Join Phil, Kayleigh, Alex and Ember as they create their new life in Southern Bulgaria. Follow as they transform 2 acres of land, a derelict house and 3 barns into their own off grid homestead. After leaving England with no savings, they have the aim of becoming debt free, completing all of the work themselves on a tiny budget.
Follow as they document the highs and lows of their new off grid lifestyle.
"We know it won't be easy, but it WILL be worth it!"
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Пікірлер
Dankeschön !
CONFUSED 6x30V is 180V NOT 232V 232V div 6 is 38.6V per panel so where did the extra 52V come from????
What village are y'all in ?
We are in the Haskovo region 👍
Hi, I enjoyed the video. I'm just curious though, is there a reason why the batteries and or cabinet are not earthed? I can see the earth wire for the door but is that the only part?
Hi thanks for the comment. The batteries themselves and the cabinet all have earth points. I'll be honest I haven't got around to doing that yet but it is on my to do list. 👍
Living in Australia, we have many bad bushfires. A big hinderance in Bulgaria would be all the broken glass everywhere. Scary stuff those fires. Stay safe.
Yes you guys suffer badly over there! It seems that the fires are getting worse every year from what we understand and it certainly is pretty scary. Thanks for the comment.
Hi, nice video. Might be a silly question - but - why are there two positive and two negative terminals on each battery ? Do they both need to be connected to the busbar ?
Hi thanks for the comment. There's two terminals to allow you to do parallel connections if you don't have a cabinet with a bus bar. You can daisy chain them and just have them stacked on top of eachother. 👍
I obtained permission 10 or so years ago to install solar panels to produce 30kW and receive the FIT (Feed in Tariffs) and the cost then was roughly 1k EURO to produce 1 kW of power so an investment on my part of 30k EURO. Then of course the Bulgarian taxman said they would tax any profits on the FIT. Long story short, I never went ahead with it as it was even then estimated to be 10 years before seeing any return on the investment. Today however, I have no idea of the Grid situation, but was just looking to produce some solar electricity of my own as look at the current sunshine - there is a natural source of power there going to waste and I'm not getting any benefit from it, but having to pay EVN and to add insult to injury, I have to pay a so called 'green tax' for receiving solar energy from numerous solar parks across south east Bulgaria.
Yes now the cost of panels have come down so much and with the weather we have here it's almost a no brainer now to have solar. If you were to set up a hybrid inverter with a battery you wouldn't need FIT you could just make use of what you produce and use the grid for any short comings.
@@OffGridWithTheUdens I agree, but knowing where to source the equipment within Bulgaria and getting someone to do it are two different matters, but not insurmountable ones.
It's all very interesting and useful content but where are your costings for the components. I'm really tired of paying through the nose to EVN (same grid supplier as you have down there in Haskovo region), I already have solar collectors for my hot water and I want to run my small house from solar, but need to understand what the initial outlay in ballpark figures might be. BTW if you still have those overhead power cables you want removed, go to their offices EVN and put in a request to remove them, They might charge you some lv or other, but everything is theirs up until the consumer unit.
We bought many of the components over time so what we paid then probably differs now. What particular component cost were you interested in and we can find out for you? Yes we are going to discuss with EVN about removing the power cables - it confuses the villagers massively that we have power but are not connected 🙂
How do you feel the difference
We really do love it here. Everyday we are learning something new, it keeps life exciting.
Are you missing Uk
Not really. We really feel more at home here in Bulgaria than we ever have done in England.
Hi we are Bulgarian happy to see amazing people welcome to home Bulgaria hope you are very happy so much freedom enjoy hugs from your family ❤❤❤❤❤
Thank you so much. We absolutely love it out here! ❤️😀
Wow you worked so hard on that retaining wall, it will surely work! Did you connect the hose to a well or mains tap? It looks great and very cheap to make watering so many trees and the veggie garden easier, especially after a hard day or a day out when you may not feel like watering them.
Yes exactly! The irrigation is all set up on a timer from the tap, very sadly we don't have a well on our property....yet. Thanks the wall is incredibly slow going but it does look quite good so far! 😀
@@OffGridWithTheUdens Oh no, I thought you must have a well being 'off grid' - that's a shame, but maybe you are planning a borehole in the future. Can't wait to see the progress on the wall.
How do you get around the 90 Day rule (Brexit) and which provider do you use for your editing
We have residency so we don't have an issue with the 90 day rule - Premiere Pro 👍
amazing video i love it!
Another lovely video 🥰😍 A couple of gardening thoughts.. 1) You might like to use the grass cuttings from your fire break around the bases of your fruit trees to act as a mulch..this will retain a bit of moisture and also will recycle the nutrients from the land back into the soil (Huw Richards has recently done a whole video on how to utilise grass cuttings on his orchard which you might find useful) 2) Cucumbers will need some sort of wigwam to climb up..easier to do this while the plants are smaller 😊 Its great to see the plants thriving and the joy that process brings ❤
Thank you for the comment. I love watching Huw but haven't had much chance recently so I'll check that video out. Thank you we will bare that in mind and try and make some kind of frame for them. We certainly are loving the process ❤️😀
hi abouth the water in your rigion is 3,60leva per quibick water . you can calculaite raf how much will be your bill
Thank you, yes we can calculate how much roughly but we can't pay the bill when we want which is more the issue. But I think we've cracked it now with the water company 😁
How are you going to cut the Grass now you have the water pipes down ?
Thanks for the comment. I just move them to the side cut the grass and move them back seems to work ok for now. 👍
I was watching you drill those holes in the beams and kept thinking 'How does he make sure the hole is level?' They need to start manufacturing those drills with a spirit bubble on top.
Yes it can be quite tricky especially at height. I find its all about the drill and having a good eye but it's much easier said than done 😆👍
Sziasztok. Nagyon tetszik a videótok. Szívesen nézem. Tündérek a gyerekek.
Köszönöm szépen ez sokat jelent. Örülök, hogy szereted nézni őket.
Where did you buy the shower please? 👌
Lidl middle aisle - we do mention it in the video 😄
Good to see the banana tree is still going strong. Don't envy the wall journey, but no doubt you will do your research well and will get to the finish line.
Thank you. It is incredibly slow going! The finish line seems a very long way away! 🤦♂️
Oh wow beautiful footage of the lightening
Thanks very much - really pleased we managed to capture it. ⚡
Good footings laid looking good , makes sense to lay the pipe to water garden etc . Time saved is blissful . Garden looking better 😊
It's made a huge difference! Thanks very much - most appreciated 👍
Well done 👍 brilliant job x
Appreciate it - thanks very much.
Haha ! I always love the out takes. 😂
They make us giggle too 😁😂
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👍 thanks for your continued support ❤️
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Woweee - amazing progress and that irrigation system is just what I am looking for - was it from a DIY store or just the local hardware shop? BG storms are amazing aren’t they - great footage!😊
Yeah we just went into the local DIY store and asked for their advice with irrigation and they showed us what they had. The storms are INCREDIBLE 😍
BG local hardware stores are the best😀 - an irrigation system would probably have cost £100s in the U.K.!!!
First
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Ants don't eating aphid, they farming and defending it.
Yes so we have discovered! 🫣 The next thing to be treated it seems..
As usual, fantastic job and overkill on the footer. Leaves one suspecting an in ground pool may find itself being built on that spot one day, with the deck and roof serving as a poolside lounge. On the topic of fires, green grass does burn, not as fast as dead or dry grass of course, but it will go up if a flame front is hot enough. The break you have is an excellent idea and will shorten the flame height and slow down the spread, but it will not stop or cool the flame front. My two suggestions are first to either mow your fire break so short that you've got almost nothing left but dirt. Get the mower deck to almost scrape the ground or if you're strimming it then just buzz it to dirt. Or, if you can get your hands on a power tiller to turn over the soil in the break that would be even better because dirt doesn't burn. A tiller could come in useful for gardening later on, then you can till up a fresh fire break every year. Make it as wide as you have time and fuel for. Or, of course, if a mini digger happens to take up residence on your property, that'd make quick work to scrape a break as well. Second, since irrigation supplies and water are so cheap in Bulgaria, I would set up some sprinkler heads around the caravan instead of the drip line. Enough 360 spray heads and you could soak the area enough to help keep a field fire back. Keep in mind though, sprinklers are best effective if they've been watering for days before a fire so that the ground is soaked. Stay safe and keep up the great work!
Thanks for the comment. We're working on getting some kind of machine on the land so watch this space. Love the poolside lounge idea that sounds awesome 😁
Crazy lightening ⚡️
Stunning isn't it 😍
What shop did you get the hard piping from just what we need for a garden it's just dirt at the moment 😢
I'd like to know as well and the 100m of perforated hose, please add a link if you ordered it on line
Just went to the local DIY shop and asked for their help with irrigation. We always try to shop local where we can 👍🙂
Local DIY shop - just go in and ask 🙂
Mravenčí chovné kolonie mšic musíte rychle zabít! Mšice se živí mladými listy a mravenci se o ně starají a jedí jejich sladký sekret. Na malých stromcích to jde dobře rozmačkat prsty. Skvělé je postříkat to celé bio nálevem z nakrájené cibule nebo česneku. Je hodně receptů proti mšicím. Zajímavé video👍!
Děkuji za komentář. Ano, teď jsme se to naučili díky vám všem v sekci komentářů a smyli jsme všechny mšice. Díky za sledování.
How much was the cost of concrete, did you get any quote s from company's ..ready mix etc etc .. Hard labour on the mixed &barrow ..well done
No we didn't get quotes from companies as we are on a very tight budget. We already had the sand, 3 tonnes of gravel was 45lev and then the cement is 7leva a bag 👍
Hey, dont know iff you want more off my opinions on the build/growing but build wise, cocrete was overkill on it ;) you couldve went the oldstyle way with just stones/lime mixture and perhaps the rebar u put in to be sure.. Fruit trees take about 1000L a day iff fully grown but the roots will go deeper once they are bigger but yea you would need to water them plenty in hot season when stil young for good grow but in the beginning dont overwater either as the roots wont have a reason to grow deeper like most plants iff you overwater them. Would suggest once in 2 days maybe 3 to water to avoid overwatering can also check the leafs iff they want more or not iff they start to hang fully green they need it iff not you will see brown spots on the leafs , on the piping the connecting points regardles wich one glue special one and heat is recommended for sealing it fully with your current weather the sun might do it for you haha ;) And indeed very bargain the price you paid Thanks for the weather looks from the lightning i love it <3 Did you know lightning actually comes from the ground upwards to the sky? <3 .Respect to kayleigh for all your effort must be tough with your hip and i hope recovery stil go well. Greets to alex aswel loved the intro and his help also :)
Hey! Thanks for commenting again this week - of course we are interested in your opinions 🙂 Kayleigh doing really well with her hip, she still struggles with some mobility but she's a hard worker! Great advice about watering the trees - really interesting to hear about encouraging the roots to grow deeper too. We can't wait for the wall to be complete - poor Alex has been desperate for the pool since his birthday last month 🫣
@@OffGridWithTheUdens Good to hear that Kayleigh is doing good with her new hip, recovery takes long for that i have heard from others. Yeah Roots are important but iff spoiled on water they have no reason to do so ;) ANd i can imagine alex cant wait for the pool in the heat you been having over there :) Hope you manage to finish it soon and cant wait to see how it will become :) Stay healthy and till next time :)
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Nice. Building such a wall by yourself is a challange. Good job. I have the same mixer and when I add grease between the cogwheels it is running much smoother and quieter. Plus keeps the machine working better
Yeah I've done the same but it's still pretty noisy and now I get covered in grease 😂🤣
@@OffGridWithTheUdens the risks of being in constructions. Anyway really good job with the concrete. So many rounds for 2 people is really a lot :)
The Great Wall of Uden. 😁
🤣🤣🤣 I love this!