Living Off The Grid

I don’t have experience with tractors yet, but living in Colorado has given me plenty of experience with snowblowers. Seeing as how we’re about to enter the snow season again here, I’d like to share a review of my favorite brand/model.

Those who live in more rural areas use septic systems and leach fields for the most part. But a cheaper, and more high-tech, alternative to septic systems is a composting toilet. Not only does it eliminate the high cost of installing a septic system, but it achieves the same thing in less time while producing a highly-fertile, pathogen-free, non-smelly, free fertilizer that can be used on trees and shrubs.

There is something very alluring about building your own home out of stone. Perhaps it has to do with the longevity of a stone house, or the sense of security provided by thick stone walls, or maybe it’s just the rugged, natural look of well-done stone masonry. Whatever the reason, this ancient art-form and skill has been largely lost over a few generations of “fake” stone builders who use veneers glued onto wood and metal mesh instead of full-sized stone. But I found two do-it-yourselfers named Tom who are keeping the craft alive in their own modern way using slipforms.

The first negative book review I’ve had to write goes to Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management written by Maurice Grenville Kains.

I bought my first set of mason jars made by Ball and a regular canning pot (not a pressure canner) so I can try my hand at this skill that has been largely forgotten over the course of two generations… Or so I thought, until I started checking out the Best Sellers List on Amazon.com and noticed that the Presto 23-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner and the Back To Basics Home Canning Kit were both on the list of top-selling products on Amazon.com this month.

On a scale of 1-5 we’d give this book a 4.5. Some of the information is a bit too technical for some people, while other parts of the book are a bit too entry-level for others. The Solar Living Sourcebook seeks to strike a balance and provide a general overview of sustainable living concepts while not glossing over every topic. We think they have managed to do this quite well.

This solar power system is about 3kWH in size, but it’s all we need for our small 1940′s bungalow in sunny Colorado. The inverter is a Xantrex and we had it mounted on the North side of the garage where it would stay shaded almost 100% of the time.

Most people don’t know anything about their watershed here in the United States. We turn on the tap and the water flows. But those who live along rivers, on lakes, or who depend on deep wells for their water have a vested interest in the health and maintenance of their watershed.

In search of our perfect off-grid homestead parcel, our short list was North Carolina, Northern California (Shashta county) and Southern Oregon (anywhere below Portland and central or West of the Cascades). Northern California has pretty much been taken off the list unless we find a killer deal. We can’t seem to find a good agent in North Carolina, although we love the looks of the Boone and Asheville areas if we can get something cheap enough outside of town.

Here is the show that’s causing all of the interest in sustainable living and self-sufficiency over in the UK:

According to a recent report from Hitwise, searches for self-sufficiency topics have been taking an increasing amount of market share of weekly internet visits over the last few months.

But for those of you in wetter climate (lucky bastards!) you may want to consider daisy chaining multiple rain barrels together so that if one overflows the water goes into the next one instead of being wasted out of the overflow valve. If you get plenty of water in the spring and your garden is a little ways away from the house, it might be a good idea to allow the water to fill up the first tank and begin moving itself down the line of subsequent tanks until it fills one sitting right beside your garden.

The most important part of battery maintenance is to have a properly designed and installed solar power system, including a reliable charge controller, breaker boxes, inverter and the batteries themselves. Assuming you have all of this in order, how do you get the most life out of your batteries?

For a family of three on a ten acre homestead, would it be better to have a small cow, like a Jersey, or a couple of goats?

I thought it would be a good idea to alert our readers of some seriously dangerous stuff going on with tens-of-thousands of RVs, Motor Homes and Fifth Wheel Trailers catching fire due to a recalled refrigerator.

OK I’ll admit it. When I first saw that www.livingoffgrid.org was available it seemed like a sign. Here I was making websites for a living and wanting nothing more than to have a little piece of land to call my own when I came across a domain that seemed to bring it all together. While [...]

Yes, you read that right. I’m voting Republican and here’s why…

All-in-all, I set out to get one book and ended up spending about $180 USD on a miniature library for a city-slicker who wants to give up the rat race and head out to the country. I spent hours pouring over user ratings and reviews, and here are the books I ended up buying.

In addition to the house itself (which is an off-grid, passive and active solar design made from rastra-block and other green building materials), there is a barn, two ponds, a vineyard, two lucky dogs, an olive grove and a labyrinth of lavender plants. Check out the video below, in which John explains some of the background in the design of this green home:

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