Breakingfreeoffgrid

With lumber prices skyrocketing, we decided to start learning the basics of sawmilling our own lumber. If we buy a sawmill now, it should pay for itself in no time at all. We met a professional sawyer here in North Idaho and he was pleased to give us a lesson to get us on our way. With 22 years experience sawmilling lumber, he has a lot of knowledge that we hope we can learn from. With our plans of building a cabin and other small structures on the homestead, a sawmill seems more like a necessity with the rising cost of lumber. Another step in not only becoming more self sufficient, but an awesome way to save our money. #sawmilling #savemoneyonlumber #sawmillsinaction Hope you enjoy the video and smash that like button! breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com

Snow plow in action after a big snow storm! This is the first big test after the mount was repaired. It may not sound like a big deal, but our road is like a small goat trail. It's not maintained, with small boulders that will rip the blade right off your truck. Hence, the repair. AHHHHH.....life on our little mountain in the snow! breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com

How We Keep Our On Off Valve From Freezing! Anyone hauling water during winter knows the pain of your on/off valve freezing. This is an easy solution to make your life easier hauling water. Happy water hauling! #offgridlife #cabinlife #haulingwater breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

I broke the plow! We love our mountain life, but it definitely has it's challenges. We have to plan when we can go into town around weather and our driveway. We can't just jump in the truck and leave whenever we want during winter. Hopefully, we can nurse the plow through the rest of the winter, so Stu can figure out how to fix it. Anyone out there have any advice? breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

With a little help from the hubby, I installed some cabinet hardware. I used a jig set that you can find at your local hardware store. The drawers were the hardest, but I did it! You will see our tiny kitchen update and what we have done to organize it more. I also go over what we plan on doing to add more organization. https://amzn.to/39MmO0a https://amzn.to/3nZQFqT https://amzn.to/38Z4qBV https://amzn.to/2M7djQQ https://amzn.to/35TYlVs Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

Renovating our tiny kitchen, a Shed to Cabin update. We are finally doing some renovations in our tiny kitchen to provide more organization. Stu has been busy! We have been living with a makeshift open base cabinet and a table. It was impossible to keep the dust and dirt off anything. Now everything will be enclosed! Plus, Stu added 2 shelves for me and has been closing up more of the walls. Even though we will not be living in this permanently, it's super exciting to see it look more like a "home"! Enjoy our update and craziness! breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

New Year Special! Very funny! Join us in some winter time festivities. We work, we play, we play more, and get stuck on the infamous driveway. Highlights of the dogs enjoying snow! Watch as we have fun slipping and sliding around. We don't get discouraged, upset or butt hurt we just do what needs to be done. #trynottolaugh #dogsandsnow #offgridwinter breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

Using the Shou-sugi-ban technique. A Japanese technique of charring or burning wood for a water & fire resistant wood surface. Which by the way is absolutely stunning to look at. Since we plan on turning the cabin into a shop, we decided not to spend a bunch of money to close up the walls. Frugal living at it's best! We can close up the walls to make the cabin more comfortable and it will still look good. "Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free... Please feel to send us an email or letter: breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

Yup, like the title states. This was a very affordable plan B. But your asking yourselves, "wait a minute I thought you guys have talked about a plow truck". Yup, we did. Watch the video to find out what happened. Not many Videos out there with this set up, moving the amount of snow we moved. We took a gamble. Did it pay off? Watch and see. Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

DC Refrigerator for Solar by UNIQUE Off Grid Appliances. See how Stuart hooks up our new refrigerator to our battery bank. We are so happy our propane refrigerator went down. We were already wanting to buy a DC fridge, just wasn't ready to spend the money yet. After our near death experience with carbon monoxide we hated the propane fridge. I was so stoked to see it sitting outside. Thank goodness this happened during winter. We used the death machine on our "porch" and let the cold temperatures keep our food cold until our new refrigerator was delivered. There were a few websites that we could have ordered it from, but Home Depot had free shipping to the store. #bestoffgridappliances #dcrefrigeratorforsolar #uniqueoffgridappliances BYE BYE death machine! Now we can sleep peacefully. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Unique-10-3-cu-ft-290-l-Solar-DC-Top-Freezer-Refrigerator-Danfoss-Secop-Compressor-in-Black-UGP-290L-B/308537092 breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

Renovating our tiny kitchen, a Shed to Cabin update. We are finally doing some renovations in our tiny kitchen to provide more organization. Stu has been busy! We have been living with a makeshift open base cabinet and a table. It was impossible to keep the dust and dirt off anything. Now everything will be enclosed! Plus, Stu added 2 shelves for me and has been closing up more of the walls. Even though we will not be living in this permanently, it's super exciting to see it look more like a "home"! Enjoy our update and craziness! "Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

We believe we had our first visit from a bear! Or was it the dogs? We woke up to our garbage cans knocked over and garbage all up the driveway. We got a good print on video. Is it a bear print? Please comment and let us know what you think. There was also what looked like teeth holes or claw holes in a couple of the garbage can lids. We have tied cow bells on the cans to hopefully catch it red handed next time. Please feel free to contact us at: Breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com or Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

Taking care of chickens in winter. Don't make this mistake! Chickens are hardier than you think. Do chickens need heat in the winter? You might be surprised! In this video, I go over some tips on taking care of your beloved chickens during winter. Chickens are amazing creatures, they know what they need to do to survive the winter temperatures. "Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music Feel free to contact us at: breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

In this video, we are finishing the pier foundation for the shed. This was a tough job for one person. Since we only have one bottle jack, there was a lot of back and forth to lift the shed in order to place the 4x4's and to shim the blocks. Find out why our shed is so high. Please feel free to contact us at: Breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com Breaking Free Off Grid 6653 Main St Box 112 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805

Moving a 12x24 storage shed with logs in snow! When we planned this day to move the shed, it was not suppose to rain or snow. Then the forecast changed and we got snow the morning of moving day. Oh well, we moved it anyway! Of course, the plan to move the shed had to change due to wet slippery mud. Instead of using both bobcats, they decided to use one with the help of logs to roll it down the hill. It was a very narrow area and not a lot room for error. Not only did they have a hill, they had to worry about trees, snow and slippery mud. It was an eventful day to say the least! It's done and now we just have to level it and move everything back in. So glad this huge undertaking is complete! #movingastorageshed #movingday #offgridchallenges

Cabin build off gird, final excavation of the pad. We decided to hire our friend Greg to finish excavating and grading the pad for us. His also brought his team with him to help, 12 year old Camden and 10 year old Spencer. They have both been driving the tractor for 2 years. What an awesome skill to learn at such a young age! They did an amazing job for us and we couldn't be more excited! Next step is gravel and then move the storage shed to its new home. We're making progress!

Cabin build off grid, part 2 of excavation. Stuart uncovered a possible issue while excavated this past weekend. Hopefully, someone will know what we need to do and comment. We decided to hold off on moving the cabin until next year, so we can see what is going to happen during the spring runoff. Better to be safe than sorry right? We will still moving the storage shed down after excavation is complete. Still have more work to do first. Wish us luck!

Our Boerboel attacks an excavator. We have had a lot of excavating going on this summer and Goose our Boerboel has decided that it would be fun to chase and attack the excavator. It really is fun to see how agile he is. He amazes me with his strength, he has no idea how strong he is!

Cabin build off grid, starting excavation. Have we taken on too much? Time will only tell...lol. In this video we go over what needs to been done just to get ready for the cabin foundation. Living on a side of a mountain has it's challenges, the biggest one is no room. In order for us to build, we need to move the cabin that we are in now. I will be happy when that part is done. Although we're not moving it far, it's stressful. Our plan is to have the foundation done before the snow decides to pile on us. Keep your fingers crossed for us! Feel free to contact us at: breakingfreeoffgrid@gmail.com