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Off-Grid goes to Hollywood

Living off-grid isn’t just popular – it’s going mainstream.

New York Times bestselling author Gregg Hurwitz is achieving worldwide sales with his Orphan X series, which follows a spy living off the grid – and he’s currently writing the screen play for a film adaptation featuring Bradley Cooper, star of comedy franchise The Hangover.

Gregg, who has had 17 books on the New York Times bestseller list, is promoting his new one – The Nowhere Man, the second featuring the character Evan Smoak.

The first book in the series, Orphan X, introduces Smoak as a killer who was taken from an orphanage as a child and trained under secret government orders. He breaks free from the programme and vanishes off the grid to use his skills to help those unable to protect themselves.

The only way Smoak can be reached is through a technologically-protected phone number, each victim asked to pass the number along to one person in trouble. Lying low in a home base hidden behind layers of false internet connections and using sophisticated technology to insulate outside access, he creates his own rogue GSM site by using a yagi directional antenna, coaxial cable and omni stubble antenna mounted on a tripod – literally taking his devices off the grid by dodging all authentication between the base station and the cell tower. Smoak lives outside the boundaries of society with the freedom to travel at a moment’s notice.

In The Nowhere Man – Buy it on Amazon, released on February 1, Smoak goes from being the one who helps people, to needing help himself.

This is only the second time Gregg has stuck with a character for more than one book, and he said Smoak would be sticking around for a lot longer yet – he has signed with his publisher for at least five books about Smoak.

Gregg said when writing he always thought about the character’s point of view, and to get into the characters’ worlds he put himself in similar situations. This has seen him blow up cars and shoot weapons with navy seals.

“I spend more waking hours with my fictional characters then my wife and my kids,” he said.
“I’ve gone under cover in a mind-control cult. I will do whatever it is to be able to write about it effectively. If I don’t do it, I can’t write about it in a way that’s up close and personal.”…

February 10, 2017 No Comments

Community

Watching TV off-grid

pff grid TV

One question I frequently hear is how do I get TV or movies while living off-grid. I will tell you that I have been living on a mountain side, in the high desert of far west Texas (yes, Texas has mountains), I am in a very rural place far away from any city centers. I cannot put up an antenna, even a high gain one to get over the air TV stations, we only have one radio station that comes over the air as well. So how do I get my entertainment?

Well, first of all, I refuse to pay to watch TV, so no satellite, cable or anything like that. I do have (somewhat) high speed internet, fortunately it’s an unlimited kind of service with no data caps, so as long as our internet is up and running, I can watch streaming videos as long as I wish to. For those of you who have data caps because of satellite internet or using your cell phone service for internet, I have some suggestions below. Second, I don’t have the power to waste on a regular TV, even one of those low energy LED or LCD TVs, so I use my laptop or even better, my tablet, it doesn’t use very much of my precious power.

I have several online sources for watching TV shows and movies, I’ll name a few here. My go to streaming service is Amazon Prime, I get loads of free (included with Prime) TV shows and movies, lots more than I could even begin to watch, they are also beginning to add their own produced original TV shows and movies, some I like, some I wouldn’t give you a nickle for, but that is just my taste, yours may vary.

One I just watched recently is Mr Church, a superb show starring Eddie Murphy in a serious role, it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while, I recommend a box of tissues to go with it, you’ll need it :)

At $99 a year for Prime, it’s a chunk of money up front, but it includes free 2 day shipping, since I buy many things through Amazon, it’s worth it to me, the included streaming videos (and music) are a big bonus to me, not to mention the myriad of other goodies included. Recently they have added a monthly rate if you don’t want to or can’t cough of the yearly fee, it’s $10.99 a month. You can try it free for 30 days here Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial.

A few other places to stream TV shows and movies, Hulu and Netflix. I have used Netflix before and was happy enough with them, but ran out of shows I liked so I dropped the service. Hulu, I’m less excited about, though I have many friends who love it. The …

February 8, 2017 5 Comments

Community

Cooking from scratch

cooking from scratch

Cooking and eating are two (of many) pleasures in life for me, I learned how to cook from watching my mother who was a fantastic cook. She could take just a few basic ingredients and make a meal fit for a king. I remember pushing a kitchen chair up to the counter and standing on it so I could see and help my mother cook. My first dish that I made all by myself was scrambled eggs, standing on a kitchen chair to reach the stove top, of course my mom was right there, but she let me do everything myself, I was so proud of that plate scrambled eggs.

My mother cooked everything from scratch, we never had boxed or pre-prepared anything, I will admit that I was a bit jealous of my friends who ate TV dinners from foil trays, they ate macaroni and cheese from the blue box, and white bread from plastic bags, I thought we were just too poor for such luxuries. Little did I know how lucky we were to have a mom who was talented in the kitchen. Once I was older I discovered just how tasteless that institutional food really was and appreciated my mother’s skills all the more.

One thing I learned from my mom was how to cook without having a recipe to follow, I call it “cooking by the seat of my pants”, I know how to follow a recipe, but I also know how to tweak a recipe, how to make it even better, how to substitute ingredients and best of all, how to make up my own recipe for the things I want. A few benefits of cooking for yourself is it’s usually more frugal, another reason is you know what is going into your food, no mystery ingredients (or ones you can’t pronounce) and best of all, it’s often tastier.

The other day at the grocery store, I purchased a package of English muffins, there were only 6 in the package, they were tasty but rather expensive. We quickly ate them over a matter of 2 mornings. I decided I wanted to make some, I had made them before, I know there are 2 different methods, one is to make a dough, roll it out, cut out the rounds, allow them to rise and grill until cooked on both sides. The other is the batter method, where you make a thick but pourable dough, I already knew I preferred the batter method as that results in English muffins with the nooks and crannies.

I searched through many recipes online but couldn’t find one that I wanted to use, so I just made one up. It’s not difficult, I poured some milk into a pan, added some butter, sugar and salt, I warmed it up until the butter melted (but not too hot), removed from heat, added …

February 5, 2017 1 Comment

Community

Reality of living in a tiny home

01 copy

By now you’ve seen many tiny house videos. Many of them are showing the building in progress, even more show the tiny house before anyone has moved in, in pristine condition. The few that do a video tour in a lived in home, well just like you would do before company is coming over, things are picked up, cleaned and made presentable. I don’t know about you, but I don’t live my life in a pristine condition, there are dishes in the sink, there are dirty clothes in the hamper, there are crumbs on my stove, you get the idea.

So what is the reality of living in a tiny home? Is it easier to keep clean and tidy or is it more difficult? What if you are the type of person who has lots of stuff, clutter? That is who I am, I tend to have lots of clutter, I would love to lean more toward tidiness, but it’s just not in my DNA, you should my collection of ebooks on busting clutter…

A few weeks ago I wrote about Ariel C. McGlothi’s tiny house in a cold climate, she does seem to keep a tidy home, I suspect it is almost a requirement otherwise you wouldn’t have any room to live yourself. She has created a follow up video answering some questions she received, and to show how her tiny home really looks, how she really lives. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/yfc8_29Y6rs

…

February 2, 2017 No Comments

Regen Villages, Off-grid, Sustainable, Eco-village, eco-friendly

Community

Regenerating the Eco-village

Self-sustaining communities that can talk to each other; sounds like something from the future doesn’t it? But Regen Villages is making this a reality – right now. The first Regen eco-village has begun building works in Almere, 25 minutes from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The 15,500m² project will house 100 families and aims to be completed by 2018.

But what is a Regen Village?

Founded by James Ehrlich, a senior technologist at Stanford University, in 2015, Regen Villages has a holistic approach. A regenerative system combining new technology and renewable energy powered homes, with organic food production right on the doorstep.

The houses vary in size and are built inside a greenhouse “envelope”, with some even having terraces. Each home has a built in water collection system, solar panels and are passively heated. The community has a seasonal garden, biogas facility and aquaponics amongst other things.

The base of the villages is that the output of one system is the input to another. Waste from the homes is sorted into different categories. Bio-waste is used in the Biogas facility, whilst compost is used as food for livestock and small flies. The flies are fed to fish and the waste from both them and the livestock fertilises the seasonal gardens. The plants in the aquaponics facility and seasonal gardens produce fruit and vegetables for food, whilst the livestock and fish provide a source of protein. Rainwater is collected and stored at the houses and water produced at the biogas facility is also stored. Grey water is separated and used to irrigate the seasonal garden, whereas clean water is put into the aquaponics. Solar cells provide the energy for homes and also to the “smart grid” which can be used for charging electric cars.

Regen Villages, who are partnered with Danish architects EFFEKT, have been termed the “Tesla of ecovillages” paving the way for new innovative developments. Plans include villages being linked up to the cloud and being able to communicate with each other through the internet. In this way communities are self-reliant and off-grid but can still learn from each other.

What about the future?

At a conference held at Sliperiet, Umeå University, Sweden James Ehrlich spoke of the future for Regen Villages. After the completion of the Almere pilot, EU funding of a proposed 300 million euros (approximately $319 million) will enable projects in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany to go ahead. These are aimed to be carried out during 2018-2022. Sights are then set on developments across Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, India, China and parts of the US, with government investments. As Ehrlich outlined, by targeting a challenging cold environment first, Regen Villages can be adapted to suit different climatic needs.

Off-grid sustainable greenhouse communities are not at all futuristic and Ehrlich is keen to make them a reality.…

January 31, 2017 1 Comment

Prepping, Survival, Trump, Prepared, Off-grid, Self-sustaining

Community

Liberals Prep for Trump Presidency – even have own Gun Club

Time was, Preppers tended to be right-wingers concerned about the coming social collapse, but since President Trump was elected, it’s left wing liberals who have begun hoarding food and seeking out futureproof shelters.

Prepping or survivalism already has tens of thousands of individual followers or groups actively preparing for emergencies. This movement even warranted a reality series titled “Doomsday Preppers” which aired on National Geographic Channel in 2012.

With a Trump administration now on the horizon, previous non-preppers have begun looking at their earthquake and backpacking gear in a new way – the beginnings of a survival kit. This was the case for San Francisco based Liberal Jim Ray. He told Buzzfeed, “The world in general feels more tumultuous than it did, in a lot of ways. For liberally minded people, the election made that a reality in a way that it wasn’t before.”

Other Liberals are moving beyond simply stocking up their backpacking kit, adding foreign visas and unregistered vehicles to their prepping checklist, according to the Buzzfeed article.

Although left wingers are generally against stocking up on ammunition and guns, The Liberal Gun Club has seen an increase in paying members over the past few months. This group provides a voice for gun-owning liberals, breaking the stereotype of only right wing enthusiasts owning guns and ammunition. Not only this, but gun transactions reached a record high on November 25^th shortly after the election result, according to The Trace. Although this could be due to stockists lowering prices to increase their sales.

Liberal Prepper Facebook groups have also begun growing in popularity and number. One group has nearly 1,000 members on the social media site.

On the other hand, some Conservative preppers have relaxed their prepping since the election. But other right wingers are cautioning against this, regardless of political opinion or viewpoint, a new president isn’t going to prevent a natural disaster or grid power outage. Therefore, prepping is still an important and vital part of many peoples’ lives. Only now, preppers can no longer be described as predominantly right wing, President Trump has seen to that.…

January 30, 2017 1 Comment

Community

Bed shed in the bush

bed shed

Given a handful of primitive hand tools, I mean a sharpened rock, a few sticks of wood and not much more, what could you build? In today’s modern world, most of us have access to modern tools, at the very least, simple tools like a knife, a saw, hammer and nails… you can even get inexpensive tools in the dollar store. But what if you wanted to know what you could do with real stone age type tools? That’s exactly what the man behind Primitive Technology does.

It’s interesting to see him work his magic in the bush of Australia, he doesn’t live off-grid or out in the bush, this is a hobby, a serious hobby, he does it just to see if he can, and based on what I’ve seen on his YouTube channel, I’d say he is successful at being primitive and getting things done.

In this video, you see Primitive Technology creating a bed shed, a protected place up off the ground to sleep that is also covered against the rain. He is seen chopping down small (diameter) trees, digging post holes (remember he is doing this BY HAND), setting the poles, lashing them together using some sort of vine that looked wickedly prickly. He thatches the roof with grasses, he weaves a bed frame and more. He also creates a fire, close enough to reap the benefits of the fire without catching his bed and shed on fire. I am impressed!

https://youtu.be/_ZXUCQc2Z78
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January 29, 2017 No Comments

Community

Inside a Dutch Houseboat

The Netherlands has long been known for its magical and magnificent houseboats across its vast network of canals, but there is a serious problem for young Dutch people who want to live aboard. With over 10,000 houseboats in Holland, the country is the houseboat capital of Europe. In Dutch capital, The Hague, boats have door steps, gardens, and nameplates.
A typical couple, Kris and Marjon, are in their late 80s. They live on the canal with their dog Gritje, and bought the boat in 1942. The two-bed boat with kitchen and bathroom is worth about £250,000 ($300,000) on the market.
As a professional timberman, Kris modified the boat and built rooms, bathroom, and a living area .
It worries them that thousands of younger people are unable to live a similar life until their generation dies out. “Buying a new boat is not possible anymore, they can only live on an existing boat. Young people in their 20’s are starting their careers and cannot afford a house boat. Partly reason being that you do not get mortgage on the boat houses, unlike land houses.”

According to the rules, one has to pay insurance in metres, also known as ‘water tax’, which goes up to about 800 euros per year. Much less than the taxes paid on land. Young people who manage to get a boat, tend to design their interior in a very modern way. Kris and Marjon have decorated their house with vintage possessions including an old telephone and a record player that still works perfectly well.
One aspect of living in a houseboat is to be more aware of the nature that surrounds you. Kris and Marjon reflected upon how knowledge has grown about eco-living and being environmentally friendly. They recall people pumping their sewage in the canal and throwing garbage in the water. But now times have changed. “Now, according to the municipality regulations, we have to pump everything in the sewage system. We are not allowed to put anything in the water” said Kris.

Caroline, a young woman in her late thirties is one of the exceptional young people who have managed to join the boaters.
She lives with her girlfriend is a well-furnished and spacious houseboat. She was spotted cutting wood near her shed. To her, the main reason why she chose to live in a boat since 2000, is to be as close as possible to nature. “Although it is in midst of a city, you are still in nature,” she explained.
When asked if it was eco-friendlier to live in this environment, she chuckled with the axe in her hand. “I think the way I am living is not so eco-friendly. I could do better. It is not easy because in a house boat, everything is easy to rebuild and restyle because it's all wood.

“Even though I have gas, I still like …

January 26, 2017 1 Comment

Community

Legalities of tiny homes

legal

You want to live in a tiny home, you have done your research, you love what you see, but now you are finding out the bumps in the road about building and living in a tiny home. It seems that the reason most tiny homes are actually built on a trailer chassis is that gets around most of the “building codes” that are enforced in most towns, and even out of town in some municipalities.

But where are you going to park it? Most places will not allow you to park on a property for more than a set period of time, many areas will not allow you to park in someone’s backyard and LIVE in it, there are rules and regulations for both mobile and fixed tiny homes, it’s up to YOU to do your homework to find out what these rules (codes) are in the place where you want to plant your tiny home. I would say to get out of the city, as far as you can, get somewhere where there are very few building codes. I know that isn’t ideal for everyone, but if you are able to get far away from government intrusion, that seems to be the best way to go.

Watch this video to hear about some things you might not have considered before jumping in the tiny home movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqoHpsz1Yss

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January 25, 2017 No Comments

Community

Off-Grid School Gets Top Marks

A cash-strapped performing arts school has traded a year’s worth of waste for 30 desks.

The off-grid school collected its community’s recycling, as well as its own, and bartered this for the recycled desks.

Set up in 2005, the grid wasn’t working for 65 pupil school Chistlehurst, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa so they devised a plan. Stick with their eco-friendly ethos and remain off the grid. Unlike an on-grid school, there is no sprinkler system, no heating in the winter and strictly no technology in the classroom. So things are done a little differently, students carry buckets of water from the rain water tanks to the gardens and huddle by a bonfire to keep warm on cold mornings.

“Our kids have had to learn how to get along without certain ‘luxuries’, which is something they take a little time to adjust to, but end up loving the ‘quietness’ of it all,” said Jacyn Fanner, Headteacher.

When they moved into their current building, there were no roofs, doors or windows. Let alone functioning taps and toilets! But after a lot of hard work, the school reached their off-grid goal. Rain water tanks fill the toilet cisterns, solar lighting illuminates the classrooms and batteries, gas and a small generator provide extra energy.

The school is also home to a frog pond, vegetable garden and a recycling village with 12 bins for different materials. This allows the school to recycle a range of materials from mixed paper and cans to plastic and styrofoam. The majority of cleaning products and equipment are sourced from the local community and are as eco-friendly as possible.

The school partnered up with the Wildlands Conservancy Trust 6 years ago, through their desire to recycle. The NGO, which operates in 6 provinces, provided the school with the recycling bins which are filled every week – even during the holidays!

Students have taken their eco-friendly lessons from school to home, encouraging their families to reduce re-use and recycle. So now recycling from the local community is brought to the school for collection. Each year the school get a rebate from Wildlands for the recycling they collect. However at the end of 2016 this rebate was traded for the eco-desks. The staff and students are very pleased with how they look in their eco-school setting and Headteacher Jacyn Fanner wants to see them fill all of the classrooms in time.

So what’s next?

“We have so many ideas and plans – which include a fully solar powered media centre – and we are so excited for what the future holds for Chistlehurst,” Jacyn Fanner said.

The desks are made from 100% previously unrecycled materials, are hard wearing and can be used both indoors and outdoors. Chistlehurst are so pleased with the outcome, they are encouraging other schools to get involved with green initiatives such as Sustainable Schools and Recycling for …

January 25, 2017 No Comments

Community

Can you live in a tiny house in winter?

Cold tiny house

The tiny house movement us huge (no pun intended), and is even becoming more mainstream. The fact that most of them are built on trailer chassis make them legal in many places where a non-mobile home would be illegal. Living year round in a tiny home means it’s going to be winter for you at some time unless you live in a southern latitude that doesn’t experience much or any cold weather. For the rest of us, it means you are going to have to deal with chilly air, snow, ice, cold wind and the such.

Fortunately it would seem that these tiny homes are built well for cold weather, being small they are usually easy to heat, in fact you often have to worry more about overheating your small space when keeping your digs toasty. If you have enough insulation, it doesn’t take much to heat your tiny space. Other than overheating, another problem is moisture, condensation. Propane heat usually generates moisture, we humans also generate moisture, living generates moisture, these tiny homes being well insulated as well as being tight, you have to be conscious of the amount of moisture in the air so that you aren’t creating problems.

Ariel C. McGlothin lives in a tiny home in Wyoming, a place known for beautiful vistas as well as cold temps in winter. She deals with snowfall, which she says her tiny home handles very well, with the steep pitch of her metal roof, it sheds the snow very readily and easily, she does have to shovel snow, to make paths to the various areas she needs to get to, as well as keeping various areas around her tiny home cleared for safety and access.

…

January 22, 2017 1 Comment

Community

What does President Trump mean for off-grid living?

Trump’s politics resonate with those who want to live our American dream. He is selling a promise to ‘make America great again’. Conversely, many feel like they might pack up and move to another country.

One voter, Tim Kennedy, claims America will be a dying country if people don’t change their ways. He says off-grid living may be the secret to freedom and a sustainable way of life, that it is the way that we as humans are supposed to live.

This is just one man’s view, a staunchly patriotic view at that. It may not be for everyone, as it takes a lot to adapt to, and not everyone has an opportunity to do so. However, there is truth in that we are paying a higher cost in our own personal happiness and wellbeing by subscribing to the confines and regimented expectations of society.

Many of those who have been living off-grid for some time, now preparing for life under Trump out of fear and trepidation, are surprised others see it as the ultimate act of patriotism and are preparing for it out of sheer anticipation.

Some simply believe that our society is, and has been in a downward spiral since the 2008 global financial crisis, and prefer to live off-grid to escape global threats to modern society such as terrorism, cyber security, and further economic turmoil.

In 2014, an estimated 1 million people live off-grid in America, a figure that has steadily risen in the past few decades. Across the UK, there are already thousands of people who have embraced the off-grid movement. There is a certain appeal to this way of life, to be self sufficient and liberated from the chains of a capitalist consumer society, by embracing this low cost, eco-friendly way of life.

Generally speaking, much of Trump’s support comes from disenfranchised elements who feel nobody was speaking for them.

Does Trump’s America mean that people will embrace this way of living? Certain states ban homes smaller than a few hundred square feet, and some cities welcome these so-called ‘tiny homes’. Trump has spoken about the costliness of renewable solar and wind power; however there is evidence to show that renewable energy in the US is cheaper than it has ever been.

For off-gridders preparing for life under Trump, some don’t see his rule as so much of a threat. Rather, they believe that he may not be able to accomplish what he says that he is set out to do, and are simply fed up of politicians and politics in America. It may be this very reason why more people turn to off-grid living.…

January 20, 2017 No Comments

All you need to go off-grid

Community

Off-Grid goes to Hollywood

Watching TV off-grid

Cooking from scratch

Reality of living in a tiny home

Regenerating the Eco-village

But what is a Regen Village?

What about the future?

Liberals Prep for Trump Presidency – even have own Gun Club

Bed shed in the bush

Inside a Dutch Houseboat

Legalities of tiny homes

Off-Grid School Gets Top Marks

Can you live in a tiny house in winter?

What does President Trump mean for off-grid living?

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But what is a Regen Village?

What about the future?

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