Our West Virginia Survival Farm

Welcome Mark! Wonderful place you’ve got there. 6 acres is more than enough to grow some food, and the woods will provide plenty of heating and vehicle fuel.

We stayed with some musician friends who until recently lived in Tanner, not far from you. Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz have moved into Elkins now, but are still heavily involved in the WV State Folk Festival there in Glenville (highly recommended). I got to sing with Ginny several times.

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Chris, is that your dad playing bass?

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I just thought about it… Make sure to test the well water and the water in the creek (which a water wheel possibly?). They do a lot of mining and fracking in WV and it can contaminate the water. You might want to make charcoal to use it for water filtration if it is a survival farm. Just to make sure you know how to do it if shit hits the fan.

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I would aim for rain water collection as @Chris does…

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Yes it is! Plus twenty…

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Hi Mark, do you have rights to the oil on your land, I see there is a oil well on your property and a gas well across the creek. That is one nice piece of property you have there. To find what you have there, it would cost here in Washington State 4 times what you have paid. And the taxes are sky high.
Bob

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I have gas rights for home use only. The well seen on my property is a combination oil/gas well. However, several decades ago the well’s flowing gas pressure dropped to below what could be used for home heating and the previous owner had to use emergency propane space heaters in the house. I am a bit suspicious about that situation as the gas company who owns the well had employees who went to jail for fraud concerning gas well money issues.

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Hi Mark,
Sounds like time to get a lawyer involved before
you get an anal drilling!
Pepe

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I wonder what a vacuum pump might do on an old gas well?

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Here is a photo of the oil/gas well on the property. Note my wooded plateau above at the top of the hillside and my mountain peak at the left. Pic taken in early April before the deciduous trees wake up.

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We just have a work over rig come in and flush the gas well. Should be a few in the phone book.

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Mark, anything new to report? Hope you are all good. Did you run for the hills in WV?

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