Posts

Spring Water Restoration & Off-Grid Homestead Build

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Welcome back to Base Camp WNC —today, we’re back in the beautiful mountains of Burnsville, North Carolina , on a fourth-generation family homestead. It's been nearly 7 years since I last set foot on this land, and now, my good friend’s son is preparing to move into the family home. Step One: Restoring the Spring Water Source The first priority: getting fresh spring water flowing again . Years ago, a spring system was installed, but while water is visibly bubbling out of the mountain, the pipe is bone dry. We’ve started digging into the hillside to trace the issue—and sure enough, water has found a path underneath the dam wall rather than through the pipe. This setup features a shallow 12-inch-deep Carolina water system. Over time, the water carved its own path beneath the dam, bypassing the intended flow. We'll need to rebuild the dam wall using hydraulic cement , seal it to the rock face, and redirect the flow properly. As we excavate, we’ve discovered that the or...

May 26th, 2025

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Welcome Back to Base Camp WNC – Starting a 4th Generation Family Homestead We’re excited to bring you along on a brand-new chapter here at Base Camp WNC as we begin building a fourth-generation family homestead in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. This project is especially close to home—one of my closest friends has a son who’s moving onto the family property, and we’re getting started with some essential infrastructure work. In the next video, we’ll be focusing on installing a fresh spring water system to supply clean running water to the house. What’s Coming Up: Spring Water Installation – We’ll show you how we tap into a clean mountain spring and run water directly into the home. Low Head, High Volume Hydro Power – Learn about our plans for a hydro system that generates sustainable energy with a low elevation drop. Rebuilding an Original Spring House – On the property sits a 60+ year-old stone springhouse built by Joe’s grandfather. This structure ...

Rebuilding the spring and gravity water system on the homestead

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Got a new post on the Carolinahomesteadplanner.com site called Rebuilding the spring and gravity water system on the homestead . Read the full post by heading on over here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bNuJYxDKC8

Starting work on a fourth generation homestead

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Got a new post on the Carolinahomesteadplanner.com site called Starting work on a fourth generation homestead . Read the full post by heading on over here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOEu_RZr0s0

Adding water cisterns to a low production well

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Got a new post on the Carolinahomesteadplanner.com site called Adding water cisterns to a low production well . Read the full post by heading on over here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf8pSuFxkfo

Wireless water level indicator for water storage

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Got a new post on the Carolinahomesteadplanner.com site called Wireless water level indicator for water storage . Read the full post by heading on over here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M54hbME3IM

A combination of springwater and low producing wells 

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Got a new post on the Carolinahomesteadplanner.com site called A combination of springwater and low producing wells  . Read the full post by heading on over here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtqe-20EtAs