>living in the Mojave desert
Enjoy your hot, empty, boring with no internet or things to do.
Also snakes.

>>95005
1) Yes. The Mojave Desert. I don't ask for you to state how obviously hot it will be.
2) Empty? That's kinda the purpose of homesteading.
3) Boring? No things to do? Every day will be a struggle and every day will bring more necessary repairs and problems to be fixed.

First off, drill a well.

This will eat a lot of your budget.

>>95012
>drill a well
>Mojave desert
Yeah, uh, about your ground water options...

>>95014
There's ground water in a desert.

You may have to drill a few hundred feet to find it.

So, back to my research. I have broken it down into three subcategories.
1) Resources
2) Security
3) Survival

I'll do 1-3 posts on each.
Starting now:
~~~~~~~~~~
RESOURCES
~~~~~~~~~~
Water: Water will be the largest problem with this plan.
Water can be gathered in two possible ways:

1)A solar "Water From Air" system (Picture <----)
Pros: Solar powered, will always have water (8 gal/day), maintenance free, 12 stage filtration and pumps water.
Cons: Expensive. $4,300 for all of it.

2)A fog/dew collector (next photo)
Pros: Cheap
Cons: Might not collect enough, also maintenance heavy. Also requires external filtering.

======================
Up Next: Food and Gardening
======================

>>95016
I'm amazed and excited about that water farming device. I live in New Mexico in our water table is more than 180 feet deep where I live. The cost to drill a well are well into the $15-$20,000 range.

If you really could extract a gallons of water per day I think that would be more than enough with correct planning to live on.

Do you have any berms on your property? If so I would be inclined to put a fortified temporary structure like a shipping container or steel beam fortified mobile home into one. The less exposure the walls have, or in other words the more insulation you have on those walls, the more moderate your temperatures will be.

You may not need filtration devices on all of your water extracting methods, since some of that water will not be used for drinking.

>>95015
Google reveals well depth is 400 to 600 ft in the Mojave.

>>95021
eight gallons. sorry, using recognition software here.

another viable option for housing is using an Adobe brick or Cobb style brick structure, and maybe also a hay bale construction. The hay bale type's are expensive and trendy right now.

That's whatsup OP. I live in Hesperia. Shit sucks in the high desert. Nothing to do except fight some cholos or smoke some meth.

>>95022
if true in this case, the cost of drilling would be outrageous, as in in the millions .

>>95026
Estimates show $25k to $40k.

>>95030
well, that's pretty odd. I live in a suburban area New Mexico and the prices are through the roof for one third the size.

Mind you, the price lowers per foot. But it is not uncommon to hear of people being charged or quoted 100-$200,000around these parts.

Perhaps that area of California has lots of unused drilling rigs for the oil industry.

==================
FOOD AND GARDENING
==================
First 4 months: I will have plants(beans, peas, squash, etc.) growing previous to moving.
I will also be growing sprouts(pictured), which take 4 days to grow fully.
There are rabbits in the area, so I will be setting up Frabill Net traps (Pictured next) to catch them (I am skilled in both gardening and trapping).
I will be following this guide for the garden:
http://survivalcache.com/survival-gardening-emergency-seeds-1/

Get connected with burners and throw parties there. That will help with some costs. Get some of the hippies to help you with eco-steading or eco-projects; do greenhouse work, solar, and aquaponics.

>>95023
Thanks for giving those options. That's currently my main concern-- housing.

>>95042
no problem.

I should say that the straw bale solution is expensive and trendy, but if you had a few connections, and took over most of the project yourself, and limited the architectural needs of the building itself, could possibly do this in an affordable way. The use of straw bale besides being a sustainable building method, has the other characteristic of being an extraordinarily high value in insulation properties.

>>95040
That's up next.
=====================
ADDITIONAL FOOD
=====================

1)Vertical Hydroponics (pictured):
I think I'll grow lettuce, herbs, and carrots.

2)I plan on indulging myself every Saturday with fast food.

3)I will move my current beekeeping operation
(Did I mention I'm a beekeeper?) to Adelanto.

4) I will buy chickens from a local farmer.
That's several eggs a day, and a damn good source of protein.

5) I also forgot to mention that I will be setting up a planter with compost/dirt mixture soil.

==================
VEGETABLE LIST
==================

Peas, plant from seed anytime now

Brussels Sprouts, get seedlings from nursery

Cabbage, get seedlings from nursery

Carrots, plant from seed when soil warms

Beans, green and dry, plant from seed anytime after last frost

Spinach, plant from seed after last frost

Potatoes, plant eyes, in the bottom of furrows after last frost

(Hydroponics with a solar growlight will provide year-round food)

==================
INTERNET
==================
Might use satellite
Will use iPhone or 4G card (Surprisingly good service due to no interference)

++++++++++++++
Up Next: SECURITY
++++++++++++++
Pic semi-related: My favourite bean.

~~~~~~~~
SECURITY
~~~~~~~~

There are three main op-sec threats:

1) Those fucking cartels
2) Those fucking snakes and scorpions
3) Those fucking dirtbike riders

======================
CARTEL DEFENSE
======================
1) I have no idea.
2) I own several guns and know how to keep a low profile.
3) I will hide all apparently expensive shit from plain sight (may be hard with all the solar panels)
Additional research: http://survivalcache.com/private-property-control-and-patrol-family-survival-retreat/
===================
WILDLIFE DEFENSE
===================
1) I've enjoyed "herping" (practicing herpetology)
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpetology )
since I was 10
2) I will clear all brush and continually fill holes to discourage snakes.
3) http://www.serpentguard.com/?gclid=CLr7tvWghq0CFQVvhwoduAkQSA
^^^ That looks awesome. Harmless, powerful, and won't wash away after a rain
======================
DIRTBIKER DEFENSE
======================
1) I am skilled at putting up 3-wire barbed fences.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/sanders103.html
2) I may let them on the land every once in a while. I'm not a *total* killjoy.

>>95024
Yes, but it's not permanent. It might be, but not likely... I just want to enjoy life.

>>95051
What fucked up individual made straw bale houses expensive suddenly?

>>95072
I have two ideas for simultaneous security and food. Both involve growing plants in the Mojave desert along your fence. Both provide edible fruit with medicinal properties. The second your bees can use to make honey; the first you can use to get high.

Low effort, low protection: Prickly pear cactus. Big enough to be an obstacle. Doesn't give a shit about it being the Mojave. But a guy with a truck can crash your party.

High effort, high protection: Blackberry bushes. Will form a tightly-knit mass of brambles ten feet tall and ten feet wide with no structural assistance from you. A hardy weed/invasive species, it should survive if you use your greywater and sludge to fertilize the soil.

Pic related, its the prickly pear. For blackberries, google them or think back to the brambles from Donkey Kong Country.

>>95022
>Google reveals well depth is 400 to 600 ft in the Mojave.

water from deep aquifers can have a lot of dissolved minerals, to the point where it clogs pipes and tastes terrible.
which gets to the point that you need to ask locals if they drink the water, and how they do things in general
/diy/ is helpful of course, but no one is going to know like the people who've been living there

>>95084
Thinking the same thing.

>>95117
Thanks. idk about the berries, but I'll definitely add the prickly pear to the list.
Put it in a pan with some butter... Noice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SURVIVAL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3 sections, again:

1)Heating, lighting
2)Electricity
3)Cooking

======================
HEATING AND LIGHTING
======================

1)Heating: I will be using a rocket stove (pictured)
It's an exhaustless, 95% efficient heating method.
2)My outside lights:
Those $1.49 solar walkway lights at target? I'll take 25.
Cheap, long-lasting, perfect for this.
3)Inside lights:
12V lights hooked up to 12V solar panel.
https://www.google.com/search?q=12v+light#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&tbm=shop

=============
ELECTRICITY
=============

1) SOLAR w/ battery
https://www.google.com/search?q=Solar+panel+12V&hl=en&tbm=shop&aq=f

Pros: It's the fucking desert.
Cons: It will cost a lot, and it's high profile.

2) WIND underground (will draw diagram later)
Pros: Low key

==============
COOKING
==============

1) My favourites: The no-cost coke can camp stove, or the fish can/cardboard campstove (photo up later) (11/10)

2) Fire pit with rotating roasting setup

3) DIY Solar toaster oven!
Baked goods, cookie dough, on a weekly basis.

ANYTHING ELSE? SUGGEST/CRITIQUE!
Want more specifics? Let me know!

Tin Can Hobostove, as promised (1/2)

2/2

>>95132
I think he was agreeing with you. If it a 180 ft well is prohibitively expensive, a 400-600 ft well would be completely out of the question.

>>95135

those thermal mass rocket stove setups are pretty awesome looking. I see a lot of YouTube videos of them getting Doug back up when they don't work so well. I would be more inclined to use a more traditional rocket stove design with a shorter flue.

I personally don't have any problem with anything you've written here. It seems as though you really Considered everything.

I would consider the cost of some large used cisterns. One of those filled on occasion would not be such a bad idea and would give you an emergency backup over top of the appliances that you have. I'm a little leery of the amount of moisture in the air available for evaporative farming.

>>95084

The deal with the straw bale construction homes is that it's become very popular among the wealthy to build green. As such, the contractors who cater to these rich people are used to building 5000 square-foot plus homes in majestic areas etc. etc. of course I have no experience in the matter but I would suspect that you would see your average home contractor with any experience in straw bale homes accustomed to very large mansion type dwellings. There are some resources online that illustrate more pragmatic designs.

>>95135
Consider the self-contained bio system:

Graywater goes through a gravel filter and then into your flush toilet.

Food waste goes into a grinder and into the digester.

Flush toilet feeds blackwater into the digester.

Digester is a pressure vessel containing anaerobic microbes. It produces heat, biosludge, and biogas.

Heat: Run pipes between it and the pond to keep fish warm.

Biosludge: Clean(er) compost. Grow mushrooms in a closet. Raise black soldier flies and worms in a vermiculture box to feed the pupa/worms to the fish. Use as fertilizer.

Biogas: Water scrubbing cleans it up to 95% methane.

Methane: Operate any natural gas appliances. Home heating, air conditioning, water heater, and cooking. Recharge your batteries with excess gas via a gas engine (45% efficiency). Do this at night when its cold, so the 55% heat loss warms the house.

Edison cell: Nontoxic, will last 50 years, 6.6 Watts/$, and 80% efficiency. Use for lighting, pumps, and your computer.

Solar cell: You've already bought a 300 Watt panel; it comes with the air-to-water package. When you're not using it to make water, recharge the batteries.

Combining vermiculture with aquaponics creates a self-contained system. If you chose not to use your compost to grow fly pupa or worms for your fish, you will have to supplement your fishes algae diet with fish food or duckweed. Fish food costs money; duckweed costs space in your hydroponics you would have grown food for yourself.

If you chose to raise goats for milk and chickens for eggs, and use a dog to protect the animals from themselves and pests, you will have more poop to feed into the digester.

Note the standard 6-8 m^3 digesters used in India are $500 and release 300 m^3 biogas a year. Each m^3 of biogas, being 50-75% CH4, holds 5-7.5 kWh of energy. This averages to about 5 kWh a day. Compare to solar cells, which produce approximately 1 kWh per day per m^2 (a 150 Watt unit is about 1 m^2).

>>95184
OP, listen to this guy.

I am totally into black soldier flies. And I have never even seen one as far as I know. Some very cool stuff these things are basically garbage eating protein producing feed.

>>95191
Yeah. I love how the pupa emerge from the compost and climb right into the collector and thence to their fishy doom. Less work for you!

Looked again at the EcoloBlue site. The package deal on their most expensive model is $4300, but you can buy the 7 gallon (26 liter) version standalone unit for $1000. You don't need an inverter if you're running everything in your compound on 12V DC. The panels you can buy your damn self for $1.10-$1.15/Watt wholesale. Unless you were planning on having the machine make water at night, you don't need batteries, but you can get Edison cells yourself at 6.6 Watts/$ if you wanted to.

My point is you can get water from the air for cheap, only $1000 for the actual device. The rest (batteries and panels) you were going to buy anyway. Note this is 1/3rd the cost of a new refrigerator.

My question is, if your whole house is running 12V DC, do you need a power supply unit for your computer? How would that affect your average laptop or desktop?

You should also take some stimpaks and a suit of power armor, oh, and radaway

OP, I would suggest bringing condoms. I went camping a while ago and started a lifesaving fire by pissing into a condom and using it as a magnifying glass to start a fire. They can also carry large amounts of water and are small enough to carry everywhere. Just make sure not to melt them in the hot sun.

check out how cody lundin lives.

>>95333
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TQgRO6a-8w

He seems like a cool enough dude in this video.

>>95342
he wrote a book about him living in a desert. He really knows what he is doing, check out this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWpSVNrt0LU

>>95184
That's really cool. How do I package/contain the biogas in a way that allows me to use it to cook?

build an earthship

>>95308
>EcoloBlue
Awesome. Thanks for letting me know. Also, I do want it running at night. That's when there'll be the most water in the air.
>Edison cells:
6.6 Watts/$? Really? I've heard they're costly as hell.
>Power supply unit for computer
I would use some sort of car-battery-to-computer hookup(pic).
I've done it before while living in Mexico, and that was back
when solar power cost 5 dollars/Watt. Since laptops want
DC anyways, it's fairly simple to just hook it up.
>Speaking of Refrigerators,
I'll be getting this bad boy.
http://compare.ebay.com/like/180715360644

>>95333
>>95362
>>95342
Thanks, I'll check out his book soon. I love his
survival methods on Dual Survival.
This is the kind of experience I'm looking for.

>>95544
Too much money. And takes too much space. Unless
I'm wrong, which I might be. How much do trashed tires
cost?

Another factor is the building codes. Does anyone know if reinforced adobe can pass average building inspection?

>>95016

You'll need a droid that speaks Bachhi. It's like the binary language of load lifters.

I used to own some land in hesperia but i sold it to pay off some college stuff. I still live in apple valley.

I have nothing else to say but good luck.

I think I see some old man's beard over there

>>95039
Grow a shitload of weed as there ain't much else to do.

So what about underground shelters, or semi-underground shelters?

Dirt is a great insulator. It'll help with heating and cooling.

bump for interest

Make Slab City 2

Then lots of people will come and help you !

Step 1: See what your closest neighbors do.
Step 2: Do that.

/thread

Or get a loan and build a liquor store out there. Indians love their fire water.

>>95591
No. No. No.

And umm No.

>>95598
That's a great idea, but I have no idea about how the building inspector would see it.

>>95653
Step 1: The neighbours have been living there for generations.
Step 2: I'm attempting to live off the power and water grid.

Another view.

OP, change your trip, it's really easy to crack

>>95796
Really? prove it.

>>95829
Look at me, I'm a big fat faggot with a dictionary word tripcode.

>>95774

Then idk, learn to live in a teepee and live like an indian they seemed to do fine till white people arrived.

This is a boarder line troll thread if there's still a problem OP can't figure out. Just dig a well, get some solar panels, bring in planting junk and all the soil you need and you're done.

>>95886
can you crack mine then?

This just doesn't look practical any way you slice it OP. Not only is there no water but the soil itself is alcaline and has very little microbial life. It is a dead zone.

Unless you have a huge budget for a well or trucking in water or opening a liquor store then you are just pissing in the wind.

>>95902
Of course.

Hey op im from Lancaster


just dont come here you honestly dont want to

>>95907
lol

>>95886
Good job. Now find out how exactly that helps you.

>>95076
I don't see it getting any better anytime soon. It seems to be getting worse, but I have faith.

>>95024
FUCK!!! I live in Modesto. Shit sucks in the central valley. Nothing to do except fight some cholos or smoke some meth.
We should fucking hang out. GOD DAMNIT! I was so hoping it was different in socal..

>>96028
Nope. Cholo's galore. I can score about an 1/8th of high quality. Too bad I'm not a tweaker, otherwise life would be sweet.

>>95769
I don't think it's illegal to build a basement with nothing on top.

>>96097

Not an inspector but I'm sure it has it's own set of safety concerns. Like making sure the walls don't cave in or carbon monoxide issues.

>>96100
Concrete reinforced rebar is good stuff.

I doubt carbon monoxide would be a huge issue? It's not like you're barbecuing indoors.

>>95184
How does one prevent the Methane from exploding and killing me?

>>95135
wind diagram, as promised. It's not really very feasible. Just an idea.

>>95072
> DIRTBIKER DEFENSE
> I may let them on the land every once in a while. I'm not a *total* killjoy.

Enjoy being sued six-ways-to-Sunday when one them gets hurt on your property.

>>96785
True. Good point.
Is there some sort of liability waiver that one can use? I just want everyone to be happy.

>>96992
post no trespassing signs in english y espanol

>>95002
Insulated concrete forms. ICF is your friend OP. With some sweat equity, you can put together a house with a basement hella cheap that'll require very little maintenance, has good heat transfer properties by itself, and just generally is THE way to go with modern construction.

Also, don't figure on doing everything at once. You don't have enough money to do it up correctly at this time. Just do what you can with it when you can, sit down and plan out your stages to construction. What sort of things you'll need when, then knock it out one bit at a time. Before you know it, it'll all be done.

>>96998
for no trespassing/no hunting signs to mean shit, you've got to be able to stand at one sign and see the signs to the left and right of it (i.e. the one further down the line in both directions).

Ok bro, so I just read all of this crap and I am going to ignore everyone else and just post my own ideas and in my own order

Electricity, solar, wind, you said you were in a desert, so that's about what you have available.

Sewage - Biogas digester (this will provide you with a useable fuel for cooking and heating, it will treat your waste material and will produce viable compost for growing your own food, add in an H2S Scrubber, a full lab and technical knowledge you could use the H2S to synthesize many Organosulfer compounds such as methanethiol, ethanethiol, and thioglycolic acid. Personally I take the shit that comes out of the scrubber and send it to a lab that buys it from me at about 7 cents an ounce, I can't use it and my shit barrel makes enough a year that I make about 90 bucks a year from the h2s, I bought a commercially available h2s scrubber)

Food - http://www.growfood.org/

Water - Dehumidifiers, your in the desert, so I'm guessing your best bet is to generate your water from the air.

Clothing - http://lovetosew.com/sewingclothes.htm (down the page a bit is lessons on how to construct some basic clothing needs)

>>97012
>Biogas digester
Someone else pointed this out, and it's really awesome. Thanks!

>>97006
Are we speaking legally, or just for fun?

>>97101
Legally. Anyway, think about it for a moment, If you've got 20 acres, and just post one no trespassing sign on it by, say, your driveway, someone approaching your property from the opposite side would have no clue.

Fences mitigate this somewhat, but fencing is hella expensive.

I'm well aware that I'm going to sound like a hippie, but these are two, maybe three things you should look into.

1. Wood as a construction material. Do you know that houses have been built hundreds of years ago out of wood and they're still holding today? The main reason we don't use it much is because it resists badly to insects and rain, two things that are unlikely to show up in the middle of the desert.
2. Permaculture, AKA "food forest". Varied food with minimal effort.
3. Aquaponics - take this with a grain of salt as I am not aware of the practicality of small-scale aquaponics.

In the end, I think a 20k budget is a very small thing if you want to live comfortably. Just buying and delivering building materials is going to set you back at least this much.

>>97104
Please read the end of
>>95072

>Putting up 3-wire barbed fences

>>97112
Read the post above.. ummm here:
>>95184

Really good idea for aquaponics.

>>97045
If you go with a h2s scrubber, don't diy it, buy a commercially produced h2s scrubber or just burn the gas whole, H2s is explosive and can be handled wrong very easily. The nice ones have a chamber thing you pull off and replace, send the chamber thing to the lab you have a deal with. The crappy ones have a tray that collects liquid h2s, those are not pretty, not safe and not good.

>>97104

One doesn't have to surround private property with "KEEP OUT" signs to avoid being
sued, trespassing is still trespassing even if not posted.

But if you _consent_ to someone dirt biking on your property and they get hurt, you're
increasing your legal risk.

Also, what would you guys think of a storage container underground house?

Super cheap and practical, could buy 2 and have a full house!

Pic related, as is the following video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3EAJex1RVo

>>97150
oops forgot the image.
Also, another video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=wpTMY3YW3Fg

>>97149
Yeah, that's bullshit. You want a legal leg to stand on, you'll mark the hell out of your property line.

The onus is on the property owner to clearly mark property lines, the minimum level of which is posting of signage. A fence doesn't necessarily mean shit as to property lines either unless, again there is signage indicating such. Hell, I live on 80 acres, only 20 of which are fenced and an additional 20 are developed. Of the remaining 40, without clear delineation of property lines, there's no way for someone to know that they're trespassing which would be MY fault as the property owner (here's a hint, timber companies don't post the hell out of their property for their own amusement). Hell, of part of the 20 developed acres, it's awful difficult there as well because there is a corn field that is abutted by a neighbor's corn field.

But yeah, if you want to take the risk go ahead.

>>96028

Lived in Turlock a few years. Shit sucked.

I would make sure not to build in the dry river beds for starters. Solar plus batteries for power, have hookup for wind turbine there for when you can afford a good one/make one. If you own property on that hill/mountain, build into that using the old mining methods. Brick and mortar will probable be cheaper than concret if you can't get some cheap. Use Cinderblocks for the brick. Have at least half the structure buried/covered with sand/dirt. Sewage tank with methane reclamator for gas/power. Bring in some decent clay and soil for a greenhouse/ central house garden. Rocket stove for heating of home/garden. Insulation foam board is your friend. Check the soil topography of the region for possible drainage problems, and/or possibility of abnormaly higher water shelf levels near dried up stream beds. Get two large water containers for water to be carried in by truck initially. Local plants always good source of food, low maintance. Cacti, low moisture, high sun, low temp/high temp strong. A little water causes them to grow very,very quickly. Raspberry bushes, blueberry bushes, small apple tree, etc.

>>97168

> > trespassing is still trespassing even if not posted.

> You want a legal leg to stand on, you'll mark the hell out of your property line.

Of course we're talking about the U.S. here, were anybody can _try_ to sue
anybody for anything but nonetheless, it is YOUR responsibility to know where
you are and where you're going and not to trespass in the first place, regardless
of the presence of any signs or fences.

If you break your leg dirt biking on my property _without my consent_, it is not
my fault and the courts won't hold me responsible, in fact you'd be hard pressed
to find a lawyer willing to take the case.

>>97112
> things you should look into.
> Aquaponics
> OP lives on Arrakis.

>>97465
I've heard spice mining can be profitable.

>>95545
> Power supply unit for computer
> I would use some sort of car-battery-to-computer hookup(pic).

Conventional car batteries suck for long term power applications
like that, even deep-cycle boat type batteries ain't all that great.

What you want are Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) batteries.

I recently bought a 50 Amp hour AGM for $130 as a replacement
for a Xantrex power pack I acquired but one could easily put together
a more powerful home-made version for less money.

earthship.com

You'll thank me later

>>97460

Actually, I could take that case easily against you.
You neglected to take care of your property, it looked abandoned and the land was just right for some dirt bike riding.
>attractive nuisance

This is why people don't put fountains in the front yard.

>>97475
the attractive nuisance doctrine states that landowner may be held liable for injuries to children trespassing on the land if the injury is caused by a hazardous object or condition on the land that is likely to attract children who are unable to appreciate the risk posed by the object or condition. The doctrine has been applied to hold landowners liable for injuries caused by abandoned cars, piles of lumber or sand, trampolines, and swimming pools. However, it can be applied to virtually anything on the property of the landowner.

>>97472
I wouldn't be using a car battery at all. I'd just use a car battery style hookup direct from solar panel to computer.

>>97473
Already been discussed why I can't do that.

>>97465
Lolwhat

>>97651

You need a solar charge controller or you're going to fry the shit out of that battery.

>>95135
You could post on /k/ if you want specific advice on defending the area. Normally I would recommend sniping tactics, but there aren't exactly many places to hide out in the desert.

>>97833
>Normally I would recommend sniping tactics

solar farm

>>97867
discussed, I will have 2 solar panels because any more would be high profile.

>>97833
>sniping tactics

>mfw

>>97822
Thanks for pointing that out. I'll look that up.

Two words:

MOISTURE FARM!

This is stupid. You can't buy anything worth a shit with 20,000 cash. That's like down payment money. And it's the fucking Mojave dude. There's a reason no one lives there.

Once you have an income stream you should get a mortgage on some nearby rural land so you can grow crops. Set up some water catchment swales/ponds to passively irrigate fruit trees, berries, annuals etc.

Ideally you should get a cheap, rural hilly/mountain property with a year round stream/river to generate energy, and have access to fresh water.

>>97893
113 people disagree.

>>97875
>>97849
Yes. Hide innawoods and take potshots whenever you get a chance. It's what you do when you know the terrain better but you're outnumbered. Problem?

>>97921
True, but I'm looking for more of a 24/7 security method... nopales cacti sound good.

>>97918
113 vs the entire fucking history of the human race that chose not to settle in the desert when given a choice.

>>97925

And after you have that set up you can mine for gold to make watches and diamond superb quality armor and weapons. Just make sure to leave a lot of torches around so that shit doesn't spawn too close to where you live.

>>97651
> I wouldn't be using a car battery at all. I'd just use a car battery style hookup direct from solar panel to computer.

But why limit yourself to just your laptop's battery?

FREE - one milk crate (a real one, not those gay store-bought ones)
$250 - two 50 amp hour Absorbed Glass Mat batteries.
$100 - a 300 watt 12 volt power inverter (a pure sine wave model, for sensitive electronics)
$250 - 50 watt portable solar panel
$50 - battery cables (not jumper cables)

Simple set-up; Drop the batteries into the milk crate, mount the power inverter on the side,
attach them all together with the battery cables, plug in the solar panel. With a bit of / diy /
skills, you can easily come up a more refined version.

Good gadget for anybody to keep around in case of a power outage.

It's small and light enough to move around the house (maybe add caster wheels?) and the
sealed AGM batteries are safe for indoor use (no hydrogen gas discharge) and you can charge
it off the solar panels, or a vehicle or a generator and as funds allow, you buy additional 50 Ahr
(or larger) batteries and add them to the system.

The key is the AGM battery(s). Conventional car batteries don't like going below a 90% charge
and even deep cycle boat type batteries should stay above 70% but AGM batteries can be
discharged to 50%, giving you more power for a longer time,

If you have running water, get a Paloma water heater.
They run off of propane and range in price, but when I was homesteading in the deep dark forests of northern california, I picked one up on amazon for about $200 and it worked reasonably well.

I found that a nice warm shower was key to keeping me going with all the hard work that it took to survive while doing this.

I spent my first 15 years without electricity/hot running water. We used candles and heated water which we got from a spring about a half-mile away in order to clean ourselves/clothes/dishes.

But I would suggest buying a generator. My parents were hardcore and made this sort of life extremely tough, it was only after growing older that I realized how much easier they could've made it on all of us with a water heater and generator.

If you don't want to spend the money on a generator you can get solar panels and hook them up to a battery which can be used for small lights.

>>97950
>If you have running water
He doesn't. That's the problem here. It would cost $10,000+ for him to get the machinery needed to produce less than 20 gal/day.
I used to live in Hesperia. It is fun to hike in the desert, but the 'Dune' jokes in this thread apply to OP's plan. He will have a hard time getting water or using native soil to grow things.
And ironically, if he isn't careful flash flooding can get him.