2017 Guide to the Land of Enchantment

A new year has a lot of folks looking ahead to making travel plans for family vacations and quick getaways over upcoming three-day weekends. We thought that since we have been posting about our road trips around New Mexico and Colorado, some of you may be inspired to head out west in 2017. Here are a few attractions and travel resources to help you decide where you want to go and when.

Continue reading “2017 Guide to the Land of Enchantment”

Solar A-Raise

It seems like a million years ago now that Mark and I hooked up the wee little 300W PV system for basic operations when we first arrived on-site in June. Ben and I made a few little upgrades over the summer to include adding a 4th panel, switching to a more robust charge controller for future growth, and adding both a remote inverter start and Ethernet communications port for the charge controller. All of this was fine and dandy for the past few months, but we needed to give the array a boost for winter. Below are the progress photos so you can see more about our shoot-from-the-hip PV facelift.

Before
After

Continue reading “Solar A-Raise”

Upgrades

Working on things a little bit at a time over the past few weeks, we’ve managed to button up some for winter and get a little more comfy. Here’s a quick look at some of our recent upgrades…

Continue reading “Upgrades”

All American Sun Oven

Editors note: The response to this post has been so great that the manufacturer has offered all our readers a special discount… Use this special coupon to save $70 on your Sun Oven purchase, and share your results!!

The day has finally come for us to add a layer of sophistication to our offgrid gourmet… Introducing our new solar cooker from Sun Ovens International, found in our Shoppers Guide.

Continue reading “All American Sun Oven”

Home is where the hearth is

Suddenly, all seems right with the world.

We spent a full day on Saturday laying in the new flooring in the front half of the yurt so we could place the stove, pan, pipe, and cap. Everything came together on Sunday with the custom installation since they don’t sell pre-fab yurt roof chimney vents at Home Depot.

Continue reading “Home is where the hearth is”

Chaco Culture

It is really hard to describe in words this ancient and mystical place and convey the appropriate sentiment. Chaco is a marker in time that connects us to the eternal order, and is a waypoint for the spiritual traveler on this earth.

Continue reading “Chaco Culture”

Off grid gourmet

One of the major adjustments we’ve had to make in this move is getting along without refrigeration.

Continue reading “Off grid gourmet”

The long and winding road

Welcome to Monsoon Season!! After weeks of hype, we are finally being treated to the downpours of ancient lore.

Continue reading “The long and winding road”

Yurtiquette and other yurt facts 

Here’s a few interesting tidbits about living the authentic yurt life as Mongolian people do, contributed by our friends at Groovy Yurts.

Continue reading “Yurtiquette and other yurt facts “

Flyin' sideways

Amid all the hustle and bustle of paid work and projects on the property, we were pleased to entertain two very good longtime friends Joe and Karin last weekend- Our first official visitors to Sahalee!!

Continue reading “Flyin' sideways”