I think a lot of people are unaware that elevation equals cooler temperatures. For every one thousand feet of elevation, it gets four degrees cooler. Mountain living feels wonderful.
We have a house in Highland County, VA which is at 2900 ft. We have not needed the AC yet due to the cooler temps at that height and the really cool evenings. We just keep all the windows and doors open and rely on the breezes coming up the mountain. Even though we have a well, we also have two rain barrels to water the garden. Living in rural VA in the mountains is the best. The people in town are wonderful. Enjoy your property!
My floor is concrete. My walls and ceiling are steel. Mold? The secret to cooling is controlling humidity. The human body regulates temperature by controlling humidity, using evaporation as the modus operandi to lower body temperature. By setting your window a/c unit to "Energy Saver" and the room temperature to 78 or 79, the compressor (which eats up the bulk of the electricity used) will run intermittently, keeping the air dry. This dry air allows your body's excess moisture to "evaporate" and thus cool you. My electricity bill is usually no more than $40, which includes a monthly "service fee" (?) of $20. Sup wit dat? Anyway, my bill never strays much, due to my frugal use of it. BTW - I NEVER use electricity as a heat source. Quick note on ADHD: I have Aspergers. When the machinery in my head gets too loud, I sit and watch clouds and "stim" with my fingers. When there are no clouds, I find faces in bushes, landscapes and tree canopies. I know 99% here will think me crazy. You're spot on. I am, and if you feel the innate urge to mock me, get in line. I'll get to you when I can.😂
Our water bill in FL had a base fee of $40 even when we used 0 gal. So annoying 🙄 Asher (husband) goes for a walk and listens to loud music when he needs a mental break. Obviously a sensory seeker 😆 I don’t think you are crazy at all … we are a stim-friendly neurodivergent family 🙌
lol, I’m NOT a normal person. The problem is that I really appear as one. I’m a female, but think more like a man. Was homeschooled, so think out of the box. Am neurodivergent and fairly intelligent. People don’t want to know what goes on in my brain… I’m with you:). Love your sense of humor about yourself:).
I can tolerate a lot & live simply. I have to have air conditioning. I grew up in the 70s with no AC and for me, the summers were horrible. I cannot take the heat at all. ⛄ Nice channel!
I homeschooled my 5 kids in the 1980s. They are all sociable, professional and successful adults in their 40s and 50s. The “socialization” concern is no longer an issue; I can’t believe people are still bringing it up.
Some land has restrictions in its deed prescribing the structures, rv's (or no rv's), animals, and uses of the property. Ask a title company or Realtor for best means to obtain those covenants of restrictions *before* you purchase the property - unless you love surprises lol 💥🤯
Canning is not hard. I have an outdoor two burner stove that runs off of propane. Get the Ball canning and food preservation book. I watch Homegrown and Hand Gathered RUclips video. Enjoy your videos. God Bless!
Do you have a video on how to discuss with your spouse about this way of life. I'm ready to buy land and live in our RV with the dogs and kids. He doesn't want to.. thank you 😊
If anyone decides to hook up to the grid via power pole with an electrical box from the local utility company, understand that they have the legal right to come onto your property at anytime. Even if you then decide to go solar, etc., as long as that pole and box are there and connected, you will pay a monthly bill.
I get the same questions about homeschooling my son. We take field trips and have fun outings. Totally understand the filming and cooking in a camper, I do it and its so much more complicated with such a small area. I can't tell you how many times I've knocked over the tripod. If you ever have any questions about canning or food preservation I'd love to help. I have a canning video that I'm editing right now canning tomatoes I made into sauce. Take care, you're doing a great job and you're making great progress ❤
@@raisingwildflowers I'm using my electric pressure canner in that video so it may not be as helpful as some of my older ones where I'm using the stove top canner. I will be making another one soon with the stove top after it cools down a bit. We are trying to be so careful right now about not adding extra heat to the camper. It's so hot in Arkansas right now 😫
@@survivinglife__unplugged I will go check out your other videos! We were just talking about rigging up an outdoor kitchen because cooking inside adds so much unneeded heat 🫠 The little things you don’t think about until you are living it 😆
@@raisingwildflowers yes! An outdoor kitchen is so needed! I have a camp chef duel burner that's great for outdoor canning we just don't have it set up yet. If you happen to get one I highly recommend adding some wind guards around it. That will help you keep a steady temp while canning. ❤ now I'm hoping ya'll build it so I can see how you do it.
We also live in a small city of 1600 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. When we bought our livable fixer upper we also dealt with a shortage of service workers as well. I just kept calling and asking. We got lucky and within 3 weeks to a month we had our new roof, a furnace, and hot water tank. One thing I found out was we were not able to get insurance on out house if we only had a wood heater whether it was a stove or fireplace. We had to have some type of furnace. I am not sure if that is area specific or not.
Thanks for answering my question. I have another . What is the ambience like at night? I imagine it is very dark and quiet? Do you have street lighting nearby?
2nd Comment Something you might consider investigating is an older Japanese method of building a concret or stone slab that doubles as an accumulater in a fireplace flu. A smokeless fire's exhaust is directed underneath an elevated floor, transferring a large portion of its heat to the floor, before being drawn up a tall flu to the chimney termination. Just a thought.
The navite Americans in the plains had tipis with fires inside to stay warm. People have been doing it for thousands of years. Propane isn't a savior. Many ways to stay warm.❤
I tend to laugh when people talk about AC. We were raised without AC in the midwest. Open windows and put a fan in it. Of course the house was built with that in mind and it was in the country. It's the urban areas with all the cement that get really hot. Really enjoyed this video. A lot of good info.
Good morning Katie ♥ We live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and like you we have very nice weather! We brought our window unit with us but it is still in the garage. Like you I don't believe anyone in our families would want to come live with us unless the SHTF. They thought we were crazy moving to the middle on no where knowing no one.
I get my blue barrels on offerup, some people get them for really cheap in huge bulk and sometimes if you are willing to buy large amount you can get good deals. I have couple hundred as I am using them and metal ones for wall barriers.
FUNNY NOW IM 80 BUT ADHD OFF THE CHARTS LEARNING HOW TO DO LIFE 12STEPS ACTUALLY HELPS A LOT THERES MANY SAME 12STEPS USED FOR MANY ISSUES..NOW APPRECIATE MY ENERGY GOOD AT SALES GREAT INTERIOR DECORATOR VERY COMPASSIONATE EMPATHY LOVE ANIMALS AN NATURE ...BEST FUN WATCHING YOUR WISE BACK TO NATURE SMART WISE!!!! TRAVELED A LOT BEFORE MARRIED HOSTELS IN EUROPE
Just be careful living in the RV with kids. My sister took her ex to court for custody. He lived in the Chesapeake, VA area. He was living in an RV and my niece was living at his moms, but was going to move in the him in the RV (it was a big new nice RV he got with insurance after their house had a fire). The RV had nothing to do with why my sister was taking him to court for custody. But after the courts found out he lived in an RV they said it’s not legal in VA (I thought. Unless it’s county specific) for kids to live in an RV. So they said my niece could not live with him and the court actually made her dad, her dads mom (her Grandma) and my sister all 3 as her guardians, but with her living with her Grandma since they said it’s not legal for her as a child to live in an RV.
Are you concerned about Black Bears I live in Virginia also and have seen and encountered Black bears coming out of the woods trying to break through my window because of a Banana loaf that was made.
Oh gosh 😬 We do have a lot of black bears here, but I have never had one on my property. I think because the bears still have so much natural habitat, they mostly stay in the woods.
Another great video! I have a question about your chickens, I know you and your family don't eat animals, will you eat the eggs from your chicks or possibly sell them?
one way to have backup heat / cooking is a smokeless "camping" wood stove (AKA, TLUD). It is easy to build out of two coffee/bean cans with a drill. 1 lb of wood can burn for about 20 minutes and boil water within 5.
Just curious, is your family still vegan ? I know you have chickens now. Love you channel. You bring up issues that a lot of us would never have thought of . My husband and I own property in Northern Kentucky. No house or utilities on it but we do still have an address for it . We have never thought about receiving mail there since it's not used as a home .
I saw in your video somebody had asked about the humidity but didn't catch a reply. I live in the high mountains desert in California where the temperatures get up to 105 but it's a very dry heat. I used to live in Orange County California close to the beach and the humidity was unbearable. 85 there was harder for me to take than 100° here. We do have solar so right now we actually have a $300 credit. I don't know if I shared on this channel, when my husband was living because of his disability we qualified for a grant from a company called Off Griid Alternatives. We heard about them on our major news station so we felt they were legit. They were and we are very grateful for them.
Thanks for the info! Yeah, 85 degrees here and 85 in Florida is sooo different! We do have humidity (maybe around 50% most of the time), but it’s not a 100% humidity sauna like FL 😂
@@raisingwildflowers I just wanted to add that we didn't necessarily qualify for the grant because of his disability (brain cancer) but because I was staying home we were also lower income. They also went to pay your ZIP code. If you live in California and are interested in solar I would Google GRID Alternatives and give them a call, highly recommend.
@@raisingwildflowers You might be able to get a mail delivery box at a UPS store. Haven't checked if you need an address for that, but our local UPS store has boxes that are like PO Boxes only not through the USPS.
We own property in central VA, 30 minutes from the Blue Ridge. Raw land, 1.34 acres (not huge). Local laws allow to be on the property for 4 weeks @ a time only. We lived on our property there in an old 28 foot camper (hubs spruced up, painted inside white & put in new flooring (he has construction & flooring background). We had no electricity, no running water but had access to water every day, small portable batteries so we could run small fans @ night in summer (it was great!) & charge our cell phones. For those hot days 94+, I went to the local library (4-5 miles away) & enjoyed A/C. The previous owner of the property had permits pulled so we actually had an actual physical address but we chose to get a PO Box because we weren't technically supposed to be living on our property full time. This was during covid (3 years). We moved to another state because hubs just couldn't make enough $$ for us to build anything. We barely were surviving & we were extremely frugal but getting deeper in debt. It takes $$ to live off grid. There were things my hubs could have done to help but he was going through major depression from a serious health scare. We even had a 1550 water tank that never got hooked up. We bought a couple of solar panels but they were never used either, still in the box. I wished I jumped in to build stuff but dealing with my hubs was a lot on my plate. We used our stove heat for winter & went through propane every 3-5 days a week to keep warm. Those trailers aren't insulated much. I did fell some trees. Enjoy your channel.
one video said West Va and this video said VA, I've been researching VA for my rv land, what state / county did you find no zoning restrictions, very curious and I NEED A permanent, legal, SAFE place to be. Any info helps. Thank you
I think a lot of people are unaware that elevation equals cooler temperatures. For every one thousand feet of elevation, it gets four degrees cooler. Mountain living feels wonderful.
Yes! We LOVE the cool, crisp mornings here!
I'm at 4,000 feet and agree I'm always at least 10 degrees cooler then the valley
We have a house in Highland County, VA which is at 2900 ft. We have not needed the AC yet due to the cooler temps at that height and the really cool evenings. We just keep all the windows and doors open and rely on the breezes coming up the mountain. Even though we have a well, we also have two rain barrels to water the garden. Living in rural VA in the mountains is the best. The people in town are wonderful. Enjoy your property!
I really love the cool evenings!
My floor is concrete. My walls and ceiling are steel. Mold?
The secret to cooling is controlling humidity.
The human body regulates temperature by controlling humidity, using evaporation as the modus operandi to lower body temperature.
By setting your window a/c unit to "Energy Saver" and the room temperature to 78 or 79, the compressor (which eats up the bulk of the electricity used) will run intermittently, keeping the air dry.
This dry air allows your body's excess moisture to "evaporate" and thus cool you.
My electricity bill is usually no more than $40, which includes a monthly "service fee" (?) of $20.
Sup wit dat?
Anyway, my bill never strays much, due to my frugal use of it.
BTW - I NEVER use electricity as a heat source.
Quick note on ADHD:
I have Aspergers. When the machinery in my head gets too loud, I sit and watch clouds and "stim" with my fingers. When there are no clouds, I find faces in bushes, landscapes and tree canopies. I know 99% here will think me crazy. You're spot on. I am, and if you feel the innate urge to mock me, get in line. I'll get to you when I can.😂
Our water bill in FL had a base fee of $40 even when we used 0 gal. So annoying 🙄
Asher (husband) goes for a walk and listens to loud music when he needs a mental break. Obviously a sensory seeker 😆 I don’t think you are crazy at all … we are a stim-friendly neurodivergent family 🙌
@@raisingwildflowers 👍
You actually sound really intelligent. I'm neurodivergent also. I get call weird all the time. I'm 40 now and rock that shit 😂
lol, I’m NOT a normal person. The problem is that I really appear as one.
I’m a female, but think more like a man. Was homeschooled, so think out of the box. Am neurodivergent and fairly intelligent. People don’t want to know what goes on in my brain… I’m with you:). Love your sense of humor about yourself:).
I can tolerate a lot & live simply. I have to have air conditioning. I grew up in the 70s with no AC and for me, the summers were horrible. I cannot take the heat at all. ⛄ Nice channel!
I homeschooled my 5 kids in the 1980s. They are all sociable, professional and successful adults in their 40s and 50s. The “socialization” concern is no longer an issue; I can’t believe people are still bringing it up.
Ikr
I like how you are level headed about everything. How is the garden doing? I harvested my first cucumber pickles today🥒
Some land has restrictions in its deed prescribing the structures, rv's (or no rv's), animals, and uses of the property. Ask a title company or Realtor for best means to obtain those covenants of restrictions *before* you purchase the property - unless you love surprises lol 💥🤯
Canning is not hard. I have an outdoor two burner stove that runs off of propane. Get the Ball canning and food preservation book. I watch Homegrown and Hand Gathered RUclips video. Enjoy your videos. God Bless!
I get that is is hard to film in a camper but perhaps you could show us a typical meal you have cooked. You are right, we are just curious😂
Do you have a video on how to discuss with your spouse about this way of life. I'm ready to buy land and live in our RV with the dogs and kids. He doesn't want to.. thank you 😊
You’re so honest and genuine, love the channel.
Thank you so much 🤗
If anyone decides to hook up to the grid via power pole with an electrical box from the local utility company, understand that they have the legal right to come onto your property at anytime. Even if you then decide to go solar, etc., as long as that pole and box are there and connected, you will pay a monthly bill.
I get the same questions about homeschooling my son. We take field trips and have fun outings. Totally understand the filming and cooking in a camper, I do it and its so much more complicated with such a small area. I can't tell you how many times I've knocked over the tripod. If you ever have any questions about canning or food preservation I'd love to help. I have a canning video that I'm editing right now canning tomatoes I made into sauce. Take care, you're doing a great job and you're making great progress ❤
Thank you!! Feel free to share your video in a comment once you get it posted. I am looking forward to watching it!
@@raisingwildflowers I'm using my electric pressure canner in that video so it may not be as helpful as some of my older ones where I'm using the stove top canner. I will be making another one soon with the stove top after it cools down a bit. We are trying to be so careful right now about not adding extra heat to the camper. It's so hot in Arkansas right now 😫
@@survivinglife__unplugged I will go check out your other videos! We were just talking about rigging up an outdoor kitchen because cooking inside adds so much unneeded heat 🫠 The little things you don’t think about until you are living it 😆
@@raisingwildflowers yes! An outdoor kitchen is so needed! I have a camp chef duel burner that's great for outdoor canning we just don't have it set up yet. If you happen to get one I highly recommend adding some wind guards around it. That will help you keep a steady temp while canning. ❤ now I'm hoping ya'll build it so I can see how you do it.
I know your family is vegan but you grow chickens. Did you change your diet or you're raising chickens to sell the eggs and have an income?
This is a popular question so will definitely be talking about this soon in a future video!
@@raisingwildflowers I am wondering too. Looking fwd to hearing your reply.
We also live in a small city of 1600 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. When we bought our livable fixer upper we also dealt with a shortage of service workers as well. I just kept calling and asking. We got lucky and within 3 weeks to a month we had our new roof, a furnace, and hot water tank. One thing I found out was we were not able to get insurance on out house if we only had a wood heater whether it was a stove or fireplace. We had to have some type of furnace. I am not sure if that is area specific or not.
Thanks for answering my question. I have another . What is the ambience like at night? I imagine it is very dark and quiet? Do you have street lighting nearby?
2nd Comment
Something you might consider investigating is an older Japanese method of building a concret or stone slab that doubles as an accumulater in a fireplace flu.
A smokeless fire's exhaust is directed underneath an elevated floor, transferring a large portion of its heat to the floor, before being drawn up a tall flu to the chimney termination.
Just a thought.
The navite Americans in the plains had tipis with fires inside to stay warm. People have been doing it for thousands of years. Propane isn't a savior. Many ways to stay warm.❤
I tend to laugh when people talk about AC. We were raised without AC in the midwest. Open windows and put a fan in it. Of course the house was built with that in mind and it was in the country. It's the urban areas with all the cement that get really hot. Really enjoyed this video. A lot of good info.
Good morning Katie ♥ We live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and like you we have very nice weather! We brought our window unit with us but it is still in the garage. Like you I don't believe anyone in our families would want to come live with us unless the SHTF. They thought we were crazy moving to the middle on no where knowing no one.
I get my blue barrels on offerup, some people get them for really cheap in huge bulk and sometimes if you are willing to buy large amount you can get good deals. I have couple hundred as I am using them and metal ones for wall barriers.
Fantastic q&a with great info. Thank you! ❤
Do the cooking videos during the winter
Love your videos keep them coming
Thanks!
❤️❤️❤️
We're in the tri city area of Virginia. I envy you! Thanks for answering my question! 😊😊
Love that area!
FUNNY NOW IM 80
BUT ADHD OFF THE CHARTS LEARNING HOW TO DO LIFE 12STEPS ACTUALLY HELPS A LOT THERES MANY SAME 12STEPS USED FOR MANY ISSUES..NOW APPRECIATE MY ENERGY GOOD AT SALES GREAT INTERIOR
DECORATOR VERY COMPASSIONATE EMPATHY LOVE ANIMALS AN NATURE ...BEST FUN WATCHING YOUR WISE BACK TO NATURE SMART WISE!!!! TRAVELED A LOT BEFORE MARRIED HOSTELS IN EUROPE
👍👍👍
Will you drill a well? Can you hook up to the sewer system or do your own? Wish I was younger!
Just be careful living in the RV with kids. My sister took her ex to court for custody. He lived in the Chesapeake, VA area. He was living in an RV and my niece was living at his moms, but was going to move in the him in the RV (it was a big new nice RV he got with insurance after their house had a fire). The RV had nothing to do with why my sister was taking him to court for custody. But after the courts found out he lived in an RV they said it’s not legal in VA (I thought. Unless it’s county specific) for kids to live in an RV. So they said my niece could not live with him and the court actually made her dad, her dads mom (her Grandma) and my sister all 3 as her guardians, but with her living with her Grandma since they said it’s not legal for her as a child to live in an RV.
I was going to add this was just 2.5 years ago that they went to court and then we’re told kids in VA cannot legally live in RVs.
Morning from Hawaii love your tip on be cool without the a/c doing from the summer time
You guys did a great job on your chicken roust/house. Glad to see your sub numbers have jumped.
Have you figured a plan for housing rv in winter
We did not need air conditioning in MN, but it gets hot in Texas. Do you miss Florida? Your homestead is amazing. I love the animals.
That the nice thing of living in a more wooded area, you could even camp out in your little forest,
How are your older daughters doing? Have they made friends in town and adjusted to living in a new place?
Are you concerned about Black Bears I live in Virginia also and have seen and encountered Black bears coming out of the woods trying to break through my window because of a Banana loaf that was made.
Oh gosh 😬 We do have a lot of black bears here, but I have never had one on my property. I think because the bears still have so much natural habitat, they mostly stay in the woods.
This was a great video! Love the Q & A!
I enjoy hearing about your life! Thank you!
I wish I was there to help. I am hyper. I could help with cooking, animals and babysitting.
That would be fun! You and Asher would get a lot done being hyper together 😂
You are all doing an amazing job. Such an inspiration & entertaining too.😊
Another great video! I have a question about your chickens, I know you and your family don't eat animals, will you eat the eggs from your chicks or possibly sell them?
This has been a very popular question! I will definitely be answering it in an upcoming video 😊
one way to have backup heat / cooking is a smokeless "camping" wood stove (AKA, TLUD). It is easy to build out of two coffee/bean cans with a drill.
1 lb of wood can burn for about 20 minutes and boil water within 5.
Thanks for sharing.
Just curious, is your family still vegan ? I know you have chickens now.
Love you channel. You bring up issues that a lot of us would never have thought of . My husband and I own property in Northern Kentucky. No house or utilities on it but we do still have an address for it . We have never thought about receiving mail there since it's not used as a home .
Have you considered the three barrel DIY water filtration system?
Hello from Prince George County, Virginia.
I saw in your video somebody had asked about the humidity but didn't catch a reply. I live in the high mountains desert in California where the temperatures get up to 105 but it's a very dry heat. I used to live in Orange County California close to the beach and the humidity was unbearable. 85 there was harder for me to take than 100° here.
We do have solar so right now we actually have a $300 credit.
I don't know if I shared on this channel, when my husband was living because of his disability we qualified for a grant from a company called Off Griid Alternatives. We heard about them on our major news station so we felt they were legit. They were and we are very grateful for them.
Thanks for the info! Yeah, 85 degrees here and 85 in Florida is sooo different! We do have humidity (maybe around 50% most of the time), but it’s not a 100% humidity sauna like FL 😂
@@raisingwildflowers I just wanted to add that we didn't necessarily qualify for the grant because of his disability (brain cancer) but because I was staying home we were also lower income. They also went to pay your ZIP code. If you live in California and are interested in solar I would Google GRID Alternatives and give them a call, highly recommend.
Try..A. PO BOX TIL GET SETTLED
That was our plan, but you actually need an address to get a P.O.Box 😂 It makes no sense to me either 🤦♀️
@@raisingwildflowers You might be able to get a mail delivery box at a UPS store. Haven't checked if you need an address for that, but our local UPS store has boxes that are like PO Boxes only not through the USPS.
@@seekingtheminimumlevel1830 That is a great idea!
We own property in central VA, 30 minutes from the Blue Ridge. Raw land, 1.34 acres (not huge). Local laws allow to be on the property for 4 weeks @ a time only. We lived on our property there in an old 28 foot camper (hubs spruced up, painted inside white & put in new flooring (he has construction & flooring background). We had no electricity, no running water but had access to water every day, small portable batteries so we could run small fans @ night in summer (it was great!) & charge our cell phones. For those hot days 94+, I went to the local library (4-5 miles away) & enjoyed A/C. The previous owner of the property had permits pulled so we actually had an actual physical address but we chose to get a PO Box because we weren't technically supposed to be living on our property full time. This was during covid (3 years). We moved to another state because hubs just couldn't make enough $$ for us to build anything. We barely were surviving & we were extremely frugal but getting deeper in debt. It takes $$ to live off grid. There were things my hubs could have done to help but he was going through major depression from a serious health scare. We even had a 1550 water tank that never got hooked up. We bought a couple of solar panels but they were never used either, still in the box. I wished I jumped in to build stuff but dealing with my hubs was a lot on my plate. We used our stove heat for winter & went through propane every 3-5 days a week to keep warm. Those trailers aren't insulated much. I did fell some trees. Enjoy your channel.
@@seekingtheminimumlevel1830-- we tried that & were told you need an actual physical address to get a UPS mail Box.
Are you still homeschooling?
Sorry. Just listened to the rest of the. Video!!! Would love some homeschooling video
😊😊
Wood might be cheap but if you plan on any kind of homeowners insurance you won’t have it. A wood burning stove is considered a fire hazard
Wood burning stoves are definitely insurable as long as they are installed correctly 😊
@@raisingwildflowers we had a problem with it. Good luck to you. It’s hard to get insurance any more. It is considered a fire hazard
Wow. To me it’s much more worth it to work and make money (even if I’m not my own boss) and live in comfort. I am an RN and love my job.
Isn't it great to have choice? You are free to choose as you wish, and so is everyone else.
one video said West Va and this video said VA, I've been researching VA for my rv land, what state / county did you find no zoning restrictions, very curious and I NEED A permanent, legal, SAFE place to be. Any info helps. Thank you
We are in the SW part of Virginia.
@@raisingwildflowers thank you VERY much, I was hoping I was on the right track! continued success to you and your family!
@@raisingwildflowersAre y’all near Floyd? I’ve been wanting to move there, I hear it’s very nice there.
@@mycinnamongirl I am not going to say exactly where we are for privacy, but Floyd is a super nice area ❤️