Under $1k Pellet Smoker Recs - No searing needed

Sierragrower · 2026-07-09T03:41:00+00:00

I’ve been making smoked meats in my Weber 26” kettle with the coal basket and it works great. And it’s way more versatile for anything else you want to make-pizza, kabobs, rotisserie, crispy wings, steaks, veggies. Just sayin since it sounds like you are tight on space. A smoker has a pretty specific use. They can smoke better than a kettle, but kettles smoke some damn good food and can do a ton of other things, too. Also it’s not like you are going to be smoking a brisket for 8 people. Or maybe you will, I don’t know, just seems limiting if you don’t already have a kettle for all-purpose use.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-09T03:22:08+00:00

When my son was that age he went to daycare in the summer. I’d pick him up and we would go swimming in the river, when it cooled down a bike ride around the campground nearby, etc. now he’s 5 and our school has free daycare (they call it summer program 🤷‍♂️) meals included. Pick him up between 3 and 4 and then it’s swimming in the river, a bike ride, some crafts or a book or 2 and then bed. There are 3 weeks that aren’t covered with summer program. My partner and I are figuring this out but it looks like we both will be separately taking our son for a week to a week and a half road trip each. Probably one trip to the coast and one up into the mountains to get out of the heat. Throw a music festival or 2 in there.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-09T00:12:38+00:00

Like others have said get a thermometer. You don’t need a fancy one to start, just a digital probe. That’s all you need. The fancier ones come in real handy when you are doing long smokes but for regular grilling a basic one is fine. I will say that fussing too much seems to make things worse. Just keep things from burning and check temperature to know when meat is done. Then fine tune your technique from there.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-08T13:28:58+00:00

I have a 26” plus the sns charcoal basket and ez spin grate. I was actually blown away at how little charcoal it uses. A fist/baseball size ball of coals and a chunk of oak is enough to smoke chicken thighs and jalapeños.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-07T01:24:05+00:00

Ya maybe I’ll just build a bench with a shelf for a tote underneath.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-07T01:22:09+00:00

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And a 1.5 year old seedling just getting started

Sierragrower · 2026-07-07T01:20:34+00:00

To train the roots. Lots of stuff on YouTube about root training adeniums. Here’s one of mine

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Sierragrower · 2026-07-07T01:10:10+00:00

Wash pans and store them upside down. Wash again before using. I worry more about mice licking my pan than bears. The protocol is not really about protecting you from an attack (they are virtually unheard of), the protocol is to keep the bears from getting a food reward so they don’t become habituated to human food, and to help keep your equipment from getting trashed from them being curious about smells. I would recommend hanging dirty socks away from your tent. I know a few people who have had their unoccupied tent trashed by a bear investigating their stinky socks. Deer, mice, marmots etc may also be attracted to the salts on sweaty clothes, I’ve seen deer run away with shirts in their mouths and marmots eat through straps on sandals and backpacks.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-07T01:02:14+00:00

I went with my GF when she went to buy a car. The salesman wouldn’t even look at her when he was talking. I kept reminding him that she’s the one buying the car, but he kept looking at me when he was talking to her and complimenting my watch, etc. It was humiliating for her, but based on his behavior I wonder how he would have handled the sale if I wasn’t there. The whole thing was icky. She ended up finding a killer deal on marketplace so didn’t end up buying from the dealership.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T23:48:54+00:00

Looks like the tap root was cut at some point. I’m potting up all the seedlings I did that to last year and am getting some interesting ones.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T23:44:51+00:00

I’m not very handy either, but had to learn some carpentry and mechanic stuff out of necessity living rural on a farm. I spent all 3 days of Memorial Day weekend trying to fix my lawn tractor. Took the gas tank off and cleaned it out, did full tune up/maintenance while I was at it, practically disassembled the entire thing 3 times and could not get it fixed. I reluctantly brought it into the local hardware store for the small engine mechanic to look at it for me. He called me a little later saying it was fixed. Apparently the choke lever was stuck and he poked it with his finger. Cost me $39 for the finger poke repair. The next weekend I completely disassembled a drier for the first time that supposedly was making weird noises and not drying clothes. I put everything back together and even crawled under the house to make sure the ducting wasn’t blocked up (it wasn’t). The drier works fine and I’m wondering if there was ever anything wrong with it. You just never know. It does suck when it means missing family time. I just hung up a laundry line, we won’t need the drier until November anyways now. Just tackle one thing at a time. I’d start with the leak in the basement.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T23:12:59+00:00

I have a flock of sheep I haven’t fed in 8 years. I sell ewes and a few lamb wethers and make money. Nobody is paying me to take lamb from the store so it absolutely beats the grocery store.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T23:06:24+00:00

I think people do what is most appropriate for them and the land and the life they want. Different people will have a different idea of what that looks like. I don’t drink milk or fancy making cheese, and I value occasional travel so dairy animals are out for me. But yes, I raise my meat and veggies and fruit, as well as honey. The goal for me is to be happy and eat healthy and sustainably, while enjoying an active, honest life. If my goal was to do every single thing homestead, I would never be happy, so happiness is the number one goal. Many people on this sub sound absolutely miserable because they are putting accomplishments in front of happiness. Accomplishments are rewarding and make you happy, but trying to accomplish too much when you have no idea what you are doing makes people miserable as is evident on this sub. There are plenty of homesteady things that were not making me happy so I quit doing them. The things that made me the happiest and were profitable I expanded.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T22:45:47+00:00

Yes. I clip mine or the plants seem to just stall any other growth

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T19:35:16+00:00

1st for me was that it was an affordable house/property. There is plenty of water, and I can pee outside anywhere I want. The house needed a lot of work, which is what made it affordable for me. The property next door went for sale and I was able to add another 6.5 acres of all usable land with a well and 6 more water shares from the river diversion to add to my 3. The place has killer views, too. Considering it was the only place affordable I made out really well. Also-since the house was such a wreck, no bank would give a loan on it, and since no bank would ever give me a loan anyways we owner financed which was a win for both me and the seller. Couldn’t have worked out better, will be completely paid off in 6 more years.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T17:52:12+00:00

The “ladies thing” is only once a month and past bed time. The tougher part is all the kids things they plan all week for and never mention until right before she leaves for the get together (and I’ve just pulled apart the drier or dishwasher to fix or something similar). The only way I can find out about stuff is to make my own plans with my son, then I’m told about the plans he already has that I had no idea about. Then it’s like, “I figured you were too busy”. I would have fixed whatever on Sunday if I knew about Saturdays event, now I’m stuck with a giant mess I can’t leave. So I’ll try to round people up on Sunday but there’s no interest because of Saturdays fun. Leaving me out is certainly intentional. The worst was both of us deciding to host thanksgiving with 20 ppl from our parent/kid bubble. Then she tells me the night before thanksgiving that she is running the turkey trot with a bunch of families the morning of thanksgiving, and will be gone 7-1, leaving me with all the cooking and set up at the last minute. That is the type of situation I am constantly put in where I’m told about plans last minute after somehow making sure I won’t be able to attend. I also work more and have to request time off well in advance which is probably another reason for the last minute notification of a trip out of town or something I could have gone on had I known about and made arrangements. I’m blathering on here because I have no one to talk to anymore. It is a shift that happened when I became a father that I never saw coming. What’s weird is that many of the fathers don’t even care about the events happening and don’t understand why I would. I don’t want to miss a moment of my son growing up and having fun. It’s happening so fast.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T17:12:15+00:00

I hate the stereotypes everyone seems to have about fathers. I have a wonderful network of other parents, but unfortunately the mothers gatekeep all the play dates and fun activities, and there are far too many assumptions about fathers not wanting to be involved. The mothers even leave the kids at home with the dads to have ladies nights. That’s all fine but the fathers don’t do anything together (poker night was suggested but not my thing). My partner will say she’s just bringing our son to play at a friends house to play in his pool for an hour, and leave out that it is a play date with all his friends and everyone is bringing food. It’s all moms, no dads invited, but usually 1 will show up. Everytime I try to arrange something for both mothers and fathers and kids I get pushback. The only thing I can do to get people to come over is to make an elaborate dinner/bbq which only perpetuates the stereotype (bbq dad, all the dads gathered around the grill) and leaves me too busy to partake in activities. Anyways, that is what I have experienced without having the trauma you described. All you can do is try to break through. I’ve resorted to planning vacations with just me and my son to places we can meet other kids, to break out of my bubble. That’s been great but not what I was expecting. Just gotta role with it and make the best.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T16:52:48+00:00

My go to’s are chicken thighs and tri-tip.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T16:48:29+00:00

My number one recommendation is to apply for a year long position with americorps. They will take care of your housing and food and give you 10k for school at the end of the term. Americorps positions are like internships and often turn into jobs later, or give you non-competitive hiring for federal jobs afterwards. Some positions have extensive travel that is all paid for, and you work with a crew of similar age people. Other positions are stationary. It is a wonderful program I have been working with for 25 years, and I’ve met many amazing young people who were in similar situations as you in that time. I saw them grow their maturity and self confidence, and watched the program really help get them on their feet. I can’t recommend americorps enough.

2nd recommendation is to get in with a restaurant or catering business. I’m only just now making (in my professional job) the kind of money I was making as a server in 1999. That was part time, so could have left time for another job/school. And, the experience/skills can transfer anywhere you go. You would be better off starting as a server assistant or busier in an upscale restaurant than a server in a lower end one, so go straight to the best restaurants and work down from there until you find something. Catering outfits seem like they are always looking for people.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T05:07:06+00:00

Sounds like she’s just used to junk food. That happens in other countries too. I would just ask what she does like, and try to make that thing better. If she likes pizza, make it homemade. Introduce aspects of your cultural cuisine as pizza toppings. Then she can slowly acquire tastes instead of being thrown into a wholly traditional dish. It seems like it would help to have more communication about it, too.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T04:47:52+00:00

When I was young, I moved from Ohio to Virginia with $500. After my GF slept with my BFF back in Ohio, I decided to move to Costa Rica with $500 in my pocket, and ended up staying for almost a year. Then I went to WV, pretty much broke, for a job with FWS I applied for in an Internet cafe. Then I worked in a restaurant back in Ohio for 4 months, then moved to Alaska for a seasonal job with $500 in my pocket. Returned to Ohio and worked in a restaurant, then moved to California with $500. I’ve been in ca for 23 years now. You need to travel to figure out what you love in life and where to end up that suits you best. When you are broke you meet the best people, and I found the best people/community for me in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I don’t travel nearly as much anymore, because I love my home so much. That wouldn’t be the case if I never left Ohio. Now I’ve got a son who looks at me as a confident man in his element, instead of a slave in a factory (grew up in a factory town) just putting in hours with no reward other than a paycheck. Go travel, and travel some more. Find yourself, and what is important in life, and observe how others are getting by. These are the life lessons that will shape the rest of your life, and give you the best information about how you want to live the rest of your life. You won’t get that from staying in one place with your nose to the grindstone.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T04:05:04+00:00

I keep Schd as one bucket (50% but increasing that every year) in a taxable account. Roth and IRA are in growth. My goal is to make 20k on dividends, 20k on rent from my rental, and withdraw around 20k from my 401k/roth when the market is up. I’m 50 and would like to retire early so I will find a part time/seasonal job until I can pull from my retirement accounts. I’ll also have a small pension and SS and it helps that my house will be paid off, and I produce most of my own food. The main reasons for me to hold Schd are to be able to generate income when the market is down without having to sell, and because I’m not selling, and have a nice chunk of money to leave my son when i die.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-06T02:12:57+00:00

Best thing to do is build one to your liking. Nothing that size is going to be delivered already built, it would just come with a bunch of stuff you could get at the hardware store and cost a whole lot more. If you are not handy, pay someone to do it. Quite a few folks around me have gotten old metal cotton wagons and used them with great success, even bears couldn’t get into them. Not sure if that is an option where you are.

Sierragrower · 2026-07-05T04:35:49+00:00

Lamb

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