The reality of off-grid living in the winter

Рет қаралды 16,582

Күн бұрын

The rain continues, and to keep everything powered we have to do what we have to. Running the generator is not ideal, but it is what we have to do right now. In the future we can build better systems.
Our solar generator, we use the Bluetti AC200Max: tinyurl.com/8c3zpwzw.
A smaller version: tinyurl.com/y8xb7swz
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Lea van der Eems
Apartado 001144
EC Zona Industrial Castelo Branco
6001 - 901 Castelo Branco
Portugal
Music: Epidemic Sound
New here? My name is Lea and I live with my partner Maarten, our toddler Puck and baby Bo on our land in Central Portugal. We left the rat race in the Netherlands in 2018 and moved south in our old campervan. Two years ago we bought land in Portugal that had been abandoned for several decades. After lots of hard work we now live in a beautiful yurt and keep ourselves busy growing our own vegetables as well as producing olive oil, wine and honey on a small scale. This channel documents all the different jobs we have to do, and sometimes some nice footage of this beautiful country we now call home.
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Email: quintahortavelha@gmail.com
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Chapters:
0:00 Rainy morning (again), what I've been reading
4:05 Running the generator
5:46 Rainy walk
13:37 Other options for our electric system
17:24 Firewood and laundry

Пікірлер: 142

@marysealy919 Жыл бұрын

Bo is the most realistic youtube baby I know. He knows what to do when the camera is on. He is such an adorable youtube influencer. I love him so much

@permissiontoshine Жыл бұрын

Bo's got a face and personality made for the screen. Cuteness beyond!

@rollandjoeseph Жыл бұрын

Realistic?🤣😅

@hasmika9412 Жыл бұрын

Հրաշք բնություն է,ջուրը,քարերը,մամուռը,ծառերը,թփերը,խելագարվել կարելի է... Դուք էլ հրաշք ընտանիք եք ❤

@mesutozsen903 Жыл бұрын

Eline emeğine sağlık bu güzel vlog için kolay gelsin hayırlı işler....👍👍👍👍

@manolisgledsodakis873 Жыл бұрын

Yunanistan'dan selamlar!

@monalingan9523 Жыл бұрын

I love walking in the rain, so it was a real treat to see your countryside on your walk. Bo is so cute and spunky.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it!

@leestimis9264 Жыл бұрын

During these times of Rainey days is when I get the most accomplished on the inside of my home. I call it fall clean and then again in the spring. It's amazing how we can accumalte so much stuff and get so disorganized through out the season which demands our attention on things like the mundane to the days on end in the garden preparing. You are incredible with this and having 3 children. Lol. Sorry Martin. I love going on walks with you seeing how beautiful everything has become from weeks of rain 🌧 It will end just like summer did. It's just life.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Believe it or not, I did a declutter not too long ago 😅. Just don’t have enough storage for the things we have and need.

@leestimis9264 Жыл бұрын

@@ourportuguesehomestead growing family will do that. I'm the oldest of 5. And how we all grew out of our everything so fast. I'm right there with you and know. That's why I learned the fall clean from mom. She got rid of so much every 6 months. It's a very good habit to have.

@permissiontoshine Жыл бұрын

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 on the Martin !comment!

@michaelvalone907 Жыл бұрын

Your getting enough water now to fill your wells!

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

They’re full and overflowing! You can see them in last Sunday’s video :)

@BGazzah Жыл бұрын

Im sitting here in front of the woodstove looking out at the frost that has not thawed for the past 4 days, its 16:30 and already is down to -2.1C, but that rain made me shiver :(

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Just thinking of that makes me cold 🥶

@anthonyrebock5351 Жыл бұрын

Love the rain in portugal...Alot of water in the flood zone... you may need a Roman bridge over near the Well

@daffs0 Жыл бұрын

Oh my gosh Bo is adorable Wow lots of water looks amazing but I bet you can’t wait for it to ease off Thank you for sharing 😁

@MDewar-pb1br Жыл бұрын

Thanks for mentioning the Dutch books! I enjoy your style. (Marijke in the U.S.)

@keithbrandon8540 Жыл бұрын

Enjoyed the walk thanks. The different shades of colour and the light made for beautiful film. 👍

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Lots to see these days :)

@hillbowdenishd.....5274 Жыл бұрын

This walks are amazing but today no grapes 😂😂😂

@tenpennyguy Жыл бұрын

It *is* always surprising how much wood the stove uses. Also fascinating how much of a difference in heating power there is between different species.

@juanitakauffman6336 Жыл бұрын

After the dryness of the summer the rain has made it beautifully green all around.

@MyPlayHouse Жыл бұрын

One of the highest points in Denmark is called "Himmelbjerget" or Sky-Mountain. It is around 170m over sea level. My house in in 250m and top of my land is in 304m,, you can bet you, I am calling it a mountain :-)

@billiegutierrez2506 Жыл бұрын

I can really relate to your off grid living we too live off grid and we have our challenges as well but its a good life for us your walks are totally amazing you keep warm enjoy your week ❤

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Everything has downsides, but this life really suits us :) Have a good rest of your week!

@billiegutierrez2506 Жыл бұрын

@@ourportuguesehomestead ❤️

@oliveoil4487 Жыл бұрын

I love the video, Bo is so adorable and pretty little kitten.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Both cats were featured for once 😅

@lollypop2413 Жыл бұрын

You can put a clothes rack on a pulley to hang in roof area

@dell565758 Жыл бұрын

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

@anniemac3075 Жыл бұрын

Rainy weather is a huge challenge isn't it, you definitely need to escape inside books. I listen to a lot of audio books we download free from our library as then I can do things at the same time but a paper book is great to sit down & relax & fall asleep with. I don't know if you'd be interested but I read a lot of thrillers, mysteries, detective stuff etc but also other genres. The thrillers/mysteries seem to catch my attention most, particularly Peter James, Patricia Cornwell - she's into forensic detection, Val McDermid, Lisa Jewell, Elly Griffiths, Lisa Gardner, Tim Weaver, Joy Ellis & lots more. Keep looking, you can read exerpts on the Internet to see if you'd like the stories or not, got a lot very cheap on Ebay if there's an equivalent for you.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

I only wish I didn’t have a toddler running around keeping me from reading 😅 Thanks for the tips. I don’t usually read thrillers, but I’ll have a look

@christines5430 Жыл бұрын

I am glad that you take time out for yourself to relax and read a book. Love hiking boots! They look perfect for your walks.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

It’s been really nice! A habit that comes in phases, but I hope to keep going for a while

@dorothestolwijk5418 Жыл бұрын

Dat het lezen van “ distopische” boeken niet te doen is nu herken ik !!! Met alles wat gaande is , dacht ik brave new world te herlezen ( las ik decenia geleden op mn achttiende) moest het na het eerste hoofdstuk al opgeven omdat ik me fysiek onwel voelde…echt maf…

@punjabseth260 Жыл бұрын

so nice😇😇😇🌼

@janenewley1014 Жыл бұрын

It may be gloomy at present…but all that lovely water is filling your ponds and sinking into the ground for next year😀😀😀

@celiapereira5223 Жыл бұрын

Bo is such a cute little helper 👌💯🤗

@humbertochaves4099 Жыл бұрын

If the height difference on your land is large and you can build a pond that collects rain water at the top of your land you could think about using a water turbine to produce electricity. It would be available when the sun doesn't shine. There are a few KZfaq channels showing how to do it.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Yes that’s part of the plan of the water battery :)

@rasputindasilva858 Жыл бұрын

How many winters in the last decade rained as it's rainning this winter ? Few, so, will it worth the investment ?

@humbertochaves4099 Жыл бұрын

@@ourportuguesehomestead Do you mean you need a pond at the bottom of your land too?

@humbertochaves4099 Жыл бұрын

@@rasputindasilva858 It is getting more and more likely as well as the dry summers. Apart from that you don't need to buy a fancy turbine. The largest cost is the pipe.

@ericmehl1356 Жыл бұрын

Here are two book titles that I think you may like. They are both 100 or so pages so a relatively quick read, but enjoyable: Burning Patience and Balzac, and the little Chinese seamstress..any books by Kim Thúy--Ru, Ma Hope you will get pleasure from these.

@SiviVolk2 Жыл бұрын

Running a generator is perfectly fine on some days, every off-gridder knows that :). On the longer term, one thing you might consider in for such bad weather is running a generator on sunflower oil or waste vegetable oil and using exhaust heat to heat an outside insulated storage hot water tank (by welding a pipe to the exhaust) for either hot water or home heating (or both). This way you get bot the heat and electricity when the weather is bad and don't have to deal with wood stove as much. And if you can make you own sunflower oil, you can be pretty much self-sufficient.

@Bigz87 Жыл бұрын

I would consider harvesting energy from the water during the wet season, this could work with a turbine installation. Have a look at Marty T his channel (Nieuw Zeeland, oudere video)

@ceferinocanibano6284 Жыл бұрын

Living off grid is difficult. We have a little cabin off grid and I like it very much but the confort I get at home is not possible for many days in the cabin. Thank you for the real life lesson. You are very brave to live this way. Enjoy the good things and think that it 'll get better. Hard work always pays off.

@bboice08 Жыл бұрын

Everything is soooo green! Hey send some of that rain over to California!! Bo is beautiful. Great to hear you have time to read! Homestead looks great I would walk too!!

@prinses999tube Жыл бұрын

Waarschijnlijk heb je deze al gelezen, maar dit boek MOEST ik in 1 ruk uitlezen: Inferno - Dan Brown.

@semqueixas Жыл бұрын

Beautiful takes.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@marysemazeres1430 Жыл бұрын

a french sentence about lots of water : "que d'eau, que d'eau".

@stephencrowther524 11 ай бұрын

Some kind of enclosed porch would greatly reduce heat loss.

@ourportuguesehomestead 11 ай бұрын

The door is not really a place where we lose a lot of heat

@filipar949 Жыл бұрын

I highly recommend Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Also available on Netflix ( 5/7 seasons ) but I doubt that it is your genre 😊

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

I watched the first season of that but then I lost interest 😅

@rnggall9640 Жыл бұрын

G.ad youare keeping active with the terrible weather. I miss tiny clothes!

@hemlock40 Жыл бұрын

People could buy quality expensive shoes in the hope that they will be comfortable and long lasting. But if your feet are killing you after 10 minutes, it doesn't matter how much they cost you won't wear them. I have had that happen with at least two pairs of hiking boots.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

I’m sure that happens (as it happened to you), but I also see a lot of people who just buy stuff and don’t use it

@joyguthrie964 Жыл бұрын

I am impressed that you go outside. I would be hibernating all day long!

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

I wish I could!

@feltingme Жыл бұрын

Perfect weather to see, where you want to redirect your water.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

You can see more of that in last Sunday’s video ;)

@pamarabenton9039 Жыл бұрын

You made me laugh with not wanting to read dystopian books, at the moment.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Enough stuff going on 😅 Although some can be hopeful.

@Void_And_Absent Жыл бұрын

A huge Water tank would be better than any water system that existed on that land previously.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

I think the old is a great foundation for the new. Without all the established channels we would be flooded like another homestead here on Portugal I saw on KZfaq today.

@kathleenbills2282 Жыл бұрын

I just finished reading “The Nightingale”, by Kirstin Hanna. If you like books about the French experience during WWII. She has a wide range of themes in her 20 published novels. I felt that since you speak English so well, you may want to do a web search for a second hand copy. Happy reading!🧑‍🎄🇺🇸 Kathleen

@mei2045 Жыл бұрын

Every winter I count myself lucky that at some point I decided to buy some wellies. Especially this one.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

I really need to get some new ones, mine have a slit in the back 😅

@skyekennett243 8 ай бұрын

Have you read any of Margaret Atwood's books? I loved her book Oryx and Crake. :)

@ourportuguesehomestead 8 ай бұрын

Yes, I loved that whole trilogy :)

@NoeleenGrima Жыл бұрын

❤❤❤

@denisekoger904 Жыл бұрын

girl you rock those shoes!

@lightdark00 Жыл бұрын

You should be planting some fast growing firewood trees. It's also a passive cash crop for the future.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

We’ve been trying to get hazels going for years but it’s been a real struggle 🥲. The other easy to grow firewood trees are eucalyptus and mimosa, both of which are invasive…

@borntomay1 Жыл бұрын

Hi Lea. Thanks for sharing your reading My current book is Woman Watching, Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay. I'm not far into it, but I love the mix of author's experience, biography, and birds! I do so hope the rain lets up soon. Your yurt is lovely but it must feel so tiny when it rains for so long. I have a suggestion- can you dry clothes in the polytunnel? I dry clothes in our tiny greenhouse sometimes We are having such a wet summer here in Auckland, NZ, that my husband's favoured footwear on our walks are 'gumboots' .

@mareepeters5717 Жыл бұрын

Hi Lea, where I live the annual rainfall is 60 inches a year. No I don't like it. Reading is great as a form of escapism, nothing wrong with a bit of escapism, a great writer taking us to other places. Fantastic. I find devices make our brains not want to read.

@rollandjoeseph Жыл бұрын

Are your boots the brand HiTech? They're nice btw, I need to go hiking but its too cold most days...My clothes washer broke a while ago, so I started hand washing until i got my wringer washer , very nostalgic and fun but still a little laborious...As far as my books suggestions, "This Naked Mind" by Annie Grace , and " Atomic Habits" by James Clear. ..both very good and in the self improvement genre if you're interested 🤓✌️

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

They’re the brand Lowa, not sure if they sell in the US. I had shoes from them before that lasted for a good decade but grew out of them in pregnancy. Thanks for the book tips :)

@JohnCurtinmadrid Жыл бұрын

Hi again! Here in central Spain we´ve had the same. Non stop rain. I haven´t used the generator so much since we moved in as on top of the rain there´s no wind, so our wind turbine just sits there. Yesterday we had a flash flood that washed away part of the access road we had gravelled a year ago. I know we need the rain but this is getting ridiculous! 😕😕

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Oh no! Sorry to hear about your road. I’ve heard about windturbines falling over from other people as well… Hope everything else holds up :)

@eleanorchapple8772 Жыл бұрын

You are a woman after my own heart. Last week I got a brand new pair of really comfy leather shoes at Goodwill go $8:47. I checked the price on line. $79.99!! Score😊

@eleanorchapple8772 Жыл бұрын

I had to edit the last comment because auto correct called you a Roman instead of woman. Maybe Alexis is right!😄

@rasputindasilva858 Жыл бұрын

@@eleanorchapple8772 $80 for a pair of shoes ?! I would by 4 pairs, with that money.

@eleanorchapple8772 Жыл бұрын

Goodwill is a thrift shop.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Amazing find Eleanor! One of the few things I miss about the city is the thrift shopping. There’s not a great secondhand market here, so I buy online which is always a gamble.

@piawal Жыл бұрын

Did you ever had this much rain? It‘s unbelievable - here in Spain also.. Hope you will have more dry and sunny days soon :)

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

It’s been a lot! More than we have experienced, but happens every decade or so

@HeidiPriest Жыл бұрын

not everywhere in spain. most lakes still have plenty. of space for water

@janenewley1014 Жыл бұрын

It must be warmer in your yurt than in our house…you had no socks on!😀😀😀 what does Martin do in this wet weather I wonder?

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Gets very nice inside :) Maarten has been driving up and down to the city a bunch to get parts for the car and the digger

@LWYOffGridHomestead Жыл бұрын

We're having that same struggle here right now too...no sun for 6 out of 7 days...but we're having snow instead of rain...thinking I'd rather be having rain...but would I...I'm sure it's more of a struggle than I'm thinking cause I'm thinking what a struggle snow is right now

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

I prefer the rain, mostly because I hate snow 😅

@metamud8686 Жыл бұрын

Je kunt bij de dumpstore (oei, dat zeg ik nu wel .. maar kom je nog wel eens in NL want anders moet je die in Portugal zoeken natuurlijk) prima 2e-hands legerbroeken kopen. Die zijn 3-laags gelamineerd en blijven hartstikke droog, juist ook als je door nat gras stiefelt. Kosten ook geen drol. Alleen hopen dat iemand iets in jouw maat heeft 'gedumpt' natuurlijk.

@portugal1969 Жыл бұрын

👍

@jonathanleonard1152 Жыл бұрын

Is this amount of rain becoming more common in the colder months? Have you considered micro hydro power generation? Understanding this is a seasonal use. There are low head systems. You did address this. When you start construction on the house and have the digger fixed the water battery will probably be best solution.

@gnarly706 Жыл бұрын

Have you heard off Chinese diesel heaters?

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

For heating the yurt you mean?

@JanesVoiceVibes Жыл бұрын

Thank you for your videos. On a different subject to today's video, did you ever have to get a Translator to translate official documents from Dutch to Portuguese and then go to a Notary with the Translator to get the documents notarised?

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

No sorry, never needed to

@JanesVoiceVibes Жыл бұрын

@@ourportuguesehomestead Appreciating your reply

@terra7066 Жыл бұрын

If you are an European Union citizen and need a birth certificate , marriage certificate or any other document to use in another E.U member state you ask for an European one that it is written in all the the E.U official languages like the passports and identity cards.

@JanesVoiceVibes Жыл бұрын

@@terra7066 Hello and thank you for your reply. I'm a British Citizen who had residency in Belgium so unfortunately many of the documents I need are in Dutch.

@aasphaltmueller5178 Жыл бұрын

@@JanesVoiceVibes even the UK should (still ?) issue multilingual documents; have you asked for them ? Your registrars office might issue you for example an extract of the birth registry or a new version of a marriage certificate. Should be cheaper than a translation. Also don't know, but do not think that Brexit has yet forced the need to legalize documents. I had on the other hand had to do with Belgian bureaucracy lately, and they can pile it on !

@oakolive Жыл бұрын

Have you considered buying Oak wood for your fire? We bought some and it tends to burn for at least three times as long as Eukalyptus and only costs thirty percent more. It is great for heating but when cooking on the range it's better to mix it with some pine or Eukalyptus to get the really high temperatures.

@rasputindasilva858 Жыл бұрын

As far as I know, oak is a protected tree in PT, how could you buy oak wood for fire ?

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

It’s hard to get at the moment? Especially dry…

@oakolive Жыл бұрын

@@rasputindasilva858 cork oak is protected but various other oak species are not. At least people here are selling it locally all the time.

@oakolive Жыл бұрын

@@ourportuguesehomestead I think it depends on the area. And you're right, the people who sell it don't always let it season as long as they should...

@mei2045 Жыл бұрын

@@rasputindasilva858 Plenty of cork firewood around (sobreiro), they get permissions for the dead ones I think.

@elainekaufman2264 Жыл бұрын

Reading is a good form of self care. You can't care for other people if you're not taking care of yourself

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Very true!

@coby6417 Жыл бұрын

🎄🌟👏👍🍀💐 19:54

@chloeuntrau4588 Жыл бұрын

Wolkers...oud maar goed!

@saeedandalusi7579 Жыл бұрын

Animal farm, in Dutch 😁

@ChrisDraussen Жыл бұрын

Hard

@michaelvalone907 Жыл бұрын

How about a windmill for energy?

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

We plan to try one out in the future, but we need some more parts :)

@lightdark00 Жыл бұрын

17:08 3/10 for quality cat content.

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

There’s some good quality cat content in the beginning!

@tomduane1960 Жыл бұрын

I have a question for you today can you explain to me what living off grid means to you as from watching your movies you are not living off grid

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Why not? We’re not connected to any grid. We have solar, a well and a wood stove.

@paulosilveira6184 Жыл бұрын

Whay don't you buy Ebooks. Are cheaper lighter and don´t take so much room

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

Because I prefer reading from paper, these were only 3/4 euros each because I mostly buy secondhand :)

@manolisgledsodakis873 Жыл бұрын

@@ourportuguesehomestead I used to read paper books but I can't make the text go bigger so I switched to eBooks and reading glasses!

@brigid6609 Жыл бұрын

@@ourportuguesehomestead waar koop je de boeken? Ik woon in Spanje fijn om een adres te hebben die naar het buitenland verzend. Sterkte met de regen wij hebben het ook en zijn we niet meer gewend ;)

@ourportuguesehomestead Жыл бұрын

@@brigid6609 ik heb deze op boekenbalie.nl gekocht en naar mn schoonouders laten sturen die het dan doorsturen. Misschien sturen ze zelf ook wel naar het buitenland, zeker waard om te vragen. De boeken zien er goed uit voor een goede prijs 👍