Thank you. Yeah the posts are a concern of ours as well for exactly what you bring up. We were really surprised at how short the posts would have been and it made notching them to attach the beam really awkward.

Edit: We did not treat the cut ends. I watched a really good YouTube series afterward and was like yup, wish we did that.

I actually really recommend this book in particular: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Guide-Updated/dp/1589236599

There's more to building a deck than just having it meet building codes, so I still found it useful.

If you haven’t already, you should read ‘Norwegian wood’ by Lars Mytting. It’s an excellent book about chopping, stacking, and drying wood.

Here’s the link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1419717987/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_36ASJN61XP5VVKNVZ8MK

Wow, yes, you are indeed in way over your head.

Go old-school. Borrow every book on home electrical repair from your nearest library. Search amazon for home electrical repair books. There are many available used for a dollar or two, especially in home repair book series' from Home Depot or Black & Decker, etc. Example: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Guide-Wiring/dp/1589236017

Read them through, and then read them through again. A 20-year-old home electrical book will not have up-to-date safety code information, but it will at least give you the major concepts and guidelines, and the groundwork for asking more informed and complete questions here.

For outlet issue: an outlet tester is a good first step, but it is only the very simplest tip of the iceberg. There are still all kinds of other things that can be wrong, when the tester shows good. It's like looking at the gas gauge on the car-- tells you if you have gas; doesn't tell you if your transmission is busted.

The outlet tester only tells you if the wires were hooked up in the right order. It doesn't tell you if your circuits have the capacity to run everything you want. Learn about circuit breakers and check the breaker panel for ones that have overloaded and shut off, when the outlet goes out.

Good luck!

Basic survival needs include food, water, and shelter (including protection from dangers\weather, clothing, and a safe place to get enough sleep). It looks like your fiance is working hard on the shelter part and on catching food. I would urge you to work on your food sources. What are you going to eat the first spring? Where will it come from. What will you plant first so that you can eat in the summer and into the fall. How much do you need to plant and how will you preserve your harvest for winter?

There are a lot of good resources out there. When we first started we bought "The Backyard Homestead" (book link below). There are probably better books out there, but this one is usually available used and it really helped me with ideas on what we could do. It has basic info on foraging, vegetables, meat, fruit & nuts, herbs and grains. Also includes info on canning and preserving.

Start off small. Practice with some gardening this next year if you can. TX is wonderful to try out a small fall garden right now, and you can plant this coming spring (usually in Feb) and start understanding what works for you. The Backyard Homestead

I would suggest reading the book "Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way" to learn about the tried and tested techniques behind all of this.

These tips come from me as a scandinavian, there might be some difference in the UK, but see these as general tips.

Always buy wood in bulk, if you can buy unseasoned wood then do it. It's alot cheaper, but remember that wood should be handled and laying for drying before midsumer - ish early june. Wood is like insurance, its really freaking nice to have. Buy atleast for 2-3 years forward then you'll be able to get a good price. Here someone from the UK will have to step in, but i'd say never pay more than 500sek per cubic meter. What a decent price in the UK is, idk.

Here comes a rant on BTU, i've never understod it so i'll use Kw/h. But what i mean is count on how much you need, 1 kg of birch wood is ish 4kw/h (1364 btu). You'll easily be able to heat your house with wood, but man you need like 10-20 cubic meter. And thats alot of work to handle.

When it comes to burning remember to do it correctly, every burner has its pro's and cons and be sure to read the manual. You cant keep a burner going for over 400 celsuis for a longer time, it will destroy your burner and your chimney. Your relation with your burner is a deep one, you need to learn how it works.

Sweep your chimney, here we have rules that it needs to be done every second year. With that said you need to do it alot more often if you burn alot. We do it every year and we only go through 3-5 cubic meter every year.

If you want to deep dive and learn alot i'd recomend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Norwegian-Wood-Chopping-Stacking-Scandinavian/dp/1419717987/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1668171181&refinements=p_27%3ALars+Mytting&s=books&sr=1-1

It's 50% tips and 50% poetry regarding wood.

The sheds my father uses to dry and store firewood has 1" slits between the boards in the walls, and even some hatches on the walls without doors that can be opened to let even more air in.

He usually built the sheds with a front and back door, then stacked along the back wall first, then rows in front of that until it was filled up. This can take several years. Then he opened the back door and used the wood there first. That was he always used the oldest wood first.

Anyway...

Have you read this book?

https://www.amazon.com/Norwegian-Wood-Chopping-Stacking-Scandinavian/dp/1419717987/ref=sr_1_2

58% OFF! NOW: $7.94

Best Seller

The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre! Paperback – February 11, 2009 by Carleen Madigan (Editor) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603421386 https://www.reddit.com/r/AmazingDeals/comments/sk6866/58_off_now_794_best_seller_the_backyard_homestead/

We've built a coop from here twice. If you keep them in the run, it will not house that many, but if you let them free range, they will hold a lot of chickens. backyard projects

https://www.amazon.com/Projects-Building-Backyard-Homestead-Hands/dp/1580117104/ref=pd_bxgy_img_1/141-1597890-8463126?pd_rd_w=i8GKN&pf_rd_p=c64372fa-c41c-422e-990d-9e034f73989b&pf_rd_r=NY64VC9CB70KKDR8WB31&pd_rd_r=00baf5a1-34bb-4479-ba...

This book has a good/simple coop design.

I recommend this. Shows how to lay out different size lots.

https://www.amazon.com/Projects-Building-Backyard-Homestead-Hands/dp/1580117104/ref=sr\_1\_1\_sspa?crid=4KICTW7JHTH1&keywords=backyard+homestead+projects&qid=1641174024&sprefix=backyard%2520homestead%2520projkects%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-...

Your link was broken for me.

It seems to work if you remove the extra:
https://www.amazon.com/Projects-Building-Backyard-Homestead-Hands/dp/1580117104/

FYI, when sharing amazon links, you can always remove the “/ref=…” which is just link tracking stuff for amazon to know where the source of the click came from.

If you want information overload, we bought this book (well, its precursor) in 2013, and have referenced it more times that I can count: https://www.amazon.com/Country-Wisdom-Know-How-Everything-Need-dp-0316276960/dp/0316276960

It’s American, so not everything applies, but take a look at The Backyard Homestead: Produce All the Food You Need on Just a Quarter Acre.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1603421386

Be prepared to make (and eat) a lot of canned and pickled food.

Hi, I don't know of any post like that but this book helped me a ton with planning my homestead. I am doing a backyard version. Still a work in progress. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1603421386/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_2BCWYA7BE4S7N16ZPXVW

Congrats on the new property! I hope it becomes everything you want it to be. It sounds like you have some good basic goals to achieve and with some good planning, should be fairly easy to achieve.

The rain barrels are a great idea. Be sure to think about an electric pump. My barrels are fairly close to the ground, so I don't have enough head pressure to water directly from the barrels without a pump. My garden is fairly small, so I don't mind using a watering can.

I think renting your roof out to produce solar, only to still lose power when the grid goes down is a poor trade off. I got a quote a few years ago for a 5.3 KW system that was only $17,000. With financing options and a down payment, you can own the panels and keep your electricity on when the grid goes down.

I also recommend the book "The Backyard Homestead" and the companion book "TBH Guide to Farm Animals."

Amazon Link

Good luck on your new adventure!

I swear by this book.

Books don't disappear if you lose power or internet, and this one has so much stuff in it, you should be covered with most things that come up on a homestead

Here is an easy read that provides an introduction:(Amazon) Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way

Here is an easy read that provides an introduction:(Amazon) Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way

A book, seriously. Even if you only need/use a fraction of stuff, it's worth it. I'm not even a prepper but you would be amazed at the stuff you can do yourself if you want to without hiring people to do it or the stuff you didn't even know you could do or needed to.

Country Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land

Check this book out. It should give you so the info you need. Amazon link

There is a book all about this. Amazon link

It turns out this is a thing. Google 'mini farm'.

I think this is the book my wife has. Or it is very similar. It claims to be able to sustain off just 1/4 acre! I just cannot imagine.

I think part of the problem is that my property is mostly woods. I'd have to do an immense amount of cutting to get enough sun in for planting. As such, I probably feel I need more land than I do.

When we were first getting started (before we left the suburbs), we really enjoyed this book: https://smile.amazon.com/Backyard-Homestead-Produce-food-quarter/dp/1603421386/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525797710&sr=8-1&keywords=backyard+homestead

It's breadth is "a mile wide and an inch deep" but it helped to scratch the surface and help us find what we wanted to do and research more versus what we weren't interested in trying right away. It's a pretty easy read and just touches on many topics providing just enough information to get you started doing a project, basic troubleshooting with that item, and then moves on to a new topic.

Excellent cover-all type book, IMO: The Backyard Homestead. Wife uses it, has good intro points on a lot of topics. Be resourceful; pigs are garbage eaters, have variety in your veggies to spread out the burden of harvest season, and be prepared to give it some time. Like most quality en devours, it takes time. But you can change your homestead around your land - depends on your willingness to work with what you've got. Not everyone needs hundreds of acres.

Haven't read it but the Taunton press is a pretty legit publisher

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Shed-Tauntons-Build-Like/dp/1561589667 YouTube can bring it all together on how to execute operations and selecting and using tools.

Also building codes and construction techniques vary widely depending on where you live and with good reason. Climate, weather, seismic activity etc all determine how a structure needs to be engineered to be safe and long-standing.

https://smile.amazon.com/Backyard-Homestead-Produce-food-quarter/dp/1603421386/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470918727&sr=8-1&keywords=backyard+homestead

This, and some of the other ones in that series like the animal one, are pretty good for getting started. Not super in depth, but a great resource for just starting out - especially in smaller spaces.

The siding and the flashing aren't that complicated. A decent reference book to walk you through the process is handy. I tend to like the Black and Decker books. https://www.amazon.ca/Black-Decker-Complete-Guide-Updated/dp/1589236599

Norwegian Wood

One of my favourite books of all time. Goes into the cathartic experience that stacking wood creates. And goes over the details like in your website.

Thank you for the explanation! I made a cynical assumption and I appreciate your patience with me. In the states I'm just used to people using token 'worldliness' to feel more sophisticated. Since Scandinavian culture/design is currently all the rage in the U.S. I got a nice irony boner out of this photo. My ignorance was fun while it lasted.

Though I have to admit I'm even worse than my fellow countrymen who just like Ikea. I'm currently reading this book and loving it http://www.amazon.com/Norwegian-Wood-Chopping-Stacking-Scandinavian/dp/1419717987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457716639&sr=8-1&keywords=wood+stacking+book So the neat wood stack in this picture is my favorite part. I also really enjoyed 'Lillyhammer' on Netflix and am still bitter it was cancelled.

-I do realize that Finland has nothing to do with Ikea or that show.

-Though the only things that come to mind when I think of Finland is the famous quiet Stoicism of the people and your amazing resistance to the Russians in WWII. I'd love to visit someday and annoy the locals with my endless chatter.