I’m an outdoors man. I was spending a good portion of my free time hiking, sleeping in tents or hammocks. But with time, it was just harder and harder to find time, to spend it like that. Last year, my wife gave me a present – a gardening plot! What a great gift! Now, I have my “living lab”. It’s a place where I can put all my crazy ideas on sustainability, vertical farming and prepping. I explore off-grid and renewable energy sources, etc. 0.1 acre (600sqm) of gardening paradise!

Plan is to make it work in those few phases/modules/segments:

Module 1: Living quarters

Module 2: Water and waste management

Module 3: Veggies and Flowers

Module 4: Lighting and Smartness

Module 1: Living quarters

Any kind of solid-wall housing is CRAZY expensive, it seems ridiculous to put 20,000 EUR in a small cabin. Of course, it provides shelter, security, and storage space. However, it seems excessive as one of the first costs. It’s still for “gardening”, not “cabining”!

Spotlight went directly to: Tents. They are great! They are:

• Affordable
• Spacious
• Lightweight
• Fast to setup

And, what’s probably most important, they don’t isolate you from nature. You’re still hearing the wind. Birds are as loud as they are outside. I’ve chosen VEVOR 6m Bell Tent because they are reasonably priced. The cost is 670 EUR for around 30 square meters of inner space. According to today’s standards, that’s a small flat!

Most bell tents are all year setup, which means they come with chimney hole! We’re adding that to plan for colder days.

Heating

After short but effective research I’ve chosen two options below.

Wood stove

Classic. It provides the heat and you can cook on it. You can choose steel one if you’re planning to keep it in one place, or titanium if you would like to use it for camping.

Pros

✅ Provides huge amount of heat

✅ Burns wood! ECO!

✅ You can cook on it!

Cons

❌Provides ONLY huge amount of heat

❌ If you have kids, you needs to keep it safe – it dangerous to touch it

Links

Stainless steel

https://tinyurl.com/3eskkzu5 163 EUR (shipping from Europe)

Titanium

https://tinyurl.com/3ehz6rp2 ~208 EUR (shipping from China)

Diesel heater

It’s common name is “Webasto Knockoff”, it’s a heater that consumes insignificant amount of electricity (after initial ignition – around 40-60W) to burn diesel fuel, producing around 5kW of heat (which is A LOT!). When it’s around 14 *C outside, you can have quite comfy 20-21 degrees inside tent, using 0.3L of Diesel per hour. There is a lot options to choose from in the market, but they all look exactly the same, I’m a bit Vevor fan-boy, so I’ll put links to those devices, because i use them actively.

If you’re choosing to go with this kind of diesel heater, you need to purchase 12V DC power supply, with at least 12-15A current rating, that’s a lot and they are expensive. I got old server power supply from a friend, and would recommend to do the same – get DSP-700GB (https://www.ebay.com/itm/374394982104) for 20 EUR, read my short article about how to connect it.

Pros

✅ Provides variable amount of heat

✅ it has remote and you can connect it to smart home system

✅ it heats up very quickly and cools down quickly

✅ you can stay in tent for 3-4 days heating up on one tank

Cons

❌ it burns fossil fuel, it needs exhaust pipe

❌ it has 3 pipes (exhaust, intake, outlet)

❌ when it’s starting you can hear irritating clicking sound

❌ you’ll need additional, quite powerful 12V DC power supply

Links

Vevor 5kW Heater

https://tinyurl.com/mthzdv67 110 EUR (shipping from Europe)

Vevor 8kW Heater with separate Tank

https://tinyurl.com/3ehz6rp2 ~116 EUR (shipping from Europe)

Summary

I’ve tried to choose best bang for buck options, those above are not the best options. But they are for sure the best for me. It’s literally best sleeping place, you’re feeling like you’re camping, but it’s camping with best possible style 😉

I have a feeling that Module 2 and 3 will come together as, well, everyone needs water!