Community Archives - Page 11 of 93 - Living Off the Grid: Free Yourself

Community

Are you nuts? When can we come visit?

Friends, family, most of us have them, and for most of us they play an integral part of our lives and decisions we make. Making the decision to completely change your life, the way you live can have some pretty interesting, potentially disturbing reactions from those around you.

Moving and living off-grid is a fairly big life change, it often means moving to another place, most likely it’s going to be much farther away than you realize. Chances are that many of your less close friends will eventually fall away, you will be meeting new people and making new friends anyway. Family, well that’s another story, they tend to stick with you (for better or worse LOL)…

You will likely get one of two reactions, the first is the “Oh wonderful, a new vacation spot, when can we come visit?” and the other is “Are you nuts?”.

Let me address the second reaction first. It’s an unfortunate thing that so many people don’t follow their dream or are such negative people, those are the ones who will most likely try to talk you out of making your move. They are often the ones who don’t like or want change, especially in their family dynamics, so any major changes you might make would be perceived as a threat to them. Don’t let someone else’s fears or concerns stand in your way. It can also be hard on those who are close to you and rely on you for more, they might see your leaving as a removing of their safety net, whether financial or emotional. That is something you will have to work out with them, again don’t let someone else’s fears or concerns stand in your way (assuming they are adults and you aren’t responsible for them).

Make no mistake, the people in the “Are you nuts?” category might be pretty persuasive in their arguments to stop you, from trying to scare you with all the unknowns, to threatening to cut you off from them, yes you probably will make some mistakes, yes things will happen that are out of your control, but don’t let that stop you from living your dream. Hopefully the negative Nancy’s will come around once they see you are doing fine and life didn’t end for them just because you left.

Now, to the other reaction, hopefully you will experience more of that side from your family and friends. Moving away, there would of course be some tears, but if they are happy for you it’s all the better. If they can see some benefit for you and them, that is a big help. Your place would more than likely become a destination for visits and vacations, you might even convince some of your family and/or friends to move where you are and live the off-grid life as well.

Either way, change is never an …

October 14, 2017 No Comments

Community

Essential Crafter

There was a time when if you wanted to learn how to do something, especially a trade, you found the person with the most knowledge and you apprenticed under them. Today that generally doesn’t happen. Many learn from family members, a father or mother, older sibling and the such, I wonder just how much of that goes on these days with both parents working and kids being raised in daycare… but I digress.

Back to my point about learning how to do new things, or in this case, old things, older methods of doing, building, creating, ways that are being lost with every grandfather and grandmother who passes from this world. Fortunately there is still a source of information, while not as good as hands on learning, this is a pretty good substitute, especially if you already posses a basic set of skills. Anyone with a computer, laptop or smartphone and an internet connection can tap this source, it’s YouTube.

PB turned me on to a particular YouTube channel, he refers to himself as the Essential Crafter. His channel features a little of everything, from woodworking to metalsmithing, safety and the such. I will say that he has caught PB attention for the moment. Here are a few of his videos, watch and enjoy! Let me know who your favorite YouTube’ers are :)

…

October 12, 2017 No Comments

Community

Confessions of a off-grid granny

I cannot believe it’s October already, the days are still warm but the evenings and nights are getting cooler, it’s almost sweater weather! I am so looking forward to our first woodfire in the wood stove. I have a little confession that I’m going to tell you, but don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret just between us… I’ve been looking for a set of footed pajamas, just like the ones I wore when I was a little girl. Yeah, I know, it’s a little silly for a 50+ year old grandma to want to wear footed PJs, but it’s what I want. I have looked around and there are quite a few to choose from, but most of them are in the $30+ range and I’m not ready to spend that much money on something I’m going to lounge and sleep in. The really good ones, the thick cushy ones are a lot more expensive than that! I think what I’ll end up doing is making my own, I found a quite a few tutorials on YouTube about how to make these and I like the idea of knowing what they are going to be made of.

OK, now that we have that out of the way, I’m also thinking about Christmas, with Halloween a month away and Thanksgiving the following month, Christmas is truly right around the corner. If I start now, I’ll have plenty of time to put together some fun homemade gifts. I tend to think too complicated for these sorts of things, I need to simplify my ideas, I have lots of raw materials out here on my 6 acres, twigs, rocks, sand… Turning to YouTube I am in the process of getting some crafty DIY ideas, here are some I found.

Actually this first one I’m thinking about making for a friend whose birthday is on Halloween, I looked around and found some solar rechargeable lights for Mason Jars that would work great with this.
https://youtu.be/jgufxIUwslw

https://youtu.be/6t7wnNg8tkc

https://youtu.be/pAmwWuyr6Ng

https://youtu.be/TJe_fM1rZCQ

https://youtu.be/0nIaBlpOsEQ

One more :) actually this would be more for Halloween, but you have a month until that hits…
https://youtu.be/r8P2va94ml0
<br /> <script type="text/javascript"> var sc_project=4844793; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="1ec51f22"; var scJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://secure." : "https://www."); document.write("<sc"+"ript type='text/javascript' src='" + scJsHost+ "statcounter.com/counter/counter.js'></"+"script>"); </script><br /> <noscript></noscript>

allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”…

October 1, 2017 No Comments

Community

Aircrete!

I’m certain that most everyone reading this is familiar with using concrete for building material, there are various ways to go about using concrete, from preformed blocks and slabs to pouring in place (forms). There are many different ways to buy and mix concrete, the two main types you will readily find in your local home center are Quickcrete and Portland cement. The Quickcrete and the like are ready mixed with everything in the bag, all you need to do is add water, it’s convenient but more expensive. Buying Portland cement is better IMHO because you can make whatever kind of mix you wish, we use sand and gravel from our creekbed to mix with our Portland, PB has a formula that he keeps in his head, mixing it by feel and consistency, it works great for us. There are other things you can add to the cement mix to strengthen it and/or make it lighter.

One type of mix is made with paper and cement, it’s called “papercrete”, we have some papercrete blocks that were made by a neighbor we never met out here, he had moved and a friend of ours was cleaning up the property and thought we might like the blocks. They are OK, not very structural though, some of the blocks are very spongy and crumble easily, other blocks are stronger, it was easy to see which ones were the first batches and which ones he had learned from. We are using them as the filler for a curved fence that is going around the front yard area of the SkyCastle. PB is encasing them in his own mix of cement to give it strength.

Earlier today I ran across a great instructional video showing how to make “aircrete”, essentially it’s just Portland cement, water and dishsoap. I was really blown away by how simple the whole thing really is. It makes very lightweight but strong cement, it can be poured into forms or made into blocks that can be made into structures. It looks very easy to work with and goes very fast.

Apparently, in the past, you could get aircrete but the process required large heavy expensive commercial equipment, it wasn’t something that the average DIY person could easily do, but with some ingenuity there are now ways for the non-commercial person to make their own aircrete.

Watch and enjoy!
https://youtu.be/b9Gmor0I3mw

…

September 24, 2017 3 Comments

Community

Never buy grain for your chickens again!

When I picture raising chickens, it’s always free range (of course!), I see a farmer walking through a flock of hungry chooks tossing handfuls of grain onto the ground for feed. It seems that Karl Hammer has figured out how to raise chickens, over 600, without having to purchase even one bag of grain. Watching this video, it’s amazing to see all of these chickens roaming free, scrambling over and digging up tall mounds of compost. Karl is a compost king, he has various (and huge) compost piles set in strategic places to funnel and capture the leachate that drains through and from each pile into the next. This is designed so that none of the nutrients are lost and they don’t end up polluting their potable water source nor the neighboring properties.

These compost piles consist of many different sources of material, from cow and donkey manures, waste food from various restaurants from town and the other things you would find in a compost pile. They are HOT, meaning they are active, in fact, Karl is producing his first batch of black garlic in one of the heated piles. I had never heard of black garlic, but it’s something I am very interested in now, you can learn more about it here.

I started watching this video thinking I was only going to learn about chickens and compost, but Karl has much more up his sleeve than that. He raises and uses American Mammoth Donkeys (Jackstock), seems they were very important in history, in the USA and in other countries, one of his jacks ancestry goes back to an animal that was given to President Washington by the King of Spain, another gift came from the Isle of Malta. (LINK) These animals not only provide valuable manure, they are working animals, pulling equipment and being guards for the other livestock on the farm.

Watch and enjoy the video, I certainly did.
https://youtu.be/IWChH9MHkHg

…

September 17, 2017 1 Comment

Community

30 days and it’s ready

I had so much fun watching this couple condense a 30 day conversion into a short video, as I saw each part, I thought that’s just how I would want to do it myself! I am not familiar with a “Sprinter Van”, but it’s a wonderful size for this purpose, it’s compact enough that parking will not be a problem, it is not going to look like people are camping or living in it, so it’s perfect for stealth camping in town. It looks very presentable, from the outside it looks like just a normal van, nothing that would draw attention.

Being smaller, it does not have any sort of bathroom facilities, no dedicated toilet, no shower area, but it does have everything else one would need. I love the couch that converts into a bed, the design for that is so ingenious, it is well insulated. The kitchen looks great, I LOVE the deep sink, so often in van conversions, the sink tends to be very undersized, especially in the depth, this sink does not have that issue. The tiles look good, but that is the one area I would have deviated, mainly because of the weight it adds and it’s not flexible, I wonder if it will eventually crack or tiles start popping out, hopefully not, but with all the movement, vibration and flexing, I don’t have much faith in it to maintain integrity.

The way they permanently mounted the Vitamix mixer is ingenious! It looks great, will not move around and is usable in place. The rest of the kitchen is equally well done. Watch the videos and enjoy, the first video is an overview, if you want to see more details, watch the rest of the videos in the series.

https://youtu.be/obQt4WxTYV4

…

September 10, 2017 No Comments

Community

Internet gone!

With all of the hurricanes and wildfires going on here in the USA, we haven’t been plagued by any of those tragedies, but we have had our own little hiccup, it was just a taste of being out of communication, a reminder of what can happen when things go wrong. In the middle of last week, our internet suddenly quit working, no advanced notice, I was actually online when it happened, it just stopped, something that happens on a semi-regular basis but usually only lasting a very short period. A few days later it was still out, I found out that a large fiber optic line was cut a few towns away, it was affecting most of our towns, I heard that stores were not accepting credit or debit cards, possibly not even checks, only cash. I assumed that the problem would be fixed rather quickly because of the number of stores not able to fully do business.

As the weekend rolled into Monday, a holiday, I was still waiting for my internet to come back on, I was learning that my neighbors internet was back up and running, but mine was still out. I had tried to troubleshoot my system, one thing I discovered was my antenna/receiver was full of water from some sideways rain we had earlier. I drained it and could see that it was getting power, the green light that indicated power as well as a separate light indicating that the LAN was working. The other lights that indicate the strength of the signal, were not on.

Once Tuesday arrived, I was finally able to get a-hold of my internet company, sure enough, our internet to the neighborhood had been restored, it was just mine that wasn’t working. I knew I wouldn’t be home all day on Tuesday, an unusual set of circumstances would result in the SkyCastle being empty for the majority of the day (something I’ll tell you about in a future post, link to be added once it is live), since our place is not near the road or even really visible from the road, it is not easy to find so the internet tech folk would not be able to visit on Tuesday. I figured they would be able to arrive on Wednesday, but the day passed with no tech visit. Another phone call later, it would be later in the afternoon on Thursday before it would be fixed.

Needless to say, I have been really missing our internet, I was able to check my email at my neighbor’s house, but it’s satellite internet and painfully slow, my cell phone does not work where I live (no one can use cell phones out here), I could do a little when I was out on the road, but honestly when I’m out, it’s because I’m working and don’t really have time to play …

September 7, 2017 No Comments

Community

Karen and her Casita

I spent some time today listening to Karen describe her life and how she ended up living in a small Casita travel trailer. I am wowed by her story, she has lived a very interesting life, has experienced both the good and the bad, and she has a nice story telling style that is easy to listen to (as well as watch)…

The Casita is a relatively newer style of fiberglass travel trailer, instead of being made with a metal skin, there is nothing to rust or bend out of shape. I suspect they don’t have the leaking problems that other travel trailers have, my friend Beth who has lived in various travel trailers and RVs can attest that the older style units have a propensity to leak, and often in the worst place, usually right over your bed in the middle of the night.

Karen shows how has customized her Casita for her life, it looks roomy and comfy. She is one of a growing population of single ladies living a mobile life, some might call her fearless, I see a sensible lady with lots of experience and enough know-how to not be intimidated by anything.

Enjoy the videos
https://youtu.be/aNz_6-YfrGc

https://youtu.be/0dreaL4iVPU

…

August 27, 2017 No Comments

Community

Empty shelves

What is the first thing to disappear off the shelves in an emergency? Water, that is the main thing I heard people on the news saying, everyone was out of water, and of course food is close behind of the things that will be stripped from the shelves. Fuel, batteries, paper plates and other things that don’t require washing. I have said it again and again, don’t wait until the emergency is on your doorstep to begin to prep, be ready long before that storm, hurricane, power outage or whatever might occur. It’s not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN, these things will happen and you can either be the folks standing in long lines, possibly leaving empty handed, or you can be the smart people who are ready for whatever may come.

It’s so much easier to prep ahead of time, you can do it little by little each week or payday, rather than worrying about how much money you will have to spend, that is IF the water, food and fuel are even available, you will be sitting at home, safe with your family, ready to ride out whatever is coming.

This is something I will never understand, people who live on the coast, they KNOW that each year there are possibilities of storms, hurricanes, cyclones, tropical storms, and yet when it happens, the news is full of stories of empty shelves at the grocery stores, long lines, running out of fuel at the gas stations, the hardware stores running out of plywood sheets to cover windows… this goes for people living in other areas that are prone to natural disasters, earthquakes, wildfires, storms, up north where they can get deep snow and ice, anyone who lives in a place that can have weather that can cause power outages or prevent you from getting out.

Even if you are on the thinnest of budgets, you can buy a few extra cans of food, things that don’t require heating, buy an inexpensive MANUAL can opener and make sure it works properly. You can buy up one or two gallons of water a week or payday, those only cost a dollar or so each, you don’t have to get the expensive H2O, get the cheapest you can find and stash it away. Buy up some cheap paper plates and plastic eating utensils, some wet wipes and hand sanitizer. Don’t forget about your pets, a few extra cans of food will not break the bank.

Try to have some comfort food, snacks that do not require refrigeration or heating. If you have children, it’s a good idea to have a few coloring books and crayons or colored pencils to help keep them occupied. Also you can invest in some board games, chess, checkers, Life, whatever you like, you can find these inexpensively in the dollar stores.

Depending on …

August 26, 2017 No Comments

Community

Eclipse Monday

I suspect that unless you are living under a really big rock, you know about the solar eclipse that will be happening on Monday. It’s been all the rage on Facebook and other social media, actually giving us a welcome reprieve from all the other social garbage that has been floating around the last few weeks.

There have been a glut of “eclipse glasses” being sold all over the internet, I’ve been hearing warnings about some of them being fake and could potentially allow damage to your eyes if you use them to look at the sun, even during the eclipse. I’ve also been reading the obligatory “Where will you be during the eclipse?” posts, well for me, I’ll not be looking at the sun, not with special glasses or anything else.

I’ll not be where the total eclipse will be happening, I will also be working tomorrow, if everything lines up correctly (pun not intended), I’ll be on the road, leaving Presidio Texas heading toward Marfa Texas when the sky will go dim. I will have my camera and hope to snag some interesting photos if anything picture worthy presents itself to me.

Perhaps I’ll even make an impromptu pinhole projector and see what I can see. Sooooo, what are you going to be doing tomorrow assuming you live where the eclipse is going to fall?

https://youtu.be/KUAnKsW93xU

https://youtu.be/QHVFYsQn9uM

https://youtu.be/0QOLPHHDGj8

https://youtu.be/cZhFOB8_ses

…

August 20, 2017 No Comments

Community

Manual counterparts

You decide you are hungry, you get up from the couch, you pause your TV show on the way to the kitchen, you get a can of soup, you use the electric can opener, you pour the soup into a bowl, you pop it into the microwave for a couple of minutes, you get a soda from the fridge, pour it into a glass of ice from the freezer, you take everything back to the living room and resume watching your show as you enjoy your food…

Now lets assume the power has gone off for whatever reason, doesn’t matter if it’s a major power outage, or some drunk ran into the power pole at the end of your street, how would that scenario play out differently? Well, obviously you aren’t going to be watching TV, and when you get hungry, you still have everything in your kitchen, but you aren’t going to be using most of it.

How are you going to eat? If you are smart, you will plan ahead, long before you are sitting in the dark. Cans of food are great for blackouts, they don’t require refrigeration. But with a can, unless it’s a pop-top type, you will need to open it, that requires a can opener, hopefully you have a manual can opener in some forgotten drawer, hopefully you know how to use it, yes some can openers can be tricky to use. I only use a manual can opener, and as a backup, I have a P38, an old style Army can opener that works no matter what.

Now, how are you going to heat your food? Forget the microwave or electric stove, if you have a newer gas stove they usually have piezo electric lighters, but you can still light the top burners with a lighter or matches. If you don’t have a way of heating your food, then you can get a propane camp stove, they come as one burner all the way up to a regular stove top with an oven. Of course you can always use a grill (USE IT OUTDOORS!).

Hopefully your electricity isn’t out long enough that you run out of water, yes even your water tap will stop pumping water eventually, so you will need to have a source of water for drinking, cooking and cleaning.

It’s good to have some other manual tools for the kitchen, instead of using a food processor, you can use knives or even a manual chopper. A whisk will mix your food or drinks instead of a blender.

There are many foods you are probably keeping in your fridge that don’t really require the colder temps, things with vinegar in them, pickles, relish, ketchup, mustard and the such. Of course mayo doesn’t last long outside of the fridge. Butter and eggs will last a surprisingly long time outside of the fridge.…

August 13, 2017 No Comments

Community

Living here vs there

When we left the big city, well more like the outskirts of the big city, we lived in a trailer park on the edge of Irving Texas, it felt more rural because right across the street was lots of industrial and empty land, but even so, this was in the middle of what we called the metroplex of Dallas and Fort Worth. We had all the usual utilities, electric, water, sewer, gas, phone, cable, trash pickup and the such. There were grocery stores and other major shopping within a very short mile or so driving distance. We had neighbors, lots of them very close by, there was no getting away from people.

Living in this plethora of people, we had very few friends, really just one or two to speak of and they didn’t live nearby. We honestly didn’t know our next door neighbors, oh we were on nodding terms with them, we would recognize them if we saw them at the gas station, but we weren’t very close with any of them, we never visited them nor them us.

When we moved out west, to a very rural area, with few people, very few people, we expected to become hermits, to not have much if any contact with the few neighbors we had out here. We didn’t know anyone and expected to continue living like we did in Irving, with little contact with the people out here.

It didn’t take long to discover that this wasn’t going to be the way we would live, moving into a tiny (but spread out) community, everyone knows what everyone else is doing, word gets out fast that there are new people around and the community quickly jumps in to meet you and make you feel welcome. One of the things that we have learned living so far away from any major town and so far away from other people is the safety net that is available in the bigger cities just isn’t here in smaller communities, so it’s up to the people to look out for each other and help each other as much as possible.

We have more friends since moving away from people than we have ever had before, and I like it! We have a network of people out here who will jump in and help each other when there is a need, such as a vehicle breaking down, if you are stopped on the side of the road, all you need do is wait a bit for the next car (or truck) to come along and you will get a ride. If you need work done but don’t have a lot of money to pay, then people will donate or barter their time and skills.

Of course, along with all that familiarity comes some drawbacks, I mentioned that living in a small community, everyone and I do mean …

August 5, 2017 No Comments

All you need to go off-grid

Community

Are you nuts? When can we come visit?

Essential Crafter

Confessions of a off-grid granny

Aircrete!

Never buy grain for your chickens again!

30 days and it’s ready

Internet gone!

Karen and her Casita

Empty shelves

Eclipse Monday

Manual counterparts

Living here vs there

OFF-GRID.NET

PUBLICATIONS

CODE OF CONDUCT

REGISTER AND MANAGE ACCOUNT

ORDERING

PRIVACY POLICY

LINKS DIRECTORY

LANGUAGES

ADVERTISERS

POWER MANAGEMENT

POWER MANAGEMENT LANGUAGES

WORK FOR US

Sign-up to our newsletter

Community

OFF-GRID.NET

For films about individuals and technologies for living off the grid

PUBLICATIONS

REGISTER AND MANAGE ACCOUNT

ORDERING

LANGUAGES

ADVERTISERS

POWER MANAGEMENT LANGUAGES

WORK FOR US

Sign-up to our newsletter