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troubleshooting
Communities

It’s solar, what could possibly go wrong?

troubleshooting

When you are doing your own solar system, the key words here are “doing your own”, you will have to be in charge of troubleshooting if things go wrong.

Sometimes, often you can recognize there is a problem but can’t quite figure out what or where the problem is. You test each separate component and each of them seems to be working, but altogether there is a problem somewhere and it’s frustrating.

I am the unofficial “Geek Squad” tech person in my neighborhood, I can’t tell you how many times I have been working on a computer, taking everything apart, putting it back together and have it work, and I have no idea what I did to make it work, the same thing happens with solar systems. Perhaps it was just a loose connection, or who knows what, call it a happy accident.

I recommend building your system yourself rather than paying someone to do it, mainly because you will have a better understanding of how things go together, the hows and whys. The only exception I can think of is if you have the money to pay someone to come out and fix things each and every time things go wrong, of course then you are at the mercy of someone elses time schedule. There is nothing better than being able to do it yourself.

Watch this video about troubleshooting a solar system.
https://youtu.be/7zOodG3F_Ds



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June 24, 2017 No Comments

Showering felt so good today!

When one lives off-grid, you are generally your own fix it person, not always, but often. That is certainly true for us, we designed, built and maintain our off-grid system, all the utilities that would normally be in the purview of the utility companies or a commercial repair service company, we take care of ourselves.

One of the big things we take care of has to do with our water system. When we first moved out here, before our water system was really set up, I would walk to my neighbor’s house to collect 3 gallons of water per day, why 3 gallons you ask? Simple, it’s how many empty one gallon water containers I had. We learned during that time how to really REALLY conserve water. Before you think we moved out here to leech off of our neighbor, we were set up to get water from the community well, several miles from us, but since our neighbor very kindly offered the use of his tap, we gratefully accepted.

Since then, we have greatly expanded the water setup, we have several large water storage tanks, some are set up to collect water from the roof, that is something that will be improved upon in the very near future, to the point where we will get 100% of our water from the sky.

On the inside of the SkyCastle, we have a 12 volt water pump, the original one we had came out of an RV, we liked it well enough to continue with that line when it came time to buy a new one. The nice thing about the 12 volt system is even if the batteries that store our electricity are too low for the inverter to work, there is still enough power to run the pump.

In the beginning, we just used the pump, it was (and still is) inside the SkyCastle, just under the sink, every time we turned on the faucet, the pump came on making our home sound like a gas station air pump. We eventually installed a second hand pressure tank. The water pump would pressurize the pressure tank, which meant the water pump didn’t come on as often but ran for longer periods of time.

Eventually that pressure tank failed and we purchased a new one, a spiffy shiny blue tank that sits under the sink in the kitchen. The reason we have so much of our system inside the house is to keep things from freezing in winter.

Now that we had our water, sink and shower plumbed for use, we needed to be able to heat the water. Enter the Eccotemp L5 portable propane powered water heater, honestly it’s designed to be used OUTSIDE, not inside, but since our home isn’t what you would call tight, I don’t mind running the one in the kitchen, installed right over …

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June 23, 2017 1 Comment
In Norway hiking is a big part of the everyday life.
Communities

Unlocked: Traditional Norwegian Free Huts

From ancient times, simple households and traditional huts located in rural Norway was kept unlocked, so people could seek shelter in case of bad weather. Statskog wants to keep this tradition alive.

Provides over 100 huts
If you are happy with sleeping on a “brisk” – a wooden bench, going to the toilet outdoors and drinking water from the creek, this is perfect for you. Statskog provides over 100 arches and “koier” – tiny, traditional huts around the Northern-European country.

“They can be a destination goal for a break or act as a shelter for wind and weather. There are also a few wooden benches if you want to rest or stay overnight,” Nils Aal, head of outdoor activities in Statskog says.

Simplicity is key
The cabins have an oven, but not water and electricity. It is not a matter of luxury, but four walls and roof over your head over a few square meters. Most of the huts was used as shelters for loggers and people working with timber floats in earlier days. Others were built as hunting and fishing booths or are set up in recent years as tourist destinations.

Many of Statskog´s huts are old and contains a lot of history about Norwegian forestry and farming. Everyone is welcome to use the households for a short stay, but it is expected that you will make an effort to leave it in the same condition as you found it. A good rule is to bring in dry wood and take the trash with you when you leave.

Open for everyone
No booking is possible and no membership is required, but you should have a Plan B (like a tent) in case the huts are full. You also need to bring your own sleeping bag, and of course food.

Another way off staying off-grid for free is in a camper van.…

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June 22, 2017 No Comments
Communities

Missing my dad on Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day, a bittersweet day for me. My Dad was instrumental in my interest in living off-grid, as well as actually getting to live off-grid.

I grew up in a very tight knit family, we had a few close friends, but mostly we depended on ourselves, the family, to get through life. We would gather around the TV and watch Nature, Jacques Cousteau, NOVA, we also enjoyed watching Grizzly Adams. Those shows molded my love for nature. We walked an odd line though, one of loving nature and one of being conservative, we were definitely not tree huggers (not that there is anything wrong with that, said in my best Seinfeld voice).

I have wonderfully fond memories of sitting with the family and watching these shows, then heading straight out to emulate what I had watched, building tent forts, digging holes in the dirt to see what lived there, saving the baby sparrows that always fell out of the nest built over the porch… neither of my parents made much of a fuss when I brought home a grass snake, toad or horned lizard, and believe me, I brought home everything I could find.

We lived in the suburbs, though we all dreamed of moving to the country, plans were always being made that would end in us buying some acreage out in the middle of nowhere. I remember when my dad and I discovered the Monolithic Dome Homes located in Italy Texas. We took a day and visited the site, they are very friendly folk who don’t mind people wandering around. We spent years after that drawing out plans for the dome home we were going to build, I can still see it in my mind. Life would be perfect.

Unfortunately our family never fulfilled those dreams, at least not until I had my family and they were grown up. Most of my family is familiar with how I live now, my mother was the only one who never got to see my current home, she passed away 15 years ago. My dad did get to be part of it though. He came out for his first visit before there was anything built on the property. We set up tents on the lower part and spent several hot days enjoying the peace and quiet, meeting the neighbors and getting the lay of the land.

After that, he would come out and spend a month in the summer with us, his first extended stay was the impetus to build a separate bedroom, I loved my dad but we needed some separate space (LOL). He enjoyed helping us, both financially as well as keeping us stocked up in goodies. About a month before his impending visit, he would call and ask me what we needed. Dad would buy up toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex, can goods, dry goods, he …

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June 18, 2017 No Comments
Nate has plenty of room in his camper van.
Communities

Camper Van Featured in UK Tabloid

The Sun is featuring Nate Murphy, a Brit who decided to turn his white van into an RV in just 17 days to travel the world. These kind off adventures have gotten very popular over the years and this featuring in Britain´s most -read newspaper is a sign that more people would like to live an off-grid life!

“I did an interview for a media organisation that sold my interview. It was really cool that The Sun wanted to write about my van”, Murphy tells.

A world adventure
Nate is a professional rock climber and uses the camper van to travel between climbing destinations around the world. The camper van has been turned into a fully functional leisure vehicle, with sleeping room for two, seating space, running water, LPG Central heating and electricity from a 300 watt solar panel.

“It is designed so I do not have to plug in anywhere. It is a very comfortable way if living as I do not rely on anything else than the van”.

The rock climber says the biggest challenge in the process of building the van is that if you are going to do it quickly, you have to make sure you have everything delivered at the right time.

“I worked 15 hours every day and I would say the whole process took me about 250 hours work,” he tells.

Living on a shoestring
Nate´s nomadic life style has taken him to some of the most expensive cities in Europe, where he avoids accommodation costs, saving a fortune in hotel bills.

He has lived out of the van for a year and travelled through Europe, Asia and the United States, where he just returned from.

His plan for the summer is to sell the van if he can get a reasonable price for it. With the money he wants to build a new van.

“I really enjoyed the process of designing and building the van, so I would not mind doing it again”.

So far Nate has not made any big plans for the summer yet, but is looking into doing rock climbing in Norway. Initially the plan was to spend up to three years in his van, but the climber has realised he enjoys the lifestyle so much that he wants to continue for indefinite time.

Makes money from his Youtube-channel
As well as doing rock climbing and living nomadically Nathan Murphy is a Youtuber with more than 80,000 subscribers. You can see more of his adventure here. 

Want to go on an off-grid adventure? Check out this farm stay in Central Vietnam!…

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June 14, 2017 2 Comments
Surrounded by jungles and adventures.
Communities

Farm stay, Central Vietnam

The couple behind Phong Nha Farm stay in Vietnam shows how you can live off-grid and make good money at the same time. Australian Ben and his wife Le Thi Bich founded the farm stay in 2010, and it is a hidden pearl for off-grid lovers. You find Phong Nha Farmstay miles from civilisation, located between the coast and the mountains in the northern part of Central Vietnam. It is highly recommended if you are passing, but you should hurry – tourists are starting to rush to the area.

The farm stay is described as a “French Colonial style accommodation, set in idyllic surroundings of rice paddy fields on the edge of the famous Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, just off the Ho Chi Minh Trail”.

It is the ideal base for wild adventures, discovering caves or just relaxing in a hammock. They even have free bicycles so you can discover the local village nearby!

An exotic farm stay

The couple´s idea was to start a business in the middle of nowhere, and even though they received a lot of comments from family members and the community such as “you will never see any westerners, you are wasting your money and you time” it has shown to be a huge success!

From housing people in hammocks at their home to personally designing and building the farm stay, they set out to put Phong Nha on the map.

If you want some more information about the farm stay, click here.

If you are interested in reading more about off-grid businesses, check out the Tasmanian Winery who has gone off the grid in terms of electricity.

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June 11, 2017 No Comments
Communities

Meet Gladys

She’s burgundy, discrete, low cost and can take you wherever you want to go in comfort, well as long as you are named Dylan Magaster :)

The nice thing about living in a converted van is they are discrete, you don’t necessarily LOOK like you are camping out or living in your van, you can drive it nearly anywhere, you can park it without drawing unnecessary attention.

I like all the wood features inside this van, it is setup to cook, including a refrigerator – which is actually a converted freezer! Of course, being a female, I would want a toilet, Dylan speaks about not having issues using public toilets, I personally prefer using my own equipment, but that’s just me. It would be easy enough to have a small portable potty, either a commercial one or one I made.

https://youtu.be/voV-db9xgkE

Are you cut out for van life? It’s definitely not for everyone, nor is living off-grid for that matter, so it’s important to try it out first. See if you can rent or borrow a van for a vacation, or even just a weekend. These folk suggest just spending the night in a WalMart parking lot to see if you are OK with doing that. If you have been to a WalMart parking lot, you no doubt have seen all the campers and RVs sitting on the outskirts of the lot, those are people who are traveling through and just want a spot to spend the night. WalMart allows people to do this, mostly in hopes of the travelers spending some green inside their stores…

I would think you would need to be good with having limited stuff, my friend Beth who has cycled between living in a van, to pulling a small camper to now living in a larger RV is always talking about getting rid of “crapola”, her word for too much stuff. I also think you are required to be part gypsy, you must enjoy traveling, something I don’t wish to do quite honestly, I’m a major homebody and once I find a spot, I want to nest.

Watch this video to get an idea if this is the life for you.
https://youtu.be/4mMbIFyRpu4



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June 10, 2017 No Comments
Loving couple lived in a caravan for three years.
Communities

Loving Couple Caravan Adventure

Loving couple Stian Berg Larsen and Susanne Madelen Larsen are having a DOUBLE celebration – their new daughter, Aurora Louise is one month old and after they lived off-grid for three years, they do not have to worry about the money anymore. They saved approximately 25.000 pounds by living in their caravan.

“The economic benefits for living off-grid was a huge bonus”, Berg Larsen says.

They both agree that living off-grid was one of the best experience they have ever had. That was, before their daughter was born of course.

It was after the Larsen´s got kicked out of their apartment in the Norwegian city Stavanger they decided to try a different style of living. The prices for buying and renting was rising, which made it difficult to find a place to stay. Susanne´s mum suggested a motel or cabin, but after some creative thinking they decided to purchase a caravan.

For almost three years, the couple lived on Sola Camping site in Southwestern Norway

“Even though we both studied and worked when we lived in the caravan, it gave us a great perspective on ways of living. I do not have anything bad to say about our off-grid adventure”, Berg Larsen says.

The only negative aspect the couple could think of was the cold journey from the outdoor shower back to the van wearing just a towel. Norway can be quite a chilly climate, especially in winter when the temperatures often drops to about -15 degrees.

More than enough space

Although the loving couple lived in a tiny home they had room for a double bed, a kitchen, toilet and a living room. They now live in a house in Stavanger, but before they made their decision to go back to traditional living they took a gap year in Bali, enjoying the warm weather and each others company.

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June 9, 2017 No Comments
Communities

Modern vs retro tiny home

From ultra modern to a retro 50s look, you can have just about any look and style you wish in a tiny house.

My first thought when I looked at this tiny house is it’s inside out, though it’s really not. The outside looks like you can attach many different things to it, very modular, not sure if in fact you could do that, I can see a planter box being held in a groove, one of many on the outside.

The inside of this tiny home has very clean lines, it has an uncluttered appearance, with most parts hidden behind walls & doors. I love the sideways Murphy bed, it gives me ideas as to what we can do with an extra full size mattress that is being stored behind the couch in the living room in the SkyCastle.

Watch and enjoy
https://youtu.be/UqxxFZ1JoVY

Then there is the 50s themed tiny home. With the shake shingles on the outside and the retro green color all the way through, this tiny house begs to have a housewife in pearls and a frilly apron baking cookies in the full size stove.

I LOVE the vintage refrigerator and the metal trim on the shelf & counter edges. The clever way the stairs are built into the tiny dining table. I do have to wonder how long the hydraulic pistons for the bed will last, how hard are they to replace and how hard are they to find? I’m guessing the builder has a line on those and as long as that builder is still in business, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Watch and enjoy
https://youtu.be/DX5LN5TV_ao

Which look do you prefer? The vintage retro look or the sleek, clean, ultra modern look?



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June 6, 2017 No Comments
Communities

What is? What if?

I watched a man die at one of the stores where I work doing merchandising. He just fell over and died right there about 15 feet away from me. I didn’t go over, there were already several people gathered around, 2 people were performing CPR on him, the store had already called 911. I stood back and prayed silently as I continued to work.

I watched the paramedics work on him and take him away. I saw one of the paramedics in another store later in the day and asked about the man, she told me what I already suspected, he didn’t make it.

As you can imagine, that weighed heavily on my mind the rest of the day. I have now witnessed 4 people leave this earth, each had a somewhat different affect on me, this one made me think about just how fleeting and temporary life truly is. This helped put life into perspective, what is really important, what is really insignificant, what do I need to go ahead and do instead of putting it off for later. I wonder what that man might have done differently that day had he known it would be his last day to spend here on earth…

These words are not meant to bum you out, but rather are meant to get you to look at your life, let go of the insignificant things, realize what is important, live your life to the fullest each and every day… Hug someone you love.

All too often, we put off what we really want to do, we get caught up in the minutia of life and focus on the insignificant parts. We all have things we want to do, at least I can say that I do. But going to work, doing a job we hate just to make ends meet, taking a vacation once or twice a year and believing that will recharge us for the rest of the year. I’m not saying quit your job and become a bum, you should be reasonable, but you could be using that time while living day to day to work toward living the kind of life that is more satisfying.

What are your goals? You DO have them, right? What would you do differently today if you knew you were going to die tomorrow? Of course that is an extreme, but we ALL have an expiration date, we just don’t know when that is, it could be before you finish reading this sentence, it could be tonight, tomorrow, next week, next year, in 10 years… you get the idea, it’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of when, not if.

So what are you going to do with your life? Here is what I decided to change, I have been wanting a camera, a good one, I can make money with it, it will …

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May 27, 2017 No Comments
Communities

SkyCastle wall and updates

The last few weeks has been quiet around the SkyCastle, spring is here, flowers are blooming, the days are warm and the nights are generally cool, making for great sleeping! Speaking of sleeping, it’s something I should be doing right now, but being the night owl I am, I am still up messing around on the internet.

I do have to work tomorrow, but work has slowed down from the insanity that ensued for a couple of months, now it’s down to a steady pace. I was offered a second job, and it came at the perfect time. I’m now the Foster Grant gal in far west Texas. It’s really a simple and easy job, I already knew the district manager from about four years back when he trained my friend who used to work with me. I was essentially already trained, I just needed to learn the administration part and I was good to go. Fortunately it’s in stores I’m already working in as a merchandiser. This will help get me through the lean times that hit during the holidays for merchandisers. Most stores don’t want us in there doing major projects, or really much of anything else during their busy season so our hours get cut until after the first of the year, when reset season hits for us and it starts all over again.

PB is still working on the wall, he has dug a trench around the outer perimeter and is pouring concrete in the trench as a base for the wall to rest upon. I am continually amazed at how quickly he can do something with just hand tools, and he did most of the digging while I was asleep so he not only got the trench dug, he did it really quietly so as to not disturb me, he is so sweet.

I assume he is going to move the wall to cover the concrete, mortaring the bricks into place one by one, it’s really looking good. He still had a lot more of these papercrete bricks, I asked him how tall the wall will be and he said around 6 feet tall when it’s all said and done. I don’t doubt anything he says about building, previously he said he wanted to build the SkyCastle up a couple of more floors, we already lived on the second floor, he has stopped at 4 floors tall, the 4th story being the observation deck, as I said, I don’t doubt anything he sets his mind to do.

Oh I almost forgot to mention, he and a good friend of ours built a carport, putting the roof on it just today, the roof was reclaimed metal from another neighbor, the one I mentioned giving a haircut to last week, bartering in action! All that needs to happen is a few finishing touches, moving more stuff …

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May 21, 2017 No Comments
Communities

What are your super skills?

How do you get what you need and want if you have little or no money to buy? I assume you have some sort of skills, something you know how to do and can do it pretty well… there must be something you can do, maybe it’s a job you do or have done in the past (or present), maybe it’s a hobby you enjoy, maybe it’s a talent you have, whatever it is, you can offer that skill in trade for something you need or want.

This is called “Bartering”, it’s an age old method of trade rather than using money, it just cuts out the middleman, you simply trade your skills with someone who needs what you can do for something they have, whether it’s a skill they posses, or an item, or even cold hard cash.

For me, I am able to do things that not everyone knows how to do or wants to do. I used to be a licensed cosmetologist, which is a fancy way of saying I know how to cut hair. I actually don’t enjoy cutting hair, which is why I don’t do it professionally anymore, I did it for 10 years, I paid off the student loan I got to go to school to do hair, the only reason I stayed in it the last few years is I was offered a management position in a department store salon and thought it would be interesting. It was interesting, until I developed another interest, computers.

But that skill is something that not everyone knows how to do, honestly I kept it a secret for quite a few years after moving to our off-grid home. Little by little though, the news got out, I still keep it on the downlow, but people still ask me to cut their hair and I usually agree. I don’t do the ultra modern cuts, mostly just men’s haircuts and traditional haircuts for women, and no chemical processes, no color, no perms… just haircuts.

One of my neighbors (and good friends) get haircuts about once a month, they have chickens, lots of chickens, which means they have eggs, lots of eggs, so I get eggs from them and they get haircuts from me. We do other things for each other as well, he sharpened my work knife for me a few days ago, yes that is something I could do, but I asked him to do it for me while I was cutting his wife’s hair.

A few days ago, while cutting another friend’s hair, yet another neighbor and friend stopped by, I ended up giving him a haircut in return for some metal sheets to use for the roof on a carport that PB is building for me. That wasn’t planned, it just happened. In this process, I am very careful about sanitation, I keep a spray bottle …

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May 20, 2017 No Comments