Deane Brebner and Don Bissonnette made the decision to go totally off-grid for one month, and eat locally only at the same time. The first installment article for treehugger.com about their experience is HERE.
That made me wonder: How hard would it be for us to go off-grid: for a month, a week, even a day?
Think about it: hot water, cooking, computer, television, refrigerator...
I would think going off-grid temporarily would be even harder than a complete switch, because investing in alternative energy sources for just a month could be quite an expense, as compared to using the alternative sources for an extended period of time.
They are also eating totally locally. What is grown within 100 miles of your home that you could buy?
Here, there are almost no crops grown for human consumption, other than hard red winter wheat. Eventually there will be some vegetables at farmer's markets, but no big farmer's markets within 100 miles. So just about all of what we would eat for that month would have to come from our own backyard. That sure wouldn't work here in FEMAville!
There is a good site I found about a family building and living off-grid in the desert, Our Off-grid Experience. It's worth checking out... their Daily Life page is one I like - I am always looking for the real-life stuff, not the facts and figures...
Then there is the Path To Freedom Journal, which documents the Dervaes family's daily life living almost totally self-sustained. Those of you who have been reading here very long know how I feel about them!
I was thinking the other day that there are things we could do without electricity at least part of the time, and save energy. Like a James hand washerwith a wringer for washing the smaller things, especially in the summer. Of course buying a solar oven is a goal of ours. Grilling outdoors is another option. We already 'unplug' all appliances and electronics when not in use by flipping the switch on the power bars to prevent "phantom loads". (of course, if it's going to storm we just unplug them altogether - surge protectors don't work if they're not turned on!) Once we get out of FEMAville, I can't wait to start using my "solar clothes dryer" again... the good 'ol trusty clothesline! There is something very meditative to me in hanging out the wash...
I'm sure there are lots of other ways to go off-grid for a day, a few hours, or at least take some of your jobs off-grid. Any other suggestions I haven't mentioned?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
My clothes dryer quit several months ago...I really don't miss it. Line dried.
We discontinued satelitte TV...expense we don't need now and the programing was crap. Amazing I don't miss watching TV...
Turned the AC downstairs up to 80. Fans help...no central ac upstairs...a watercoil cooler that Dh built when we built the house 24 years ago. We use it when it hits 95-100. Plus fans.
Pond collects water for irrigation.
Cook early in am. Grill alot in the summer/fall. Plan is to be build wood fired oven outside.
Insert in fireplace someday with recirculating fan to heat downstairs.
Dh wants to use wind/solar combination generator to get off power grid completely. ( a goal)
There are more and more food crop producers springing up in KS. Several in my county..some south of us...a big one in Manhattan, around Lawrence, KC area. They always get alot more rains in eastern KS however. Here and south in July, August there usually has to be irrigation. That can be expensive.
All great ideas!
Rick says I'm just as much a Nazi with keeping the thermostat at 82 now as I was at keeping it at 60 in the winder... lol
We want to eventually have solar panels, too... we have a very good friend who installs alternative energy systems,and heating/cooling systems for a living (he's absolutely brilliant!), and he is going to help us...
We have satellite because that's the only way to see "Greensburg"... lol Plus, there is nothing else to do here - no yard, no garden, nothing to do in town...
We're planning on putting a woodburning stove in the basement... to help heat the whole house...
If I'm planning on using the oven, I use it very VERY early in the morning (starting at about 3 am usually...lol) But I plan a lot of things that can be cooked in the crock pot to avoid heating up the house...
Seems there is always more we can do!
I wish there was mor local food within 100 miles of Greensburg!!
I agree with the difficulties of finding a CSA close to us here in SW Kansas. I was finally ableto send an email to that CSA we spoke of, but have not heard back yet.
When you get in your house and have your garden going, maybe mine will be a bit more productive and we can share some of our "goodies". :) We're within that 100 mile radius!
~anajz~
Awesome!
Don't forget to let me know what they say!
We WILL have to share... that will be great! :)
My brother is the most off-the-grid person I know. He doesn't even believe in banks or in the government. He heats his house with a geo-thermal system, gets his water from a spring on his property, has a big garden and orchard and four kids to tend them both. He lives down a long lane and no one can casually see his place. He has his own beef, chickens, goats and pigs and a couple mules. It's kind of funny that he can't find a woman to add to the mix. Too bad for him that you're already taken, Anita. :)
Alice! He sounds too good to be true... lol
Check here for local food
http://www.newdream.org/marketplace/farmers.html
when you get a garden site I have an incredibly tough (and delicious!) variety of raspberry that might be able to take the heat out there. It's coming up all over my garden so you would be doing me a huge favor.
Strawberry runners are all over the garden as well but they need lots of love to get thru very cold winters. still, delicious fruits.
That would be fabulous!
Rick and I were just discussing berries and fruit trees the other night, deciding to look into what would be best for our climate... I would love that!
Are those best transplanted in the fall or spring?
For you folks wanting solar- I found this new company that might be your answer. http://www.SolarForRent.net
Thanks for stopping by, Laura, and commenting
- and thanks for that link!
That's a really good idea - I'm off to check it out now!
Great ideas. We are going offgrid slowly - 1st step is to reduce consumption. See if you can get by with 2 kwh per day. When you get there you can begin to consider living off the grid with solar, wind and geothermal.
Hi Offgrid - thanks for stopping by - please come back soon!
I appreciate the advice... we're just getting ready to build a new house, and while we have to adhere to certain rules (Its a self help program for tornado victims) we hope to eventually be able to install solar for at least half of what we use... hopefully someday we'll be able to go all the way!
Post a Comment