Working on three new longbows

I am currently working on 3 new longbows, each 5 feet long (I decided I wanted to experiment with making "shorter longbows").

Two of them are hard maple and the third is oak. So far I have determined that the maple provides more lbs than the oak, but the oak is easier to work with.

I have also determined I will need to shave the maple limbs down a lot more as they are currently pulling around 60-70 lbs. That would be great if I wanted to go bear hunting, but these bows are for target practice and I want them to be in the 35 to 45 lb range.

Education Off The Grid

Imagine for a moment if you could get an education online, but instead of paying to study, get paid to study instead?

And do it "off the grid" from the comfort of your cabin in the woods.

Well I recently figured out a way a person could do just that. You would not get a diploma or a degree, but you would be well paid and highly educated after 4 years or more.

So what is this brilliant idea I have come up with?

Writing essays and doing course work and dissertations for an essay writing company.

Or failing that, educating yourself through libraries, the internet and hands on experience.

It is not, cough, a normal method of educating yourself... definitely not normal. But it is well paid. And you are getting paid to research and educate yourself.

Now I don't know if essay writing companies hire people who don't already have a degree, but I am guessing it might be possible for a high school graduate who is skilled at essay writing to get their foot in the door at such a company.

Now you might think, 'Hey, that isn't a real education!'

To which I respond, why? Because you aren't spending a lot of money to get a piece of paper that gives you a degree?

I have news for you. I studied two degrees. Neither of them have anything to do with what I actually do for work now. So why did I bother to get that piece of paper? What have I actually done with my education?

Not a lot. And I really only studied because it was the social norm to go to university and get a degree.

I would have been better off spending that time exercising and eating healthy (because let's face it, when you are writing essays and preparing for exams you tend to eat unhealthy food).

I could have researched whatever I wanted to instead of the course curriculum - and to be fair I took quite a few art history courses which while difficult, haven't helped me a bit. I did get rather good at writing essays - and writing in general.

So here is my advice for people who want to get an education, but their goal is to live off the grid - living off the land and so forth. The advice is: Don't bother going to university. Read. Research. Practice things that are practical for living off the grid. Learn new things. Try new things. Travel. Learn new languages.

I studied 3 languages while I was in university, but I learned way more when I was traveling overseas. Practicing a language in person is way more valuable than studying it in an university setting.

An education is only valuable if you use it. Knowledge is power, but practical knowledge is invaluable.

Things to do in April, check your Water Tank

April 30th 2014.

In the somewhat amusing video below a guy checks to see if his water tank survived the winter.



Essentially the message I want to get across here is that every April you should be checking the status of your water tank to see if there any damage to it, any leaks, any repairs that are needed, whether it is tipping in any direction (it could happen...) and the overall status of the water tank.

In the above video they used a tarp / rain water collection system, wherein the rain hits the tarp, flows into the water tank and is then stored. In theory if they ever needed more water capacity, they should simply add more tarps / a larger tank. The water is then filtered before using.

Back in the Autumn we can also assume that you took steps to make sure your water tank survived the winter in the first place. If you did not, sucks to be you.

Along with checking the water tanks you will want to check the pipes - to make sure there is no blocks or leakages.

And lastly, check your water filtration system. You may need to clean or replace any filters.

And as they say in the video: "You never miss the water until the well is dry."

In which case you we could paraphrase that to:

"You never miss clean water until the water filter breaks."

 Below are some sample off grid water systems other people have done.

The last one I really like as it is using water from a source further uphill and could potentially be used to provide electricity too.