After much debate, consideration, and thought, we finally decided to go on grid. This was not a decision based solely on our needs, desires, or wants, but ultimately it was the benefit to the neighbors that pushed us over the edge. Since @jaguarlife and @ladyjag could save thousands of dollars if we got hooked up at the same time that they did, we decided it was one bill that we could live with.
It was sixteen days ago that we were preparing for power by getting our small pole set up and ready to go. Now, the power company came in and did their job, so we are good to go. We still have to test it out, but it looks like we've got power down on the land!
Here you can see them erecting the power pole on the property of @jaguarlife and @ladyjag. This is almost directly across the street from our driveway. After the power lines cross the street and hit this pole, the electricity then goes underground up to their house.
While the workers from the power company did their job, it was business as usual for us. They had their work to do and we had ours. Here you can see Monster Truck the Pepper preparing to help with a milking session of our doe Daisy. The little one named King on the ground next to him was the first goat ever born on our homestead!
It was neat to see the crew do their job. They had all sorts of special equipment and machines designed to get the job done, and we were able to watch them as they worked, while we were up to our own tasks. They started with the pole on the property of @jaguarlife, and then worked their way back to the existing line, which makes sense.
Once theirs was good to go, they put ours up and got our property ready. I'll get into more detail about the way that we did everything and why, as I wasn't particularly thrilled about the whole process, but I made it work for us and kept my personal goals in mind, not only those of the power company.
This was cool to watch, since the existing pole that they were hooking up to had to be replaced. Since it was old enough, they decided to replace it. While they took down the old one and waited for the new one, this rig held the power lines up.
Then they erected the new one and hooked the lines up to it. I suppose that they do this type of stuff all the time, but it was the first time that I actually got to observe it rather than just driving by.
In the end we had one actual pole put on our property and we now have power. Again, we were strongly leaning offgrid, but ended up making this choice. We're fine with it, it's just that we are attempting to avoid as many recurring bills as we can. When you weigh in the costs of solar panels and batteries, I think that we made a good decision, plus, we blessed our neighbors too! I'll try to provide a full video tour of this project and show you why we did the things that we chose to. Thanks for checking it out!
proof-of-power
