All you need to go off-grid

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Off-Grid 101
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Thermal mass rocket heaters

rocket-mass-heater-warm
With it still being winter time, and with many mega-blizzards going on though out the USA, there will always be a need for alternative ways of keeping warm and cooking. Rocket stoves and rocket mass heaters neatly fit the bill here, what is really great about them is they don’t use up loads and loads of wood, in fact you can burn twigs in them quite nicely. Since I first wrote about rocket stoves, there have been many experiments and improvements made by industrious tinkerers, and fortunately for us, these tinkerers also have cameras and are putting up videos of their progress.…

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February 9, 2013 2 Comments
Community

Off-Grid lighting

Whether you live off-grid or in a regular home, you need light. With the right number and position of windows, you can get along just fine during the day, but once the sun goes down, you start needing some sort of lighting. Fortunately today there are lots of options for those of us who live off-grid.…

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February 3, 2013 12 Comments
Mobile

Apple products are wrong choice for energy-savers

Thinking of buying a new Apple laptop? Treat yourself to a ThinkPad instead. And save hundreds on energy as well as up to $1500 on the cost of the computer.

Ever since Apple Computers (APPL) pulled its laptops out of a voluntary eco-rating scheme (EPEAT) last year, its been pretty obvious that the company has lost touch with its West Coast roots and become just another greedy hardware supplier – albeit with a booming software catalog to pull in the punters.

Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics is into its 18th edition and benchmarks the best practices…

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January 14, 2013 7 Comments
Community

Be the Hero, Not the Victim

This pairs well with my “Prepping on a budget” series, this is about the “what if” scenarios, it’s something all of us should do more often, not just once and then forget about it. Going to the store and purchasing a few bags of beans and rice to put up is a good thing, but don’t let that be the main thing or (gasp) the only thing you do to prepare for potentially hard times. And remember, hard times don’t have to be on a global or regional scale to affect you, it can be something as simple as losing your job, having your hours cut, getting hurt, having an unexpected bill… It’s important to be proactive about your situation, and the more you plan ahead, the better off you will be in the event of something unexpected happening. …

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December 30, 2012 2 Comments

Build an Edible Green Roof


Beautiful Green roofs are a good alternative for growing food where there is little or no garden space, it also helps to keep the temperature fresh in summer and isolate the house in winter.

This video show how to make a green roof with a mix that is one third of the weight of common soil – so that the roof can handle the load.

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December 30, 2012 No Comments
Food

Off-Grid Food Part 3 – Cheese

Corey Naughton’s new Cheese-making recipe

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet – Eating her curds and whey, – Along came a spider, – who sat down beside her – And inquired as to if she had used Corey’s cheese making recipe …

Now I know what you’re thinking … I’ve been ranting in my recipes how storing oils is difficult and producing your own is not a viable option for many. So how can I come out with a recipe on cheese making while keeping things “long term food storage” friendly?

Well, sit back and relax my baby birds because I’m going to feed you. This recipe will demonstrate how you can make cheese from dehydrated milk.

But first, a word on equipment. As anyone who’s spent a few years off-grid can tell you “Quality equipment means everything”. While cheap equipment can typically get the job done, you’ll quickly find that (a) not having the right tool and (b) not having a quality tool … Will catch up to you. Cheese making is one of those things that really requires quality tools…

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December 7, 2012 3 Comments

Staying off the search engine’s grid

Admittedly, its hard to stay off all the grids all the time. Sometimes you worry about energy – another time its the pesky info-theft by the big companies after your marketing profile.

All major search engines collect, store and share search data – that is how they make much of their money. Some, such as Google claim that the data is held in a way which is “anonymous and untraceable” but that is not always the case. Certainly Google can assist any state or law enforcement organisation with a legitimate enquiry (for a small fee).

This data can also be accessed by rogue employees and, more scary, indirectly by advertisers. Most search engines send your search criteria along with details about your computer, location and IP address to the sites you click on, therefore allowing them access to data about you!…

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November 24, 2012 2 Comments

How We Went Off-Grid

Order Here How We Went Off-Grid

20 x 8 Ft. Outdoor Storage Shed, Desert Sand

Order Here 20 x 8 Ft. Outdoor Storage Shed, Desert Sand