the gain of free time would result in loss of half the workers income.

AFAIK most workers have no job contracts with no rights in the US. In Germany you have at least work contracts (more and more now time limited, which was not the case decades ago). May be in a worker co-op this would then decided by the workers themselves.

So, my question is, how do the workers protect their jobs and their level of income, when machines take over and with it lower their hours they have to work and with it lower their earned income?

Just came to my mind. I will try to listen again to the last part of his speech. May be I missed something.

I like the way he teaches.