This is one of of the most interesting tiny home / floating homes I’ve ever seen! I love the look of this, I could totally live in this. I would have to put in some solar, and I’d probably want it a bit more South, but other than that, it’s great…
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I will give you a warning here, the following is going to show injuries and wounds, if you are weak of stomach or vomit easily you may want to skip this one.
In a SHTF situation, or you just don’t have the money to go to the doctor, there are ways you can take care of yourself in a medical situation. Superglue is used in hospitals and Dr offices in place of sutures (stitches), the idea is to keep the skin together long enough to heal.
This video is specifically for head wounds involving just the skin, obviously if you cracked your skull, or are missing a chunk of scalp, I don’t think superglue will be much help.
Before we get to the video, a quick disclaimer, we aren’t doctors or medical professionals, no one here on this site are responsible for anything you do or try yourself as a result of seeing or reading anything here, if you are injured, it is best to go see a doctor, call 911, or seek out reputable medical help.
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Much of the expense of living off-grid is the property, that is the thing that usually stops people from being able to live their dreams.
At one time in the USA you could homestead land and get it free, all you had to do was live on it and improve it, but that has stopped a long time ago, well within my lifetime.
I’ve recently learned that there are states and towns that offer free land in exchange for living on it, improving it, or bringing jobs to the town. Of course it might not be exactly where you want to live, but beggars can’t be choosers righ?
So watch this video and let me know if this is something that you would be interested in doing. Enjoy.
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The series due to launch tonight on BBC Channel 4, will chronicle the successes and failures of a new social experiment in Ardnamurchan, near Lochaber, in Scotland’s wild western Highlands.
Using only natural resources to build shelter, hunt for food and cook.
Making up the rules of their new society as they go along, the 23 contestants in the rather unoriginally named “Eden” will spend a year getting to grips with the remote countryside and learning to live with each other. The series shows that the appetite for life in the wilderness — both experiencing it and watching it — remains strong, and really gets to grips with the idyllic notion of self-sufficiency.
the series bills itself as an antidote to the usual trivia you see in reality shows, but the early signs are not good – the press releases stress that the inmates got drunk and flirted with each other. And the idea that they would be cut off from their nearest neighbors makes it more of an unreality show.
In reality, trying to forge a community from scratch can be a lifetime’s work. There are, however, a number of alternative settlements in Scotland in place that eschew conventional ways of life in favour of an existence focused on the land, spirituality, or making a living from traditional crafts and techniques.
Experts say that many of these communities are finding favour with burnt-out city-dwellers looking for a break, a new business opportunity or a complete change of scene.
We look at some of Scotland’s most interesting rural villages and settlements where it is possible to buy — or acquire membership — into a different way of life.Findhorn Ecovillage, MorayConceived in the 1970s by the Findhorn Foundation, a community began to evolve on the north coast of Scotland. It includes an on-site theatre and concert hall. Governed by members of businesses within the eco-village, such as a publishing house and an arts centre, the settlement can be found to the south of Findhorn, on the Moray Firth.
Andrew Yeats
, a partner at Eco Arc, has seen the settlement flourish. “When I was an architecture student it was my thesis to design the concept of a sustainable eco-village,” he says. “Initially I went to Findhorn for six months, and ended up staying for six years. I’ve been working on the eco-village ever since.
“Originally, the community group bought a 35-acre caravan park and sought planning permission to change the use of the site to house permanent dwellings. The idea was to build a village that translated their ecological aspirations of being lighter on the Earth.
“The eco-village now has some of the most environmentally efficient buildings in Europe, with electricity produced from wind turbines and the ability to treat sewage. Residents grow a lot of their own food on site. They co-run a Rudolf Steiner school and a number of …
August 11th – 14th Britain’s emerging community will open the doors of perception and glimpse Another World.
The annual Off-Grid Festival in Exeter, Devon is a deep exploration of community living, creativity and consciousness; an intimate environment in which to share skills, trade knowledge, impart wisdom and make a difference. Four days out of the world to get into changing our world.
Think of it as an experimental innovation lab for a new paradigm of economic, ecological and community thought, a radical gathering of empowered people making a difference in their lives and celebrating emergent culture.
Over the years the festival has educated and informed thousands of people about the skills and knowledge required for the off-grid lifestyle. There is an Off-Grid College – a 12 module programme in practical, sustainable living; the Conference Programme – 3 days of mini-conferences on topical themes; Practical Demonstrations of Eco-Build, Alt. Tech, Wildcraft and traditional Crafts and Skills; The Serenity Field – Where we explore the inner dimension of off-grid living and the systemic tools that help us co-exist as a society.
AUGUST 11-14
www.offgrid-festival.co.uk…
Julie Olson needed a traveling home for her mobile dog training business. With no architecture training, she drew up plans for exactly what she needed and sent them to Jason Dietz of Molecule Tiny Homes. Over a couple of months he built her home to her specifications: a fold-out porch, storage stairs, 2 lofts (1 for sleeping, 1 for storage or 2 sleeping quarters), a slim closet, and a bathroom with tub, composting toilet, tiny sink and escape window/door for viewing nature.
https://youtu.be/PZ7JINuGT2Y
The 136-square-foot home can run completely off-grid with rooftop photovoltaic panels, solar batteries, a propane tank and a tankless water heater. Total cost was $45,000, but Dietz says you could bring that down by about half if you built it yourself. Part of the reason small homes on wheels cost more per square foot is because they require structural support to survive on the road. The home was built in Santa Cruz, California and it made its first trip over 3,000 miles to Maine where Olson moved in with her cats and dog to travel and study.
Molecule Tiny Homes: moleculetinyhomes.blogspot.com…
Modern technology is an amazing thing, once open a time, if you wanted to read about something, to learn about something, you had to go to the library, when they were open and do your research from there. Or you could go to the book store, if either place for didn’t have what you needed, they might be able to order it, perhaps within a week or two you could get what you wanted…
Of course today is different, with the internet, computers, tablets and smart phones, knowledge is just a tap or click away, any time, day or night. And now with the ability for everyone to create and upload videos, you have even more tutorials available at your fingertips. You still need to be discerning, not everyone who claims to be an expert is truly an expert, you will find lots of garbage, misinformation and outright lies, but if you are careful, come at this with some common sense, you can find a world wide library at your disposal.
Here are a few interesting and handy YouTube videos about handy hacks:
https://youtu.be/JdYksVGKBZ0
Who is your favorite YouTube life hacker? Comment below and let me know.…
Yesterday, while surfing Facebook, one of my friends liked and shared a photo link, I’ll not say what the page was, I don’t want to embarrass anyone, but the gist of the graphic was:
Off-Grid, no mortgage or rent, no electric bill, free water, grow your own food, total self sustainability, be with nature, and still have every modern luxury.
Hmmmm, sounds really good, appealing in every way, there is one teensy little problem, it’s not free. Living off-grid does not alleviate you of bills or responsibility, it in fact gives you even more to be responsible for.
I wrote a reply to each bullet point made above, I’m not knocking living off-grid, we have lived this way for near 10 years now and love it, I just get annoyed when major misconceptions are bandied about.
Welllllll, you still have to buy a property where you are allowed to live off-grid, find a cheap one and you can pay for it up front or you will have a mortgage (or loan payments), you could squat illegally, but that will only last as long as you aren’t caught. Or you could ask a property owner if you can stay on their land, good luck.
NO electric bill is right, but there are expenses involved, those photons don’t collect or store themselves, there is also ongoing maintenance.
Free water, maybe, you either have to drill a well, that is expensive, there is equipment involved, storage, pumps, or you can collect rain water, again there are up front expenses…
Yes, you can grow your own food, again it’s not free, there are expenses involved in that.
Self sustaining, hardly, you can be more self sufficient but it’s impossible to be fully, 100% self sufficient.
Yes, you can be with nature, that’s probably the truest statement in the list.
Yes, you can do all of this and have every modern convenience, but it’s NOT FREE! Anyone who tells you that is either lying or naive. Living off-grid is attainable, I do it, but it’s no cake walk, I love my life but would never tell anyone lies about it…
I’m not trying to bum anyone out, but reality is real, you don’t get something for nothing, you have to work for what you want, if living off-grid is the thing you want to do, then go for it, make a plan, set goals, work and save your money, learn as much as you can about living off-grid, get some hands on skills in building, electricity, survival, medical, small engine repair… You get the picture now, so what are you waiting for? :)…
We live off-grid, on a mountain side in the high desert of far west Texas, since December 2007, we have embedded ourselves quite deeply in our little community, one of the issues out here is getting rid of refuse, we have turned that to our advantage, the community out here knows, if they have any potentially useful junk, they contact us first to see if we want it. The alternative is to take it to town, some 20 miles away and pay to dispose of it. As a result, we end up with lots of useful materials, it’s not like driving to the hardware store and getting first quality, new stuff, but we end up with things we can eventually use.
One of the local builders out here (who is also a good friend) was tasked with getting rid of a bunch, a huge bunch of papercrete blocks on another property out here. These are made of pureed paper and Portland cement, there is also some other material in the bricks, I recognize perlite and possibly Styrofoam pellets.
Whoever made these, made a bunch of them for some purpose and for whatever reason, never got to use them. So now we benefit from this windfall.
PB took possession of them without knowing what he might use them for, perhaps making a short (height) wall… I took one look at the stack and had only one idea, a Keyhole garden!
I had been wanting to make at least one Keyhole garden ever since I’d learned about them, our biggest resource out here for making such a thing is rocks, I just hadn’t had the time or will to collect that many rocks and make one, but now we have an abundance of these papercrete blocks and can make several Keyhole gardens, I even have PB excited about it.
I have lots of cardboard to use as a base layer, the benefits of being a merchandiser and more recently being a reviewer. If anyone is interested in learning more about becoming a reviewer, let me know in the comments below and I’ll do a write up about it.
PB and I are already talking about what to play the in the Keyhole garden, I want one just for salad type greens, lettuces of all sorts. Of course we will have to protect it from the critters, they constantly eat our food and decorative plants, but it’s part of living out here.
I’ll post updates as this happens.…
This year, we had the best 4th of July celebration, the SkyCastle has become quite the destination spot for our friends, so PB (Primitive Bob) created a party spot down by the road. A few years back when my son came out for a visit, he and PB built what was supposed to be a garage… Well you know what garages are for, not for vehicles, they become a place to store junk…
Over the last few months, PB has transformed the garage/junk room into a clubhouse. He installed a small solar system, a few solar panels, charge controller, an older (but still good) deep cycle battery, and an inverter. With this, PB was able to string some white LED Christmas lights and a radio for music. Add in some chairs and we have ourselves a fun spot for our friends to drop by and hang out.
As with everything else in our lives, this is a work in progress, I’d like to have a small cooler to keep drinks cold in the summer, maybe even a way to have ice and a bit of running water.
PB did take our propane grill down, we had hotdogs and sausages. It was quite the fun day. We chose not to go into town, it was much better to stay home :), I certainly hope you had a great holiday.
Images courtesy of my friend Laurie.…
Curious about what living off-grid would be like but not quite ready to give up the mortgage? Thinking where to live out the rest of your days in idyllic peace but not quite sure?
Not to worry, if you’re considering the big leap into the unknown, you can try a short break disconnecting from the big brother system — renting an off-grid home from Airbnb.
In Chelan, Washington State, for example, there lies a hobbit hole which any Lord of the Rings fan would die for a night in. Upon a mountain hill, surrounded by rabbits and deer is the perfect place for someone on a quest for off-gird living to start their journey.
Kirstie Wolfe built the 288-square-foot rental into a hillside on a five-acre tract of land she bought in Orondo, a small town between Chelan and Wenatchee along the Columbia River in central Washington. After burying the structure, she went all out decorating the space with an obsessive attention to detail. “I try to make it as authentic as possible,” builder Kristie Wolfe explained. She succeeded with flying colours, visitors walk past a small outdoor garden through a big circular door — just like in the books and movies. The rustic interior uses reclaimed wood, hanging lanterns, and circular arches and windows to evoke a fantastical feeling, a point underlined with small charms like a cobbler’s workbench and several subtle “Lord of the Rings” touches inside.
As well as being the perfect place to let your imagination run free, it is also a fully functioning off-grid home with its own septic tank and solar panels, you can unplug in style and comfort. To see the photos and more details on the hobbit home, click here!
For those in Europe – nestled into the mountains on the quiet North-West side of Mallorca it is the perfect place to turn off from the outside world and relish nature as it is.
It is a 30-minute drive down the mountain to a beach or an exhilarating hike away, which in turn, gives you the most breath-taking views of the blue Mediterranean. It’s located inside a national park which means you will live side by side with exotic birds and wild flowers. The house comes complete with a water tank which collects 40,00 litres of rain water which you can then filter into drinking water and use to flush the toilet and wash with . Also, it is furnished with two flushing toilets, solar panels a shower, a gas fridge and hob and a fireplace and wood burner for the winter months. There is an outside kitchen with a BBQ so you can cook cooley in the breeze whilst taking in the glorious views.
If you’re not so keen with the cooking, you can hire a cook who will show you how to use the outdoor facilities and make …
The SkyCastle is getting a facelift, or an upgrade, however you wish to look at it. This all started out from PB needing to repair the roof over the laundry room, it has leaked pretty much from day one, that’s one of the drawbacks of using used/recycled materials, sometimes it works great, other times, not so well.
The big round tower is actually a water tank, PB converted it into a storage closet, put a pointier roof on it and placed it on the 3rd floor deck over the laundry room. He had to break it loose and move it out of the way to replace each roof section. He pushed it over the front about 2 feet and decided he liked it there, it gave us more space on that deck area and he could make it look more castley (I know that’s not a word, but it is now LOL).
PB has worked the last few days to cover the area where we will be able to walk around the tower, I have another edited picture of what the west side will eventually look like.
I would say Photoshopped, but PB uses Paint to do his Photoshopping :) Now we will have to get PB to work on the other side of the SkyCastle, it’s starting to look lopsided……
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