theblueriverhaus

It took us a few weekends but we finally finished installing the new mini-split on our RV. We ordered this one on Amazon because we wanted a black one to coordinate with the appliance color scheme. The Rovsun ones had good reviews and low running wattage so hopefully this will cut down on battery usage. The unit is extremely quiet and cooled the RV down in less than an hour. In fact, it was the coldest the RV has ever been the entire time we have used it!

A short little reel of us making our Freeze Dried Tajin Skittles 🍬 We have restocked all of our candy online and have a few new offerings available as well. Order Online 🍭 https://theblueriverhaus.square.site

We spent the holiday weekend working on our future cabin at our off-grid property. Since we ordered another camera, we decided to finally do an unboxing video! We have these cameras all over the property and they really work great with the solar panels that come with them. We are not in any affiliate program so the link below is just to help others find good products that we find useful. They also make these cameras in a cellular version so depending on your access to the internet, one may be better than the other for you 😁 REOLINK 2K Security Camera System Wireless Outdoor, Pan Tilt Battery Solar Cam with 2.4/5GHz Dual-Band WiFi, Smart Detection, Time Lapse, 2-Way Talk, No Hub Needed, Argus PT with Solar Panel (Black) https://a.co/d/cDZLFIf *********************************** Follow Us On Social Media https://linktr.ee/theblueriverhaus ***********************************

We made the trek to the middle of the Edison Bridge to view the fireworks from Lofton Island. The entire show was 12:20 so we edited it down to a highlight reel for your viewing pleasure. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend 🇺🇸

We decided to bring our Mr. Stacky towers up to our off grid property. Since Peter rabbit is still terrorizing anything we plant low to the ground, we cut up some of the blue barrels and used them for the base to grow additional plants. Because they are so tall, we decided the hugelkultur method…or as I like to call them, Hulk Barrels…would be a good test. Stay to the end of the video for some surprising results! Materials: 3/4” metal conduits 4” Perforated drain pipes Blue Barrels Black poly garden pipe/fittings Natural Sand/Soil/Dead Trees A few bags of HD compost Bonemeal Bloodmeal Seeds of choice - Strawberries & Herbs work amazing in the towers *********************************** Follow Us On Social Media https://linktr.ee/theblueriverhaus ***********************************

Since we spent my actual birthday finishing the home repairs for our final inspection, we decided to celebrate over the weekend. Thankfully we passed inspection so we can put this hurricane nightmare behind us! To celebrate, we spent the afternoon at Gator Mikes in Cape Coral because we wanted to check out the newly built putt putt course. We also found out that they have a mellow mushroom pizza parlor coming so we are excited to see where they build it!

Since it was a milestone Anniversary this year we decided to take a break from reality and book a last minute cruise. We set sail out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and headed to their private island “Perfect Day at Coco Cay”. Liberty of the Seas is part of the Freedom Class so it has a lot of activities the smaller ships do not have. They also host the broadway production “Saturday Night Fever” which the performers did an outstanding job! The 70’s theme is incorporated throughout the week with 70’s trivia, disco lessons and of course a disco dance party in the promenade. While many of the great shows and comedy acts were not authorized to be filmed, we were able to catch the sail away parade and filmed the majority of it. We had so much fun that many times we forgot to take picture and video. We did want to share with others some of the fun activities we remembered to film. If you have the opportunity to sail on one of the freedom class ships, we highly recommend them.

We took a long weekend to work on our off-grid property and we were able to transplant several fruit trees. Since we added the Kasa outdoor wifi outlet, we have been able to schedule the irrigation sprinklers as well as run them on demand in case of fires. Eventually (whenever we have a sliver of time) we will also be able to control outdoor lighting. We did a lot of work, so much that it would be too long of a video so we are going to break things down over the next few videos to avoid being too long. For now, we were able to transplant the following: Oliver Loquat Red Avocado Carambola (Starfruit) Cassava Indian Jujube Persian Lime We also gave a shout out to some of the products we use, these are not affiliated or sponsored, we just like them and therefore want to share in our little victories. Hope everyone enjoys the video and considers adding some of these great fruit trees to your homes 🪴

We spent our weekend working on the barn at our off-grid property. After a very early morning trip to Lowes, we arrived back with a trailer full of lumber (and some plant starts - could not resist). We spent all day working on framing the kitchen, its not the prettiest looking thing but it is very solid. We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying ourselves with friends and family. Our niece was also excited to help plant the new starts in the barrels as well as squash seeds along the fence line. Next trip up we hope to add irrigation so we can bring more fruit trees and start cutting the tops of the barrels for planting. We love the kratky method but fertilizer is expensive, plus we can plant more is a soil drum!

We have been extremely blessed this month to collect almost 30 barrels for our #bluebarrelproject ! Since our driveway was filling up with barrels, we made an impromptu trip up to our property to drop them off and install a well pump for our campers. Below is a listing of all of the items we used for the project, we are thrilled that the pump is working and that our campers now have a way to rinse off after a fun day of riding the trails! Well Hand Pump Items: Stainless Steel Handpump Locci Manual Well Pump, Stainless Steel hand well pump, pitcher pump for well water suction pump Groundwater for Home Garden Yard (Tapered style) https://a.co/d/bUGfkx4 Stainless Mounting Bracket osea Stainless Steel Well Pump Stand 42cm Manual Deep Well Water Pump Bracket for Garden Yard Farm Home https://a.co/d/aW7fMiJ 3/4” Threaded x 1” Slip Adaptor (It comes with an adaptor but as we found out, it does not fit😠) 1” PVC Pipe 1-1/4” x 1” Bushing (This was to fit the 1” pipe into the existing 1-1/4” union that was on the well) Rain or Shine PVC Cement Pipe Cutter Post or conrete base to mount the stand on, we used an old garbage can shroud that we found in the scrapyard. Water to prime the pump, our pump took (2) 16oz bottles It did loose prime after an hour so we left a gallon jug of water beside it in case it happens again, anyone can prime it. We were able to re-prime the pump and when we check it the next day, it held, so hopefully there are no issues with it but if there are we will be sure to post an updated video 😊

We spent our holiday weekend ringing in the new year at our off-grid property. We had some work done clearing an additional .65 acres so we could rent it out to future campers. We also added some more solar panels and did a lot of planting and harvesting while we were there. We hope you all enjoy and have a blessed new year ❤️

We brought our RV back to our off-grid property to spend Thanksgiving weekend. While we are here, we decided to finally hook up the starlink and see how it is going to do in the middle of nowhere. After installation, we realized we forgot to pack the firestick so the only thing we can use it for today is our phones and ipad. We have to go into town tomorrow anyway to get lumber so we will pick one up while we are out. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season ❤️

We took a break from the hurricane chaos and spent the day at the Sarasota Renaissance Festival. Since we were going to be close to our off-grid property, we took the opportunity to drop some stuff off before our holiday trip and check on everything since we had a second hurricane go across the state! Everything was thriving and we are thrilled to have a nice tomato harvest in our future. We were not as thrilled to come back home and buy more supplies from our only hydroponic store in SWFL because we found out after 20+ years, they are going out of business 😢 They have been a huge help guiding us along the way and we are just devistated to hear the news.

We finally had some free time at our off grid property to transfer our fall tomato starts into our Kratky Barrels. We started the seeds in rapid rooter hydroponic media and special net pots that work great for the bung opening of 55 gallon drums. We then premixed the fertilizer in a 5 gallon bucket and poured it into the 55 gallon drums when they were half full. We filled the drums the rest of the way with water leaving an air gap between the top of the drum and the roots so they are not completely submerged. You can also drill a drain hole just below the rim of the barrel so the roots can have an air gap. We will check back next month when we visit and give an update as to how our tomatoes are doing. Items used in our video can be found here: Rapid Rooter Growing Media https://amzn.to/3BZA0y2 Bulkhead Filter Net Cup https://amzn.to/3R65Ehy Masterblend Fertilizer https://amzn.to/3qXTc9d

Join us for a tour of our off grid property after a major rainstorm came through. Some plants are thriving while others may not survive. We hope the water level recedes and our plants pull through!

Food & Wine Festival at Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay

Cruising out of Cape Liberty, NJ to Bermuda, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico & Haiti

Join us for a tour of our back yard micro food forest on less than 1/4 acre in South Florida! Below is a list of featured plants as well as other great plants in our 10a garden: Everbearing Strawberries Onions 50/50? Jalapeño Peppers Tiny Tom Tomato Everglades Tomato Maypop Passion Fruit Vine Cantelope Armenian Cucumber Kari Starfruit Blue Butterfly Vine Monstera Deliciosa Arabian Jasmine Coffee Arabica Turmeric Staghorn Fern Longevity Spinach Pineapple Caladium Fanjipangi Cranberry Hibiscus Blue African Basil Plants Not Mentioned: Sisso Spinach Nam Doc Mai Mango Sweet Almond Grumanchia Mad Hatter Pepper Chocolate Pepper Litchi Tomato Irish Mint Potato Okinawa Sweet Potato Shell Ginger Vanilla Orchid Eggplant ********************************* VISIT US ONLINE https://linktr.ee/theblueriverhaus *********************************

Join us for a tour of our front yard micro food forest on less than 1/4 acre in South Florida! Below is a list of featured plants as well as other great plants in our 10a garden: Catwaba Grapes Bridal Plumeria Golden Pineapple Ice Cream Banana (Maybe Blue Java, Maybe Namwa?) Red Mexican Sunflower Okinawa Sweet Potatoes Red Jabuticaba Blue African Basil Rosemary Jamaican Cherry (Muntinga) Red & White Coco Plums Pink Lemonade Blueberry Sunshine Blue Blueberry Southern Jubilee Blueberry Elderberry Pigeon Pea Myer Lemon Tree Mandarin Orange Tree Plants Not Mentioned: Red Pineapple (non-edible) Marigolds Pineapple Sage Peppermint Cranberry Hibiscus Shooting Star Eggplant Elephant Ear Mixed Caladiums Philodendron *********************************** VISIT US ONLINE https://linktr.ee/theblueriverhaus ***********************************