The water never got that high. Our “basement” is actually the ground floor, which means our living space is up about 9 feet from ground level. Water got to 2 feet. I had everything up on tables etc in the basement. Nothing was ruined, amazingly. I learned a lot about things that can float (and tip over)!
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Being a walkout basement you should be able to dry it out and avoid mildew and mold problems. But a simple washing of the cement with bleach would probably help to insure you don’t get any mold.
I am glad to hear that is the case I was thinking you had a cellar full of water to deal with.
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Wow! We found out something interesting…in our stoney ground, the six foot ground rod has lost its conductivity. I would never have known, except that my son went down to the basement to switch circuits around from the inverter to the generator, and complained of getting a shock when he touched the plugins and the light switch. I can’t afford to go anywhere around here barefoot so I always have some sort of insulated boots on. Charlie went downstairs Barefoot and got tickled. We measured the voltage potential from the light switch to ground at 26 volts ac. We cast about for some time trying to figure it out, and then I noticed that the ground rod outside seemed to be able to move when I tried to twist it by hand. So I pulled it up as far as I could and then started beating around it with a sledgehammer and then pounded it back in. I put a mud flap on the basement floor by the breaker box, and the cabling for the inverter/generator. I think that’s a good idea anywhere you’re going to be fiddling with electricity and it might be damp.
If anybody else has any ideas I’d love to hear about it!
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Most services around here now require at least two ground rods 6 feet apart plus any reinforcing rods in new construction footings must also be bonded.
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We have a water spigot coming out of our well house and for many years it would buzz you every time you turned it on. once we put the shop in next to it and grounded it all it stopped.
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I missed ole Bruce’s post until now. Back 24 years ago the Federal Mine Safety folks turned my life into hell. One thing they had was a ground field test that had to be done every year. A megger (meg ohm meter) was used for this. They mentioned that some mines had to use 20ft long ground rods or buried cars to obtain sufficient contact with the soil to get the resistance low enough for their standards. My brother in-law worked for a company that supplied materials for radio towers. He talked of how they would drill a well for the grounding the tower and use chloride to increase conductivity to the ground in the well.
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Another update on the homestead, sorry these are so spaced out… here are some things we’ve been working on.
New roof on the house last September. Got this done right as I was getting sick with COVID, and as my 3rd daughter was born… that was quite a week.
This spring we got chickens, which meant I needed to build a chicken coop. I found an old hay wagon frame, and built up from there using old rough lumber and scraps (including old house roofing)
We immediately had racoons trying to eat the birds, so I put up some electric netting around them (and shot the coons). Here are the chickens working on a future garden plot:
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We are starting to get serious now about the new house. I want to get started on it before the family grows much more… this little house is starting to feel crowded. We have a good floor plan and a rough cost estimate. I want to do most of the work ourselves, and I want to do it as a timber frame. Biting off a lot I know… we have time on our side at least. There’s no rush to get into the house, just needs to be started.
I think we’re settled on a floorplan, it will be about 3500 sq ft, two stories. Yes that’s a big house. However there’s no basement, all storage etc will be in the living space. When you are building a big simple box like this, square footage is pretty cheap “in bulk”. Besides, like I said we’re planning a big family.
To get the big timbers I need, it’s time to think about a sawmill. Logs are really cheap and custom sawing is not. Perfect opportunity to DIY. The old falling down shed will become the sawmill, and we’ll order logs by the truckload and mill them down to size ourselves. First step was to rebuild the shed roof, with homemade trusses:
Another project lately is a spring I’m trying to develop. It’s a wet-weather spring, 2-3 gpm, but it’s been very dry lately. I buried a large plastic barrel downstream as a spring box, and I’m working on an effective dam to collect the water. I think it needs more clay. We also need some rain so I can test it out.
I’ll pump the water up into a holding tank and then use a 12v RV pump to move the water where it’s needed. This will require a tiny solar battery setup, which I have yet to develop.
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Looking good. New roof that will kept the rain out. Chicken coop on wheels nice. Great to hear from you.
Bob
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You’re remote enough those coons make good table fair. Corn feed from the field are the best im told. Storage on the hoof as kristijen says!
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Thanks much for the update Chris !
Hope you give some thought to a storm room or shelter 
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Chris, being new to the forum this is the first time to read this thread. You and your family are to be commended, you have done a great job and have a wonderful homestead. My wife and I came to western Pa to create our retirement homestead ten years ago and would want nothing more. Again, my hats off to you.
Kent Smith
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Just FYI, you can now get ozone generators for dirt cheap on aliexpress. they are dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactors, which is a fancy way of saying a borosilicate glass tube with stainless mesh in it covered with aluminum foil. that runs at high frequency and voltage (low amps). They can be daisey chained together to get higher concentrations, or run in parallel.
I know you have a fancy water system and tank setup. But the last time I looked they were in the 100s of dollars.
Another year, another update… It’s been a busy year, there’s plenty to tell about!
New baby
We welcomed Hannah Debra Saenz to the family this spring. We are up to four little girls, 4 and under.
Debra was my mother’s name, she passed away in December from cancer. Though we are sad, the circle of life continues. She is buried here on the farm.
Tractor rebuild finished
Yes, the Massey Ferguson 150 is running again. This one’s been in the shop in pieces for a few years, I’ve just been really slow to button it up. It spun a bearing and tore up the crankshaft. I was able to get a new crank, pistons, sleeves, etc. Then it turned out the head was cracked. All in I think I had around $2000 parts and plenty of labor. Video of the first startup:
And first run of the bushhog:
I may paint it up nice someday, but for now it’s just a workhorse.
BCS 853 (Walk-behind tractor)
I just happened on this deal. A fellow in Cincinnati was selling a BCS 853 diesel, rotary plow, tiller, chipper shredder, and mower for a very good price. I brought it home and immediately put it to work plowing up the garden spot (see below). This is a luxury for me, but the diesels are hard to come by anymore and I love walk-behind tractors. It fills a very useful spot for me in tight spaces.
Ford 881 Powermaster with loader
This one came to me recently. I’ve been trying to offload the big flatbed truck for several years, but no buyers came forward. I tweaked the ad to say “would consider trades for a loader/tractor”. Couple months later, the truck was gone and this old Ford came home with me:
It needs some work. The front hydraulic pump shaft was stripped out, meaning the hydraulics were inoperable. I have since replaced that and gotten the loader working again. However now I find the engine leaks a tremendous amount of oil, so I’ll be diving into the top end to see what’s leaking. New gaskets all round should help. I’ll need the loader soon, because we will be working on a driveway.
Cabin
This was a project my brothers started on last fall, and I finished this summer. I wanted there to be a place for them to stay out here, so they felt free to come visit and work on projects without invading the house. We’re cramped for space anyways, so extra bunks are a good thing. It’s a one room 10x16 cabin, with standard framed walls and homemade trusses for the roof. Very basic, and designed to be towed with a tractor if necessary.
Greenhouse
This one is still in progress, but we got hoops raised and the main plastic installed. 25’ x 64’, single layer 6 mil plastic. Currently storing firewood to dry through the hot summer, will also be for starting plants next spring.
Dog
We got a dog to protect the chickens. Meet Daisy; half Beagle, half Great Pyrenees. She’s chewing everything to bits… but the girls love her.
Garden
Despite the new baby, we decided to plant a garden this spring. Using the new BCS, I was able to plow some ground, make raised beds, and planted a few things.
I also put up a deer fence:
Unfortunately most of the garden failed early on, due to dry weather and poor soil conditions. We are still learning, and our plan is to be better prepared for next year. The fence worked quite well at least.
Up next: Buried electric & driveway
This project is about to begin. I have had all the materials for a good while, but it wasn’t urgent. But we are about to start the driveway project, so I’m renting an excavator over Labor Day weekend (three days for one day price) and I should be able to trench the electric conduit as well as bury some culverts for the driveway. I bought geotextile fabric to go under the gravel, since we have soft bottomland soil here, and I don’t want to lose all our expensive gravel. The Fedex man called me this morning, to verify this delivery:
You’re looking at 2,200 feet of fabric, 13’ wide. It’s a long driveway.
Next I get to haul in some culverts… The fun is about to begin!
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Making leaps and bounds Chris good on ya!
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You guys accomplished a lot in a year, great work. 
Remember to plan in and take familytime together too, it is easy to just work work work when there is a lot to do.
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Wow, thanks for posting chris! I know its sometimes a dunting task to find the time to get it all recorded. Especialy all at once, But we appreciate update.
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Chris, did you hammer in those truss plates or come by a plate press?
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I have a shop press which did the job. A little cumbersome to move the plates in and out, but much easier and better results than hammering (which I’ve done in the past).
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