It’s been an unusual week. We have been staying at our brother’s place in town, researching winter camping gear and ordering supplies. We decided to order a wall tent and woodstove, as well as supplies for a deck to go beneath it. We have made a couple trips out, to work and to let the electric company in!
Our electricity was installed this week. The electric company came in and put in our pole on Wednesday. We have to purchase a special box before we can use the electricity, which we plan to do as soon as we can. It will be nice not having to use our little generator every time we use a power tool. Access to electricity will make small things like charging lanterns and electronics much easier. And most importantly, we can get our well pump installed. Running water will free up a lot of our time to work on our build.
We settled on a 16’x24′ canvas wall tent from Wall Tent Shop. We chose the Wilderness model, as it seemed the best fit for our needs. We ordered it last Saturday, and it arrived on Friday. We purchased the tent, the floor, and the extended fly. We opted to build our own wood frame, which we hope to work on this week.
Instead of ordering a portable tent stove, we ordered a small regular woodstove. We plan to move it into the bunkhouse with us. After reading dozens of reviews, we ordered a Pleasant Hearth stove that is good for 1,800 sq. ft. It should be more than we need for the tent and later the bunkhouse.
We picked up most of the supplies for our 16’x32′ deck yesterday. We had to make two trips with our trailer, which has turned out to be one of the best purchases we have made for our homestead. We are picking up the rest today and starting construction. We are building our deck right next to the bunkhouse so that we can attach the deck to the bunkhouse later.
After spending so many weeks camping, we have enjoyed the comforts of civilization. Access to good internet has made research, planning, and purchasing a lot easier. But as fun as it has been, nothing beats waking up each morning on our land, making visible progress each day toward the future. Plus, the Ozarks are gorgeous in October.
HOMESTEAD SISSIES 