Posted by write4change
(here)
Looking at what you can do with your solar cells. I had a neighbor put some in. I allowed Southern California Edison to lie to me because I did not understand at the time that corps do that. I thought it was to their advantage to work with me on this.
The solar panels my neighbors put in were about a foot in depth and six feet by two feet. They put in 4 and with all the stuff to go with it--storage, conversion, wiring etc. it cost 35,000 and it paid for itself in less than three years. They had theirs on a side of a hill and only got sunlight about six hours a day.
In a clear flat area like this, flat they will take sun about 10 hours a day. You can elevate them maybe 8 feet in the air. Underneath them you can plant things that cannot withstand that intense Texas sun. And again you run drip irrigation underneath.
Out in the sun and in an area where erosion is a problem you plant the Indian three sisters way. You plant corn, beans and squash at the same time. The squash spreads out and covers the ground and the beans climb up the corn. In this combination, they weather most things and actually do better together than alone. You keep at least two horses for all kinds of work. Horse manure unlike cow manure is very dry out in the open and does not attract flies. Horse manure composted is not messy or disgusting.
Another consideration is storage of food. Buying a steel shipping containers now are not that expensive. Then you insulate with R 32 by laying chicken wire over the insulation and typing it in the sides etc. Insulate all 4 sides using pavers on the bottom. Then you rent of hire a neighbor with equipment to dig you a pond. All the dirt from the pond gets thrown over the container and then you plant some kind of vines in the dirt to hold everything in place. You now have a great mound for many creative uses and you have a substantial pond. I have built 5 in my life now. You bring them into ecological balance with gravel and sand filtration, plants and fish, and periodically adding the enzymes and bacteria. This gives you a natural recreation place--absolutely no peeing aloud. And you can produce corn fed cat fish with very little effort. It is possible depending on conditions to build a small windmill for aeration of the water if needed and or as making well water come up to the pond.
The trees need pruning once a year and fertilizing once a year. The three sisters plant and fertilize at the same time. The harvest is how you want to do it. Some every day--all at once probably both. The fish you throw corn every day they will get tame and actually let you pet them coming to feed. In this area there are no water mocassins to start and it is too far for them to crawl. Rattle snakes need attention paid but usually give fair warning and no one pokes under stones or holes stupidly. So you have an income crop, stables crop, a protein crop of fish without a great deal of aggravation.
One of the reasons you want to be friends and part of the community, is that you will be really small. Tractor needs will be initial and then rare. Buying and maintaining a big tractor is a wasted of time and money. Being able to rent and hire from your neighbors is important. In Texas I planted six acres of sorgum sp? which produced really well. Got those huge rolling barrels of it. I hired my neighbor to plant it for $300 and for him on his machines it was a couple of hours work. He produced huge fields of it. He also produced some bermuda alfa hay. I had 5 horses. I gave him all the sorgum for him giving me a barn load of hay. To produce his hay--he had field irrigation which I did not nor did the sorgum need. So it cost me 300 a year to feed my horses. cheap and effective and appreciative bonds formed.
I worked a 20 acre ranch in Texas entirely by myself. Besides the pecans which I put in I had a small orchard that was there when I bought it. I also had a small green house that was there. It was made by stacking cinder blocks as a base then building a 2 by 4 Frame and then coving with simple sheets of PVC plastic. I grew all kinds of herbs, tomatoes etc. in it all year round. For a heavy duty weather environment===they have a kind of lucite that mimicks corrugated steel roofing. I had a five acre front lawn. From March to November I mowed two hours a day on a small deerfield riding tractor. I did a lot of meditating on that tractor. My husband said he could see I was happiest on that tractor.
On the ranch that I totally cared for I had 5 horses, 5 dogs, at least a dozen cats, free range chickens, two goats, two llamas, a raccoon, and a flock of guinea hens. They are the best security system you can have. Don't ask me how but they learn the property lines they belong to. They hunt all day on the ground in a flock for various insects and snake like things. They roost in the trees at night. I fed them once a day in the morning and they spent the rest of the time doing their own thing. They were more wild than tame. When anything strange appears, it is the guinea hens that set up a ruckus.
I am a horse whisper and train very well. In California I hold a state title 4 years in a row. Something that has never been done before. One of my horses liked dressage so much I could his music on and he would practice by himself in the round pen. I have sold horses that I paid 5,000 for 50,000 after I trained them. Some things I am now too old to do consistently but I can still teach.
Next up the community housing.
Re: Personal Experience with Utopian Concepts
Beware the axis of sanctimony.
Then they got desperate calling me back and offering to cut this fee, that fee. No no no, I shrug. Not thanks. You essentially just drug off 600 dollars in debt and I'm having a good time with that extra disposable income. 
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