Pictures from my Oklahoma trip

[gja1000]

Originally Posted by Janet

We are starting to get those windmills here Gayle. People are using them for electricity and there is one just 2 miles from me. They are considering a windmill farm there. They have one up so they can decide if there is enough wind for more.

Our farm is in line for a future wind farm. In order to put a windmill(s) on your property, they have to lease it. Oil companies do the same, in order to drill an oil or gas well on your property, they have to lease it. Oil companies typically lease your land for about $100 to $300 per acre for 3 years. We currently have all our farm leased to an oil company.

Well, the wind farm company wants to lease our farm for $1.00 (yes, one dollar) an acre for 100 years (yes, one hundred years). We said NO THANKS!!! I would love to have a few windmills on my farm, they bring in about $5,000-$8,000 per year (depending on how much elec they generate). BUT you might lease your land with them and then get a 5000 sq foot substation instead of a windmill (which pays NOTHING). You are giving up the surface rights to your property for 100 years - again, NO THANKS!!! We think they will change the lease at some point - it will be several years before the proposed wind farm is built.

Some people put up the small windmills to generate personal electricity. What you don't use, the electric complany in Oklahoma HAS to buy back from you. Several people do that and we are considering doing that on our farm.

[Janet]

That is exactly what some are doing in our county and a few counties to the west of us. They have it for personal use. Sounds like a pretty nice set up, although I haven't really done too much research. Just what the neighbors are saying.

[AngieDoogles]

Great pics Gayle! I've never been to Oklahoma. Thanks for sharing!

[Marilyn]

Originally Posted by Janet

That is exactly what some are doing in our county and a few counties to the west of us. They have it for personal use. Sounds like a pretty nice set up, although I haven't really done too much research. Just what the neighbors are saying.

I did a little research into this. The personal windmill itself is only about $4,000, but when you add in the tower and the equipment needed to transform the electricity generated to usable electricity for your home, and import and export, the cost was much much more. One windmill would not generate enought power with our average winds in this area and with the energy requirements due to our hot summers, so you would need several to do the job. It's been a while, but I figured it would take about 20 years or so to break even and that's if you never have to do any maintenance on the system. I was subscribing to a magazine for a while that was devoted to wind and solar energy. There was lots of really good information in there, but that's where I got the data to do my evaluations.

It may be that in a cooler climate with higher wind speeds it would be more feasible. Hubby and I would like to someday be totally disconnected from the grid. The only way we have been able to figure a way to do that is to have super efficient foam insulation and geothermal HVAC system utilizing a combination of wind and solar power. The insulation and equipment is soooo expensive though for even this setup the payback is pretty long with current technology and pricing.

[gja1000]

Thanks for the figures, Marilyn! Do you have a source that you could share with me? My cousin who lives in OK is the one who is thinking about doing the leg work on the personal windmill. I know she would appreciate some/a source(s) to figure all this out. She knows someone who put up a windmill many years ago, and has enough power to run her farm, plus sells about $500 back to the elec company every month. But, the wind blows pretty hard all day every day in Oklahoma. There is a HUGE car dealership in Norman, OK that has one windmill (pretty good sized) that produces all their power.

We actually only have an electric pump on the farm right now - to pump water out of the well for the cattle. So we don't need much electricity; thus, most of it could be sold back to Okla Gas and Electric company. There are 6 cousins who are part owners in the farm now, so we could all share the costs. We just need to learn more about the whole process.

[DianaB]

It looks like you saw and did a lot while you were in Ok!!! The sculptures were really beautiful!! How special that your Mom shared a family story with you!!! Your uncle's cabin looks really nice!! It's so cute tucked into the trees!! I bet that your family all enjoy being there together. We have Braums in our area and they do have really good ice cream. Their hamburgers are really good too! I loved the rock work on the little church. It was probably made by the CCC or WPA. We have several things around in our area that were made by them during the depression. They did some beautiful rock work. Thanks so much for sharing your pictures!!!

[gja1000]

Originally Posted by DianaB

It looks like you saw and did a lot while you were in Ok!!! The sculptures were really beautiful!! How special that your Mom shared a family story with you!!! Your uncle's cabin looks really nice!! It's so cute tucked into the trees!! I bet that your family all enjoy being there together. We have Braums in our area and they do have really good ice cream. Their hamburgers are really good too! I loved the rock work on the little church. It was probably made by the CCC or WPA. We have several things around in our area that were made by them during the depression. They did some beautiful rock work. Thanks so much for sharing your pictures!!!

Oh MY YES! Braum's hamburgers are the BEST!!! My mom ate a bacon cheeseburger on our last day in OK.

Yes, the rock work in this area was done by WPA. There is a little town near where I took the picture, Medicine Park, where the whole area by the river is buildings with this rock work. We were there to eat dinner, just at dusk, so I couldn't take a picture, but it was gorgeous!!!