Three Lessons Learned After 1 Month on Solar - EP 878

Join me as I share with you three things about being on solar that I did not realize I would experience as well as our usual Monday segments.

Featured Event: Self Reliance Voices: Lessons from Legends

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Livestream Schedule

• Tuesday Live with Hand Hewn Farms, 12:30PM CT
• Wednesday Interview with The Canny Couple, 2pm CT
• Thursday SRF Live: 7pm CT
• Friday Homestead Happenings, 9:30AM CT

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

• We’ve been eating lots of green beans because I lack motivation to make more effort
• Makin Bacon
• Still in a use it up phase and I canned so much more bone broth than w e need

Weekly Shopping Report from Joe

Dollar Tree

• Drink coolers are partially empty i
• Red Bull products for $2.50. 
• Plenty of drinks on the shelves. 
• The food coolers are mostly full too.

Aldi was rather crowded. Stock levels looked good, and we found everything we wanted. Staple prices were: 

• eggs: $2.78; 
• whole milk: $2.86 (-); 
• heavy cream: $5.19; 
• OJ: $3.29; 
• butter: $3.69; 
• bacon: $4.25; 
• potatoes: $3.99; 
• sugar: $3.09; 
• flour: $2.29;
• 80% lean ground beef: $4.59 (+).

Home Depot has  a lot of bulbs, vines, and onion starts in a row of islands in the front. The tool islands have lots of empty compartments. There are still specials going for Milwaukee 12V "Red Lithium" tools and batteries, with just a few of the Ryobi USB-charged tools left, and some 18V One+ items. Fire extinguishers area was full, including various smoke and CO alarms. 

A 2x4x8 remains at $3.38.

Untainted regular has dropped a dime to $3.599/gallon.

Frugality Tip from Margo without a t

Ever tried a new recipe and it ended up not what you thought it was going to be? Don't throw it out, do something else with it. I recently tried a new humus recipe and it turned out like a soup. 

So I made some pasta, poured this roasted red pepper chickpea sauce on it, added some roasted tomatoes and a little homemade Italian salad dressing and boom, it is now a pretty darn good pasta salad. Maybe add some roasted chicken to it. The possibilities are endless... And now after writing this, I could have made a soup too. 

It can be frustrating to make something that doesn't turn out like you want, but to me it's more frustrating to throw good food away. Get creative, who knows you might accidentally make something you will make again one day. 

Operation Independence

• Avoiding the need to buy a new appliance through appliance repair
• Mechanical appliances and helpful video - NEED LINK FROM T - Sorry guys i will update it here when he sends it!!

Main topic of the Show: 3 Lessons Learned after 1 Month of Solar

Reference: HackMyHomestead.com

Background on the solar system and how we sized it. 

How long it took for it to work right and barriers to functioning that we ran into.

The lessons:

1. Know Your Why, Don't Be Rosy Eyed About The Savings, Choose Wisely
   1. Sized based on budget for resilience
   2. Developed to be scalable as in we can add batteries and panels if we like
   3. Reputable companies for equipment means we got a free upgrade when a new model came out
2. Installing solar into an existing home will teach you things about the wiring that you had no idea about. 
   1. Found Bad Wiring
   2. Found Bad Grounding
   3. Needed to get some other things up to code for safety not just because of codes
3. Access to the real time data helps you make wiser decisions
   1. Time of day to use water and why I have changed
   2. The clogged spin down filters
   3. Cloudy days make me even less happy than they used to
   4. Trimming Trees and the Big Picture
   5. Frosty mornings
   6. Snow and dust and panel cleaning

Bonus observation: Knowing the why and how it fits into my long term energy resilience plan has really helped me embrace the system, learn more about solar, and not have dispatched expectations. Also, batteries are WAAAAAAAY more important than panels. You do get a tax credit FWIW.

Make it a great week!

Song:

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. 

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