Our Self-Reliant Life

Our Self-Reliant Life

Formerly Green Dream Project
We're Jim and Jess, an off-grid couple building our dream of a sustainable homestead in Southern Arizona. What is it like to live on rainwater in a dry climate and build a huge 14,000 gallon earthbag cistern by hand? How can you thrive comfortably on 100% off-grid solar energy? How do you build a beautiful dream home out of dirt with no heavy machinery? We're working towards self-sufficiency and a healthier, happier, more fulfilling life together. Join us on our journey to watch all our failures, triumphs, and fun with new videos each week.

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  • @jeffreyspencer-qv5gx
    @jeffreyspencer-qv5gxМинут бұрын

    Always a wonderful inspiration from you both. ❤ Best Wishes

  • @dianaspy6733
    @dianaspy67334 минут бұрын

    Thanks for showing the other dog getting out! So glad to see him. Everything looks great! Moving forward! 🎉❤

  • @timelston4260
    @timelston42604 минут бұрын

    I loved your thoughtful segment, Jess. Thank you for that!

  • @dianaspy6733
    @dianaspy67335 минут бұрын

    Thanks for showing the other dog getting out! So glad to see him. Everything looks great! Moving forward! 🎉❤

  • @guyindesert
    @guyindesert5 минут бұрын

    I believe the other side of the pipe is called the bell end ..cause it looks like a bell ..keep up the hard work

  • @builtontherockhomestead9390
    @builtontherockhomestead93907 минут бұрын

    I wasn't diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD until I was an adult. Bullied most of my school years. People do look for the vulnerable to ridicule. Hope your chicken recovers. I have 2 dogs in the house. My house dog is probably dying. My Great Pyrenees/Livestock Guardian Dog is injured and is at risk of an infection, so I had to bring him inside. Nothing like convincing a 100 pound Great Pyrenees he's not allowed on the bed.

  • @danrose3621
    @danrose362115 минут бұрын

    You may consider throwing the seeds in the air a little and let them naturally spread themselves out

  • @AndrewHammett1983
    @AndrewHammett198316 минут бұрын

    It's great to see the monsoon rains come early!

  • @Tomcatt817
    @Tomcatt81716 минут бұрын

    2:28 Such a good helper you have. Does she charge by the hour or by the cube of dirt moved?

  • @pkerit308
    @pkerit30816 минут бұрын

    Is that 6" PVC? thts too restrictive. You need a minimum of 12". I used 15" PVC, 100 feet long for my earth tubes

  • @KandMe1
    @KandMe121 минут бұрын

    They both cross the road to get to the other side.

  • @bobbowers5708
    @bobbowers570826 минут бұрын

    looks good

  • @KerriHastie-zp5ey
    @KerriHastie-zp5ey27 минут бұрын

    Cluck..cluck..thankyou☆ good luck with your hard work ☆

  • @WACRE44
    @WACRE4437 минут бұрын

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts ❤

  • @carolmingus2754
    @carolmingus275438 минут бұрын

    Jess your comments on human "chicken" behavior was amazing!

  • @Lolly444100
    @Lolly44410043 минут бұрын

    Very well explained Jess , You are an amazing woman .

  • @tolowreading6807
    @tolowreading680743 минут бұрын

    Thank you Jess, very well said.

  • @m3xicano4ever
    @m3xicano4ever43 минут бұрын

    You need a rooster to control the flock

  • @venturingout4235
    @venturingout423546 минут бұрын

    You are working hard. I wish you were able to have friends or family to help you out more. It may be rewarding doing it yourself but it well end up taking a toll on your body. You are a very nice couple. Who are worth getting help from sponsors more too.

  • @AndrewJackson-mf5qp
    @AndrewJackson-mf5qp47 минут бұрын

    Treat everyone how you would like to be treated. Most people have been bullied one way or another and it's very degrading, but it's their problem. Don't let their problem become your problem, very hard to do. But they will have things going on in their lives that they have trouble dealing with and that's how it shows up as a response. Very unfortunate, but that's life.

  • @simonashby4810
    @simonashby481053 минут бұрын

    I skipped jess's huge speech...

  • @user-yw5fz4gw9z
    @user-yw5fz4gw9z54 минут бұрын

    I was a bullies bully, I hate bully's in school only, now I stay far from people like that.

  • @jffbrk1
    @jffbrk158 минут бұрын

    I admire your hard work and creativity.

  • @hoffmanshaven
    @hoffmanshaven58 минут бұрын

    I just stumbled upon your channel as I have dreamed of off grid homesteading for years. I can very much appreciate your hard work and dedication here but crap I see huge glaring problems with all of this. First of all you did a great job at getting those pipes to depth, that's about right. However you should have used much larger pipe. I would say 6 inch minimum. Also I would have used schedule 40 as with that much dirt on top that schedule 20 won't last long. Also I saw huge rocks against the pipe. Those rocks will eventually crack and put holes in the pipe. I would have used washed pea gravel around and over the pipe up for about a foot or so. I would then have filtered the dirt removing any rocks larger than about an inch. Pretty labor intensive but doable with a screed. I would NOT drive any vehicles over that for about a year. It's going to compact for a long time. I have some experience burying plastic/pvc pipe in the ground for irrigation systems and the like. I have never built a system for cooling like this but have studied it for a long time. Good luck!

  • @jffbrk1
    @jffbrk159 минут бұрын

    Will that mean the rain will end early in the year?

  • @kathybond4202
    @kathybond4202Сағат бұрын

    I’m the mother, g-mother , aunt to 3 neurodivergents, I’m somewhere in between. I’ve seen so much heart ache due to cruel bullying. I so love ingenuity and special insight to the world. You and Jim are perfect examples.

  • @PapaGooseandEmber
    @PapaGooseandEmberСағат бұрын

    How full is the big tank getting 😊

  • @ahbushnell1
    @ahbushnell1Сағат бұрын

    Yall do a good job with your videos.

  • @ramonepedgio5964
    @ramonepedgio5964Сағат бұрын

    Have you ever addressed bathing or how you handle sewage?

  • @jameshorrocks2939
    @jameshorrocks2939Сағат бұрын

    This is not recommended. Great way to expose yourself to increased levels of radon.

  • @jackieskitchenmore
    @jackieskitchenmoreСағат бұрын

    You are an awesome lady Jess, that is one of the reasons I stopped youtubing, too many opinionated people out there that just don't understand.

  • @GINZO4849
    @GINZO4849Сағат бұрын

    I have asked in the past and still wonder how you keep that water in the cistern from stagnating. Is it not a concern? Glad to see the channel grow.

  • @clydewm.strickland3706
    @clydewm.strickland3706Сағат бұрын

    John's experience mimics my passive, geothermal greenhouse building job. Sand and/or with pea gravel is indeed best for a secure, smooth contact. In one of my projects, nobody had considered the water table level. The customer insisted on using perforated black plastic, 4" pipe. After backfilling like John would do, the entire system flooded and no pump could keep the water out! Additionally, using schedule 40 plastic pipe might have helped reduce punctures from rocks; however, heat transfer is diminished with thicker pipe--which is why my customer insisted on the flexible, thin,, black drainage. I hope all the settling does not cause you problems ahead.

  • @426superbee4
    @426superbee4Сағат бұрын

    Looks like Hurricane Beryl going to hit Texas, around my home town of Corpus Christi Tx. It was cool this morning in E. Texas, so i bbq some Spare Ribs. Hawaiian Style YUM Just in time from some of Beryl Storm waves, of wind and rain.. Our Monsoon Season starts in July, and ends in Sept... I will NEVER HAVE RAIN GUTTERS ON ANY THING OF MINE AGAIN. All it did was rot the eve outs/// Plus the screen doesn't work EITHER.. Even worst

  • @joyevefarmandforge
    @joyevefarmandforgeСағат бұрын

    Feels so good when that rain comes to fill our tanks!

  • @dennisstone9893
    @dennisstone9893Сағат бұрын

    You constructed a shooting range. Now that's chicken-headed.

  • @user-uk8sm4ec3l
    @user-uk8sm4ec3lСағат бұрын

    Very well articulated Jess. You are doing fantastic. 💐❤

  • @marykappesser5145
    @marykappesser5145Сағат бұрын

    right now I have been having lots of "chicken brain" days. It is hard to be otherwise in this current political atmosphere. I appreciate the analogy Jess. Thanks

  • @paulvanhouts3365
    @paulvanhouts3365Сағат бұрын

    Hi Jess and Jim, I love some of the imagery of the sun shining through those smaller rain showers. I hope the rain doesn’t stop your progress too much but you do need the water. I do enjoy following your progress. On the bullying, your comments struck a chord with my experience, though I am not diagnosed with autism I recognize traits that lean that way. I was bullied as I was regarded as odd in my school years. I didn’t quite fit with my cohort. What I think is interesting is to recognize the trauma which may be behind some of those behaviors. My home town had many post war immigrants settling into this country. They carried the traumas of was, now called PTSD, which was ignored till the 1970s. I worked as a mental health nurse and learned a lot about PTSD and vicarious trauma. It’s an interesting field of study and raises awareness of many of those fear based behaviors. Thanks for sharing, stay safe and healthy.

  • @scott6252
    @scott6252Сағат бұрын

    My friend and his wife had a big flock of barnyard chickens and one had lost it's leg and it could hop around okay but even though it was on it's last leg the other chicken's didn't attack it or treat it badly so i guess some chicken's have a higher consciousness than others.

  • @user-uu4og8rb5o
    @user-uu4og8rb5oСағат бұрын

    Me too!

  • @infotoons212
    @infotoons212Сағат бұрын

    I'm pretty sure I've seen Black Helicopters flying over that cistern Jim.

  • @abuelitacaicedo3185
    @abuelitacaicedo3185Сағат бұрын

    Chicken brain!! 👍🏻😆

  • @markpashia7067
    @markpashia7067Сағат бұрын

    Jim, you got a lot of gravel there, it is just spread thin. Rake it up and getter done. The sooner you have the gravel in and some dirt over those pipes the better. When the true monsoon rains come a gully washer you will be glad you did. I would want at least a foot of dirt over everything so they do not float up. It those ditches fill up with water, don't be surprised if those end caps pop off from the air pressure in the slant tubes pushing.

  • @426superbee4
    @426superbee4Сағат бұрын

    He hee do you think you will get enough rain to fill up those canals ? Need to buy some paddle boats

  • @larryjackson8675
    @larryjackson8675Сағат бұрын

    Jesse i think youre one of those high iq people in the autism spectrum. Someone that can be learned alot from if you just listen.

  • @gretchenrodriquez7633
    @gretchenrodriquez7633Сағат бұрын

    Jess, thank you for talking about autism and bullying. My grandson has low spectrum autism. He's 16 and wont talk much except in online games and he talks a blue streak!

  • @RenitaB.B.
    @RenitaB.B.Сағат бұрын

    Very well spoken Jess. Your sharing of bullying are heightened with the example of your chickens. Humans are animals and behave just like animals. With awareness, education, and self willpower to change healing is possible. Unlike some chickens that are continuously aggressive eventually end up in a pot of boiling water, becoming a tasty dish.

  • @Blueskathy
    @BlueskathyСағат бұрын

    Jess, could you snip that portion about our chicken brains to make a sorta tictoc type video to share, I know more will watch that shortened version opposed to the whole video, I would love to share it. ❤

  • @arthurf.cleary4750
    @arthurf.cleary4750Сағат бұрын

    Thanks Jess , it was nice to hear what you formulated about a very poignant and overwhelming part of human behaviour . We all can reflect without end on the challenges and it's great to "listen" and learn and chill .