The property itself has a mix of conditions – a long rock and sand ridge; a small fern wetland area; a homesite clearing with our simple house, and some established apple, plum and cherry trees; a garden area surrounded by grapes and blackberries; a mix of forest throughout with mature Douglas Fir, cedar, maple and other trees; and a hillside at the far back of the property that stretches upward towards the Sunshine Coast Trail.
The soil is a mix of sandy areas, with clay zones, deep black wetland soil, and large jumbled rocks on the hillside that might be used for future building. There appears to be plenty of available water on the property even during the driest summers.
This is an off-grid location with the nearest power lines approximately 1-2 kms away across Crown and private land. We presently use solar in the summer (a single 130 W panel has been supplying all of our basic summer home needs (lights, laptops, music, blender, etc), but we’ll likely expand that in the future. We’ve experimented successfully with a solar-oven this year. We use a propane fridge in the summer, and the stove also uses propane. We heat and do a lot of winter cooking on the woodstove.
During the winter we try to use modest amounts of electricity and charge the battery bank using a small gas generator. However, we are presently a year into an application process for a microhydro project which would give us a relatively abundant supply of electric power during about 6 months of the year (approx 6-12+ kw/day to be shared by property residents). While this is not yet secured, I am optimistic about our chance of approval based on the government and First Nations cooperation up to this point. The microhydro would compliment the summer solar season.
The soil is a mix of sandy areas, with clay zones, deep black wetland soil, and large jumbled rocks on the hillside that might be used for future building. There appears to be plenty of available water on the property even during the driest summers.
This is an off-grid location with the nearest power lines approximately 1-2 kms away across Crown and private land. We presently use solar in the summer (a single 130 W panel has been supplying all of our basic summer home needs (lights, laptops, music, blender, etc), but we’ll likely expand that in the future. We’ve experimented successfully with a solar-oven this year. We use a propane fridge in the summer, and the stove also uses propane. We heat and do a lot of winter cooking on the woodstove.
During the winter we try to use modest amounts of electricity and charge the battery bank using a small gas generator. However, we are presently a year into an application process for a microhydro project which would give us a relatively abundant supply of electric power during about 6 months of the year (approx 6-12+ kw/day to be shared by property residents). While this is not yet secured, I am optimistic about our chance of approval based on the government and First Nations cooperation up to this point. The microhydro would compliment the summer solar season.
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