No fluff. No meandering whooosywhatsit. No naval gazing. No standup philosophy. No electronic frontier. Work well… and you’ll be treated well. Work badly…. and you will dye (with no apologies to that gloriously overacted movie, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country). What are PN and TS tackling… RIGHT now.
DREADFUL DIARY – UPDATED AS WE (RE)LEARN X, Y, AND Z!
03/01/2026 until 04/01/2026… and every couple of days now! We’re clearing up to 60 cm of powdery white stuff off the pathways, around the building skirt, around GENNY-Generac (the generator), the torpedo, and to the outbuildings and ground-mounted photovoltaic panel.
…and digging. And digging. Life on the farm. Life off-grid = one has to carve out pathways from the door to the critical outbuildings’ access hatches. And that does not ever begin to address the metric fuckton of snow piled up on the metal roofs and glass electrical panels! Those pretty accumulations on top of the rain gutters? Yeah, those turn into ice dams and can rip the fuckers right off during the next snow melt.
03/01/2026… ug. Life on the farm = lesson Farmer Neem learned last year = and he’s sure as shit ensuring it gets done for 2026. SCRAPE AWAY icy buildup and slush off snow blower mechanicals… after… every… single… blowing-session. Don’t get lazy and say, “meh, it’ll drip dry overnight”. Honey, it won’t and definitely not when the overnight temperature plummets to minus 15 Celsius. The gasoline motor melts snow overspray, that dribbles into the gear and belt housing connecting the flywheel to the auger drive system, AND THEN REFREEZES. Cub Cadet does not make the drain holes large or plentiful enough to allow complete drainage (good reasons why-not; more holes means more access points for fingers and contamination).
…The Cub Cadet snowblower belt-drive is designed to not rip fingers off, unlike the PTO drive shaft on a Kubota tractor. This is why THERE ARE WARNING STICKERS ALL OVER THE POWER-TAKE-OFF DRIVES ON TRACTORS. Hell, the hydraulic actuators on other tractor accessories have enough crushing strength to mangle body parts. Translation: read-the-fucking-manual on power tools and get training for someone who ya trust.
Lesson from off grid: you gotta be willing to do the work. And you need to pay attention to what you are doing! The following videos highlight snow clearing, removal tool maintenance, power shed housekeeping, vehicle preparation.
06/01/2025. Life off grid is NOT safe and care-free. We do all kinds of hare-brained schemes here in the woods. STAY SAFE AND CONNECTED OUTSIDE ON THE FARM = Carry walkie talkie radios outside when doing chores. Unless TS and I are working side-by-side, this has got to be done. If I have a cardiac event, twist & break ankle on a mini-karsk, get propositioned by the local bears to play Uker, or nick myself with an axe, I need to call for help. Cell phone coverage is spotty on the Bruce Peninsula, my iWatch’s walkie-talkie feature just isn’t robust enough, and it would take 1/2h for an ambulance to reach our property — in the summer!
Happy 2026. And remember folks, practice safe sex with volcano demonstrations!
06/01/2025… I gotta stop procrastinating and go outside to help TS clear away wet slushy snow. FACT = snow clearing a backbreaking work. DO NOT OVERDO IT. My right hip’s IT bands are screaming bloody murder. TS aches all over. Don’t let anybody fool you about homesteading be airy-fairy-nice-nice activity. It ain’t.
FACT = online reviews need to be monitored, especially if there’s negative or disparaging posts about a local tradesperson. Design Electric, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada (((1095 1st Ave W unit #3, Owen Sound, ON N4K 4K7))))). My link and I urge you share it around: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5d6e5nrQL8ZW3zXDA
07/01/2026. LIFE ON THE FARM. Pro tip… leave a sled and warning cones at the top of the driveway. Melting snow accumulation is slicker than snot on a sheet of hockey rink plexiglass (eww)!
BCB&B, neemtree, bdb, and blog 