Gotta get the groceries growing. Susan & I got ours all in the self watering raised bed stock tanks, repurposed an old BBQ grill that parts are no longer available for into an herb garden. We are now finishing off the chicken yard. We've lived in our tiny 300 sq. ft house for 18 yrs. Fortunately, we paid everything off , blueberry farm and all, and own everything out right now. Great since I was forced to retire early. Kinda doing the reverse to most folks. Planning everything out carefully, purchasing things, repurposing things, then building a larger home. You guys are doing great. Need to take a break every now and again to rejuvenate and enjoy family while you have it. Keep up the good work and your eye on the prize - you're living the dream!🙏👍
Red found it in the wheelbarrow when he came back from collecting top soil from under the mesquite trees. 😅 Glad it was okay. I haven't found anything alive when I was out getting dirt, just the cat scull that came up on my shovel. 😳😅 This is the first time red has helped with gardening projects, and it looks amazing! Excited to grow some vegetables! 😊🌱❤️
Glad to see that we are not the only ones that use our hands occasionally to do cement work. =) It looks like a lot of fun to be able to create whatever you want and not be constrained by what someone did 130 years ago like our project.
Y'all are doing such a great job! Yes, sometimes hands seem like the best tool for the job! 😅 Our daughter and son-in-law got to restore an old poured concrete structure on the property, it's all still very rustic, but they love it... most of the time. It is nice to be able to build things how we want them, and make things efficient. 😊🏜️
Like frosting a cake. I’m so glad you did so much testing and didn’t have the experience of having to start over on your house. That is one nice garden and gate! You’ve added a lot of strength to your wall with a strong concrete coating. Now for veg! My humidity here in Phoenix has been 10%, so wetting down the wall was a great idea.
Thanks! Yes, we like traditional building much better anyways. I think the enclosure will work well! Very dry here too. The dust and static electricity are really something right now. 😅 It's been a nice spring though and the wind hasn't been too bad. We got down to 28° Thursday night! Hopefully it was the last freeze of the year. Our low temperatures are often 20° colder than in town which makes things a challenge, but we still have a longer growing season here than anywhere else I have lived. 😊🌱🏜️
We live in one of the highest spots in Florida about 300' above sea level. Lots of hill's and holler's coupled with rivers, creeks, streams, lakes and pond high humidity. Temperatures here are 7 to 13 degrees colder or hotter depending on the season. Snow every 7- 10 years then drops to like 10 degrees with a wind-chill of 10-30 degrees and with the high humidity it cuts like a knife. Summer can be 117 plus humidity that just hangs on you. Yep, got the best and worst of everything here - hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, the deadliest rattlesnake, coral, snakes, coach whips, moccasins, pigamy rattlesnake s, brown recluse spiders, black widows, alligators, bears, crocodile's panthers, bobcat's, and lynx. Horny toads, beaches, deer, wild hogs, turkey's opposum, armadillo, sharks, dolphins, etc and too many Yankee leftist democrats moving here trying to turn my native state into something like they ran away from.😆🤣😆 But hey build and live your dream and if you're ever or way stop in an say howdy!!
It will be interesting to see how the wall ages in the fabric reinforced areas compared to the plain stucco portion. My understanding is the fabric adds significant tensile strength which is important since cement has poor tensile strength. Like how drywall gets its strength from the paper layers on its surface.
The fabric needs to have fibers that can be worked in to the plaster. The heavy landscape fabric was somewhat fibrous, but too stiff and thick to work the plaster through. It just came loose and wouldn't stick at all. The leach field fabric is inexpensive and worked great, but we ran out and don't know if it will hold up long-term anyway. The stucco worked into the air pockets pretty well, so it should give the wall a lot of strength, but it will definitely be interesting to see how the whole thing is holding up after the summer, and in a few years.
I have found it's best to finish smoothing the stucco surface with a foam pad that has a handle on it. Just keep a fairly wet foam and do swirls as you go. I watched a "professional" do it once as I was prepping my CA house for a paint job in 1990 and have used that tool/technique every time I have to do stucco.
We are gathering top soil from around the big mesquite trees, it's really good stuff! The few things I planted last year did really well with it. I have a compost pile going too. Thanks! 😊🌱🏜️
That is a nice looking garden space. My experience with a garden in Cochise Co started with a chicken wire fence using the smallest size holes. I still had a problem with birds getting in so wrapped nylon netting from sewing department to the wire. Also put wire over the top. Sun was so fierce I put up shade cloth over it using burlap in the roll. Everything was in containers. I had to water daily. My herbs sat in pans or bowls of water and it disappeared during the day. I know you have some experience from your garden last year Hope you get tons of food from your garden.
Thanks! Yes, gardening is a challenge for sure! Lots of mulch, and good top soil from around the old mesquite trees worked well last year. The birds will eat the new plants if they aren't protected, but they seem to leave them alone once they get bigger. I have found that the birds are excellent weed control, they eat anything that comes up if it's not protected. 😊🌱🏜️
Guys treat the aircrete same as for concrete, for structures like the wall you need to reinforce, aircrete is lightweight concrete, in place og aggregate there is air bubbles. you guys are working the product very well, you can cut the wall with a hand saw, good job
a bag of mortar cement for the stucco will add air-entrainment agents...it will keep the cement from cracking in cold weather...ordinary concrete mixes don't have air entrainment agents, not for outdoor walls or slabs...some people add dishwasher soap as an emulsifier
Interesting, we didn't take much time to research, 😏 it looked like most recipes just used sand and cement. We wanted to just get it done. Hopefully we can just add another coat of stucco if we start to see issues. Our winters are very dry, and we never stay below freezing for long, so we'll see how it does.
5/6/22: 🙏🤔All I know is RED sharing and honesty is GREAT. April and RED have made a Beautiful GARDEN WALL👍🧱 Soo much work, but it's Lovely and taught a lot of people, "They can do it TOO", live in ✌️ PEACE and Safety, forever❤️💪 Patty in Maryland
Thanks! Yes, the gate and latch work great! It's a little tricky having two, I need to double check and make sure they are both closed, but even with leaving it open a couple of times, nothing has got in. 😊🌱
That garden stem wall looks really good now. Only time will tell how well it will last. I don't know if you have any deer in your area, but here in Colorado a six foot fence is not tall enough to stop the deer from hopping over it. Enjoyable video, I have now watched all of the previous home build video series. Next I'll watch the container series. Thank you so much for taking the time to record and share your life with us.
Thanks! We have some deer around. I'm hoping the flashing solar lights will discourage them from trying to jump the fence. They stayed out of my little garden area last year so we'll see. If it doesn't work out this year, we'll probably enclose the whole garden with chicken wire. Thanks so much for watching and commenting, really appreciate the encouragement! 😊🏜️
My Uncle live southeast of Tucson, He has a real problem with wild pigs. The concrete base to the garden fence will help you a lot in the long run to keep them out.
From my experience working in the concrete business most bridge's I have repaired from logging equipment scraping it are blown out again by the next year simply because water entered by a small crack and froze behind it and popping it out. Painting them with thick safety paint helped seal it.
We looked into it, but brick paint is expensive. Our winters are very dry, and it's rare to get moisture and a freeze, but it does happen. It seems like the wall wouldn't hold much moisture since it is so aireated. But I guess we probably should seriously consider painting it before next winter. Thanks 🙂🏜️
Another great view of your aircrete study. After seeing the cracks I’m thankful that you made your decision to go with a traditional walk structure rather than the aircrete walls. Will you be adding drip irrigation or olla pots for root watering? Jim & Jessica from the Green Dream Project, homestead located in Cochise County, posted a video a couple years ago on making olla pots out of clay flower pots to conserve water for plants. ruclips.net/video/KDVLqgq9snU/видео.html Wishing you and your family a blessed week. Congratulations to the newlyweds, always a happy event. Peace
Thanks! Yes, I think we would have backed out of aircrete before the winter was over, especially once we did the cost comparison. Glad we bought our building materials when we did! I think we will just use the garden hose. We have a good well, and watering is a great time to go around and check on all of the plants. Today I need to plant the okra seeds I have had soaking for the last week, and we just got some more trees to plant. Thanks so much! 😊🧡🌱
We certainly did while making aircrete, and probably would have been a good idea here too. In this situation, smaller amounts are easier to manage, and we make sure we are down wind.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid You did a fantastic job on this off grid construction starting with the two containers and roof on top. Hard word you put in, it pays! love the settings, congrats!
We love it here, it's a great climate with lots of sunshine, beautiful views, and ample wildlife. The water level in our well is at 50 feet, and the monsoon rains green everything up in the summer.🌞🏜️
Gotta get the groceries growing. Susan & I got ours all in the self watering raised bed stock tanks, repurposed an old BBQ grill that parts are no longer available for into an herb garden. We are now finishing off the chicken yard. We've lived in our tiny 300 sq. ft house for 18 yrs. Fortunately, we paid everything off , blueberry farm and all, and own everything out right now. Great since I was forced to retire early. Kinda doing the reverse to most folks. Planning everything out carefully, purchasing things, repurposing things, then building a larger home. You guys are doing great. Need to take a break every now and again to rejuvenate and enjoy family while you have it. Keep up the good work and your eye on the prize - you're living the dream!🙏👍
That’s going to be really nice. It already is! Wow! I love that little guy at the end. They are so cute little tiny dinosaurs. 😁❤️👍
Red found it in the wheelbarrow when he came back from collecting top soil from under the mesquite trees. 😅 Glad it was okay. I haven't found anything alive when I was out getting dirt, just the cat scull that came up on my shovel. 😳😅
This is the first time red has helped with gardening projects, and it looks amazing! Excited to grow some vegetables! 😊🌱❤️
Red~ Wow~bbeautiful sharing.
Thanks!
Glad to see that we are not the only ones that use our hands occasionally to do cement work. =) It looks like a lot of fun to be able to create whatever you want and not be constrained by what someone did 130 years ago like our project.
Y'all are doing such a great job!
Yes, sometimes hands seem like the best tool for the job! 😅
Our daughter and son-in-law got to restore an old poured concrete structure on the property, it's all still very rustic, but they love it... most of the time.
It is nice to be able to build things how we want them, and make things efficient.
😊🏜️
Looks great lots of work, looks to be very function 4👍 video well put together can’t wait for the next episode, so much progress in such a short time.
Thanks so much! Yes, glad we took a break from the build to get this done! 🌱🌞🏜️
Get those Green fingers ready April, it almost planting time.
Yes! Hopefully it's about done freezing out here! 😊🌱
Like frosting a cake. I’m so glad you did so much testing and didn’t have the experience of having to start over on your house. That is one nice garden and gate! You’ve added a lot of strength to your wall with a strong concrete coating. Now for veg! My humidity here in Phoenix has been 10%, so wetting down the wall was a great idea.
Thanks! Yes, we like traditional building much better anyways.
I think the enclosure will work well! Very dry here too. The dust and static electricity are really something right now. 😅 It's been a nice spring though and the wind hasn't been too bad. We got down to 28° Thursday night! Hopefully it was the last freeze of the year. Our low temperatures are often 20° colder than in town which makes things a challenge, but we still have a longer growing season here than anywhere else I have lived. 😊🌱🏜️
We live in one of the highest spots in Florida about 300' above sea level. Lots of hill's and holler's coupled with rivers, creeks, streams, lakes and pond high humidity. Temperatures here are 7 to 13 degrees colder or hotter depending on the season. Snow every 7- 10 years then drops to like 10 degrees with a wind-chill of 10-30 degrees and with the high humidity it cuts like a knife. Summer can be 117 plus humidity that just hangs on you. Yep, got the best and worst of everything here - hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, the deadliest rattlesnake, coral, snakes, coach whips, moccasins, pigamy rattlesnake s, brown recluse spiders, black widows, alligators, bears, crocodile's panthers, bobcat's, and lynx. Horny toads, beaches, deer, wild hogs, turkey's opposum, armadillo, sharks, dolphins, etc and too many Yankee leftist democrats moving here trying to turn my native state into something like they ran away from.😆🤣😆 But hey build and live your dream and if you're ever or way stop in an say howdy!!
looks great so far thanks for sharing and have a great weekend
Thanks! Wishing you a wonderful weekend as well! Beautiful weather here today! 🌞🏜️
Nice show about your garden area. Grabbing the off cut was a classic! Thanks for sharing. Take care.
Thanks! Yes, it happens, glad it wasn't a very complicated cut! 😄 🌱🏜️
It will be interesting to see how the wall ages in the fabric reinforced areas compared to the plain stucco portion.
My understanding is the fabric adds significant tensile strength which is important since cement has poor tensile strength. Like how drywall gets its strength from the paper layers on its surface.
you could have used a cheap version of tyvec + stucco.
The fabric needs to have fibers that can be worked in to the plaster. The heavy landscape fabric was somewhat fibrous, but too stiff and thick to work the plaster through. It just came loose and wouldn't stick at all. The leach field fabric is inexpensive and worked great, but we ran out and don't know if it will hold up long-term anyway. The stucco worked into the air pockets pretty well, so it should give the wall a lot of strength, but it will definitely be interesting to see how the whole thing is holding up after the summer, and in a few years.
Love your garden wall/fence/gate!
Thanks! Excited to grow some vegetables! 🧡🌱🏜️
I have found it's best to finish smoothing the stucco surface with a foam pad that has a handle on it. Just keep a fairly wet foam and do swirls as you go. I watched a "professional" do it once as I was prepping my CA house for a paint job in 1990 and have used that tool/technique every time I have to do stucco.
😎👍
Love the horned toad, looks like a little dinosaur!
😊🦎
Love what you two are doing. Your garden should be very good for you, hopefully you can get some good compost to mix in with your native soil,
We are gathering top soil from around the big mesquite trees, it's really good stuff! The few things I planted last year did really well with it. I have a compost pile going too. Thanks! 😊🌱🏜️
That is a nice looking garden space. My experience with a garden in Cochise Co started with a chicken wire fence using the smallest size holes. I still had a problem with birds getting in so wrapped nylon netting from sewing department to the wire. Also put wire over the top. Sun was so fierce I put up shade cloth over it using burlap in the roll. Everything was in containers. I had to water daily. My herbs sat in pans or bowls of water and it disappeared during the day. I know you have some experience from your garden last year Hope you get tons of food from your garden.
Thanks! Yes, gardening is a challenge for sure! Lots of mulch, and good top soil from around the old mesquite trees worked well last year. The birds will eat the new plants if they aren't protected, but they seem to leave them alone once they get bigger. I have found that the birds are excellent weed control, they eat anything that comes up if it's not protected. 😊🌱🏜️
Eager to see the progress 🌷
Thanks! I have always enjoyed gardening, & love watching things grow. 😊🌱
Excellent gate! I need something this secure to keep critters out
Thanks! Yes, it works great, and is easy to open and close. 😊
Guys treat the aircrete same as for concrete, for structures like the wall you need to reinforce, aircrete is lightweight concrete, in place og aggregate there is air bubbles. you guys are working the product very well, you can cut the wall with a hand saw, good job
Thanks!
a bag of mortar cement for the stucco will add air-entrainment agents...it will keep the cement from cracking in cold weather...ordinary concrete mixes don't have air entrainment agents, not for outdoor walls or slabs...some people add dishwasher soap as an emulsifier
Interesting, we didn't take much time to research, 😏 it looked like most recipes just used sand and cement. We wanted to just get it done. Hopefully we can just add another coat of stucco if we start to see issues. Our winters are very dry, and we never stay below freezing for long, so we'll see how it does.
5/6/22: 🙏🤔All I know is RED sharing and honesty is GREAT. April and RED have made a Beautiful GARDEN WALL👍🧱 Soo much work, but it's Lovely and taught a lot of people, "They can do it TOO", live in ✌️ PEACE and Safety, forever❤️💪 Patty in Maryland
Thanks so much! 😊🌱🏜️
Great vid team...
Thanks! 😊🌱
Thank you
😊🏜️
Garden wall turned out great. I like the gate latch. Reused old wood for door. Smart. Thanks for sharing
Thanks! Yes, the gate and latch work great! It's a little tricky having two, I need to double check and make sure they are both closed, but even with leaving it open a couple of times, nothing has got in. 😊🌱
Homestead starting to take shape👀🌝🌞👍👏!
Thanks! 😊🌱🧡🏜️
That garden stem wall looks really good now. Only time will tell how well it will last. I don't know if you have any deer in your area, but here in Colorado a six foot fence is not tall enough to stop the deer from hopping over it. Enjoyable video, I have now watched all of the previous home build video series. Next I'll watch the container series. Thank you so much for taking the time to record and share your life with us.
Thanks! We have some deer around. I'm hoping the flashing solar lights will discourage them from trying to jump the fence. They stayed out of my little garden area last year so we'll see. If it doesn't work out this year, we'll probably enclose the whole garden with chicken wire. Thanks so much for watching and commenting, really appreciate the encouragement! 😊🏜️
Exciting to get a large garden area all ready. Enjoying your progress 🍄🌻
Thanks! 😊🌱
My Uncle live southeast of Tucson, He has a real problem with wild pigs. The concrete base to the garden fence will help you a lot in the long run to keep them out.
Yes, the fence has worked great, nothing has got in. 🌞🌱
Making gates and doors is always a drama for me. Nice work as always 👍🇦🇺
Thanks! Yes there is quite a bit to it. 🌞
From my experience working in the concrete business most bridge's I have repaired from logging equipment scraping it are blown out again by the next year simply because water entered by a small crack and froze behind it and popping it out. Painting them with thick safety paint helped seal it.
We looked into it, but brick paint is expensive. Our winters are very dry, and it's rare to get moisture and a freeze, but it does happen. It seems like the wall wouldn't hold much moisture since it is so aireated. But I guess we probably should seriously consider painting it before next winter. Thanks 🙂🏜️
Nice job, you Guys 👍💓👍
Thanks! 😊🧡🌱
Looks like SE Arizona?
👍🏜️
You could have gone over your wall with a wet sponge when it was just about dry to make the surface look more uniform.
Yes, definitely an option, but for this we don't mind texture, and rough stucco is less likely to crack.
U should use some chicken wire as reinforcement
There is chicken wire in the wall, but it would be very difficult to get it stick to the outside.
👍☘🙋♀️
😊🌱🏜️
Another great view of your aircrete study. After seeing the cracks I’m thankful that you made your decision to go with a traditional walk structure rather than the aircrete walls. Will you be adding drip irrigation or olla pots for root watering? Jim & Jessica from the Green Dream Project, homestead located in Cochise County, posted a video a couple years ago on making olla pots out of clay flower pots to conserve water for plants. ruclips.net/video/KDVLqgq9snU/видео.html
Wishing you and your family a blessed week. Congratulations to the newlyweds, always a happy event. Peace
Thanks! Yes, I think we would have backed out of aircrete before the winter was over, especially once we did the cost comparison. Glad we bought our building materials when we did!
I think we will just use the garden hose. We have a good well, and watering is a great time to go around and check on all of the plants. Today I need to plant the okra seeds I have had soaking for the last week, and we just got some more trees to plant.
Thanks so much! 😊🧡🌱
I would like to see people wearing mask while breathing all these products.
We certainly did while making aircrete, and probably would have been a good idea here too. In this situation, smaller amounts are easier to manage, and we make sure we are down wind.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid You did a fantastic job on this off grid construction starting with the two containers and roof on top. Hard word you put in, it pays! love the settings, congrats!
@@Eva-li2pe Thanks! 🌞
There is no water. Why are u there. It s waste land.
We love it here, it's a great climate with lots of sunshine, beautiful views, and ample wildlife. The water level in our well is at 50 feet, and the monsoon rains green everything up in the summer.🌞🏜️