Two years after moving into his tiny home, Bryce Langston came back for a return visit to see how Brett Sutherland is getting along, what he loves about living tiny, what he would have changed, what he would improve. To me, this is the meat of living tiny, seeing how things are working a few years later. Watch and enjoy
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Yes, those things your grandma used to relax in in her garden with a nice book are the way forward when camping.
Hammocks can keep you warm and dry these days – off the big- infested floor and with waterproof covers.
Floor’s damp from rain? Not a problem. Suspended between two trees, you don’t have to worry about creepy crawlies getting into your sleeping bag or resting your head on an uncomfortable surface. Camping hammocks use taut, technical fabrics and are very stable so you’re unlikely to flip out of them. Not the best at setting things up? Not a problem, most of them are easy peasy, much less of a head scratcher than tents.
To keep the autumn chill off your back as you sleep, you can attach one of the fitted “underquilts” that most companies offer—an insulated sling that sits under the hammock. And of course, your sleeping bag and standard sleeping pad will provide extra structure and warmth.
To suspend your hammock, simply wrap “tree straps” around two appropriately spaced trunks. Because this flat webbing is wider than rope, it won’t damage the bark. And tempting though it may be, don’t hang your hammock more than a few feet off the ground. It will be easier to climb in and out if the hammock is lower, and in the unlikely event of a suspension failure, you won’t have as far to fall.
We have listed a few of our faves below for you to take a little peek at:
Eagles Nest Outfitters Single Nest Hammock
Price: $59.95
This one comes in 21 different colors, making it easy to coordinate with your personal style and mix match with the family. It is high strength and can hold up to 400lb, features 70D high tenacity breathable nylon taffeta and triple interlocking stitching. The hammock itself weighs just 1 pound and can be bunched up into a softball-size bundle. ENO attempts to reduce potential waste by using every bit of fabric available in production so it’s eco-friendly, yay!
You can find it/alternatives here if you’re in the UK and here if you’re in Canada.
Hennessy Ultralight Backpacker Classic
Price: $239.95
This light favourite was designed with utility in mind and was eve based on the design of World War II Army hammocks. If this one tickles your fancy, you can look forward to enjoying the following features: A mosquito net sewn right in; a sleeve to hold your sleeping pad in place; a Velcro-sealed doorway allows for easy entry; and an asymmetrical shape allows you to lie across the centerline for a flatter position.
You can find it/alternatives here if you’re in the UK and here if you’re in Canada.
Kammok Roo
Price: $99.00
Lightweight but massive (about 10 feet long by 5½ feet wide), this hammock is an all-enveloping cocoon of strong ripstop fabric. Although it’s …
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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As I watched this video, listening to Karen and Bob describing their life in the home they built themselves, the one phrase that really jumped out at me was “no debt”. That was their main motivation. I know (from personal experience building our own place) that they did most if not all of the work themselves, which is one of the biggest money eating parts of building, you would have to buy the materials anyhow, but doing the work yourself means YOU know what is in your place, no one else has cut corners unknown to you, I think it’s great!
I love the look and style of their home, it is warm and inviting. Watch and enjoy.
(ADDED Jan 21, 2016)
I received a message from Karen, it’s in the comments below, but I thought it best to add it here:
How cool our video got shared to this great channel! feel free to share our email and phone number if people want some more info. karenk@usa.com 520-366-1984 We are also open to visitors. There is a off-grid,alternative building get together the first sunday of every month from about 10:30 am to1pm at a friend of ours who did and earthbag dome. for directions email m_m_gibbons@yahoo.com all are welcome!!!!
https://youtu.be/EBN4R2XhU6c
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Its vacation time – and here we are – on the road again…and wanting to travel light.
We thought we would share with you a few items that fit in a small rucksack and will improve your life and increase your chances of making friends along the way.
One thing is for sure – clean people are more socially acceptable – especially when arriving in a strange area for the first time. The Scrubba Wash Bag – $45 from Amazon.com is a great way to make up for the fact that you are secretly sleeping in your car.
This magic bag promises to help you stay cleaner and therefore more welcome. You simply push the sweaty and smelly clothes you slept in, into the bag, add some warm water and detergent, lock the bag and rub it for 15 minutes and tada! clean clothes for the road. Check it out.
Offering a cup of quality coffee is a great way to break the ice – but it can set you back $3 a pop – or more in cities.The MiniPresso GR Espresso Maker is a compact travel mate for the coffee-lover on the move. The tiny device fits in the pocket and does not need electricity or battery (let alone a Wi-Fi connection). It relies on the user pumping it to brew a strong cup.
Fancy ingratiating yourself with something stronger? Tabletop Moonshine Still allows you to practise the science of booze-making anywhere. It will bulk up your bug-out bag but at $180 its a great deal – included is a half-gallon still, piping, an ice bucket , all made of the non-reactive Type 304 stainless steel that’s used in premium cookware , as well as a packet of turbo yeast and instructions. It’s straightforward to set up, requires no running water or complicated cooling systems, and yields roughly 7 to 12 ounces of hard alcohol per batch of low strength solution.
With all those new friends you will be wanting to take some selfies to email them later and/or upload to your social media. But carrying a fancy DSLR camera around is both a magnet for thieves and an extra heavyweight item. A pair of Photojojo’s magnetic lenses for only $30 can turn a smartphone into a fancy camera. The collection has six lenses, but we recommend the wide angle/macro lens and the telephoto (2x), and each is crafted out of solid aluminium and outfitted with thick, high-clarity glass.
Happy Travels. Happy Holidays!…
Installing a Rainwater Harvesting System (RHS) could be a major step in achieving your ideal, eco-friendly home. You could be collecting your own water through the beauty of nature rather than seeing the bills pile up on the doormat from the Utility Company. By installing a run-off system from your roof that leads to a storage area, pumps and purifiers, rainwater can be used across your home.
Even if you are already connected to the water supply, there are advantages to harvesting rainwater. If you are on a meter, your water bill will be reduced as the collected water can be put to use for non-drinking purposes such as showers, baths, flushing toilets, washing dishes. Drinking water is not easily renewable and if you wish to use your collected water for things that don’t require purification, harvesting is cost effective and requires little maintenance. It is also beneficial in terms of reducing wastage.
If you are cultivating your own crops and living off your plot of land, the collected water can be funnelled into an irrigation system. On an environmental level, the collection of rainwater will vastly improve the levels of groundwater. With a rise in population, groundwater levels have decreased and therefore increased the strife in parts of the world where water is scarce. Rainwater harvesting also reduces the level of surface water and lessens the chance of flooding, soil erosion and river contamination brought about by rainwater running through pesticides and other agricultural chemicals.
The disadvantages of rainwater harvesting are two-fold. Firstly, the initial cost of installing a storage system, purification methods and pumping can, according to YouGen, cost between $3000-$5000 (£2000-£3000 )and then running the pump will cost 5-10c a week. However you can now have your RHS plumbed straight into your existing piping and according to the Rainwater Harvesting Association can reduce your water consumption by as much as 40%. The use of a cistern to obtain drinking water in a city can be a tricky business. Shingled roofs, rather than clay or metal are less clean and liable to allow pollution to seep into the water. A pre-filtering system would have to be set up on the shingled roof prior to deposition in the tank to achieve drinkable water.
With water remaining in storage for a considerable degree of time, it is prone to stagnation, algal blooms and rodents spreading water-borne disease. Your harvesting system therefore has to be regularly maintained. Then of course, you are at the mercy of the clouds. Rainfall can be unpredictable and your levels of water will be affected by your geographical location.
The legal and red tape processes one has go through in order to begin to harvest your own water vary wildly. In 2012 a RHS case went viral when 64 year old Gary Harrington from Oregon was sentenced to 30 days in prison for illegal collection of …
Going off-grid also means living in a simpler manner, learning to be free.
In this article we’ll give you tips on how to love what you already own.
1.You don’t need something that doesn’t benefit anyone else
You know that figurine you bought last year and now is on your shelf covered in dust? As it happened, you didn’t needed it! Think before buying something, if it’s really going to affect your every day life in a positive way.
2. You don’t need something that causes debt
If you want to be free, getting into debt is definitely not the way go. The more stuff we buy, the bigger our debt gets. If we learn to love what we already have, then we’ll be happier without needing to accumulate more possessions.
3. You don’t need anything that makes you want more
They is some stuff in life that satisfies some of our needs, but other stuff just creates more needs, and we never have enough. Have you ever purchased something and realized you need a few other items to go with it? Like a few decoration items that would be perfect if they went with another couple of things?
Exactly!
4. You don’t need things that make you forget what’s important
When you de-clutter your environment, you begin to realize what is truly important to you. Many times, possessions can cloud your judgment. The very act of deciding what things you can live without forces you to take a deeper look at your inner motivations.
Loving what you already have can be challenging. However, every time I remember these five things, it is easier for me to find contentment with my life. Loving what I already own has led me to a minimal, happier lifestyle.
Loving what you already have can be challenging. However, every time I remember these five things, it is easier for me to find contentment with my life. Loving what I already own has led me to a minimal, happier lifestyle.…
Mark Zeiger has been living with his family in an off-grid homestead in Alaska for over a decade . This is episode 2 of our interview. In this film: What are his reasons for leaving the grid? What’s it like to live in an off-grid community?
Mark is one of those who is not looking for publicity – he just wants to help others appreciate the opportunities to live off the grid.…
Perhaps you’ve thought about ditching the concept of the traditional house and living a full off-grid experience, in a tiny home? But you haven’t got the nerve to try it out.
Maybe you’re pretty sure that an off-the-grid lifestyle is for you, but you don’t want to fully commit to living in compact quarters. A new Boston-based start-up wants to let you try your hand in the world of off-grid living with no strings attached.
Sacrificing the open space of a traditional home for compact living has many benefits. Cost efficiency, sustainability, and focusing on the simplicity of life hold obvious allure, and for some, this allure is reason enough to convert from a typical home or apartment to dwellings no larger than a single shipping container.
Boston-based company Getaway will let you rent a mobile tiny home in the Boston area for as little as 99$ a night.
Some homeowners might find the idea of permanently leaving their space for something radically different is just too big of a transition. The answer may be this clever new take on an off-the-grid vacation,
Using the same principles of tiny house living (including the need to escape, the need to foster nomadic living, and the desire for sustainability), the newly-created company set out to build their very own tiny homes to fit families comfortably. The home is designed by Harvard graduate students and includes solar–powered flaps and a composting toilet. There are plenty of designs to optimize space, like fold-out beds and shelves to fit books and board games. Should the house be transported, setup will take less than an hour.
The overall design is meant to be simple, but also harness the best economy for the space. The average cost of rent in the U.S. is $962, while to rent a night in the tiny home which sleeps four, complete with bicycles and firewood, costs only $99 a night. There’s an additional fee of $15 for a pet, or a $10 fee for a third and fourth guest. The houses will be built on land leased from local landowners. Getaway sees this as a benefit for landowners: having a tiny house for rent on their properties would provide people with an additional source of income, and put open land to good use.…
Suppose you believe that man-made Carbon emissions are bad for the planet. What do you do about it? Some eminent experts say that individuals can do little or nothing to reduce global pollution and its all down to governments and giant corporations.
Others say that you have to start somewhere, and if the corporations and busybody Governments won’t act, we the people can shame them.
Our view is somewhere in between – its sensible to reduce consumption especially for those of us in Western society who have been over-consuming for decades.
Here is a handy guide to what you can do. It happens to overlap neatly with many of the things people do when they live off-grid – in order to save both money and resources.
Fly less:
Flights account for an eighth of all transport carbon emissions. Trains and phone/web calls are less intensive alternatives.
Drive less and better:
Use fuel-efficient modern cars, share and drive in a higher gear. Public transport is better and walking best of all — including for health.
Eat less meat:
The shift from animal to plant-based protein reduces energy required to produce food, reduces methane emissions from livestock — and is healthier.
Waste less food:
A third of food globally is wasted, or 1.3bn tonnes a year. Freeze food nearing expiry, don’t cook too much and use leftovers.
Keep clothes longer:
Wash clothes less often and at lower temperatures to extend their life; sell or donate them when no longer wanted.
Buy fewer things: Electrical goods use energy, but products also have a significant “embodied” carbon impact from their manufacture and transport. Cut down, buy longer-lasting products and resell or donate after use.
Recycle more: Throwing out means the need for replacement production; and waste in landfills produces methane emissions. Rinse, separate and recycle.
Use less water:
Shower for a shorter time, wash up in a bowl not with a running tap, use economy settings in washing machines, steam cook.
Use less heat: Save money and waste by setting thermostats at 18-21C and turned off when out; use insulation; install solar panels.
Use less power: Use LED bulbs; turn off lights and standby on devices when not in use; don’t heat more water in a kettle than needed; limit air-conditioning.…
I am always on the lookout for websites where you can learn about DIY, I recently found a fun site all about homemade tools, this site is a repository of links to other sites, they and their readers add more and more links. They refer to themselves as an encyclopedia of over 22,000 homemade tools.
I found it because they had linked to some of my DIY pages (with links back to the original post), I was happy enough for them to include some of our ideas, sharing the wealth (knowledge) is all good.
You can find the site here
https://www.homemadetools.net/
Give them a look around, be sure to bookmark the site so you can return later. They say:
We find homemade tools across numerous forums, and organize them in one place, always with full credit to the original builder and site. HomemadeTools.net is updated multiple times daily with new homemade tools.
Browse homemade tools by category!
See all homemade tools in over 150 different categories, including Woodworking, Metalworking, and Automotive.
If you are into DIY, then this is the place for you! Be sure to check out their other “build” sites linked from there, I think the one about 4×4’s and cabins have lots of good information.
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Tyalgum in Australia wants to make a name for itself by becoming the first town in the world to voluntarily disconnect from the electricity grid.
The New South Wales community is quietly working on a plan to unplug its 300 citizens from the energy grid.
Its location, about an hour’s drive north-west of Byron Bay, puts it in the perfect position to do it.
“Geographically it’s in the right location as far as networks go,” said Andrew Price from Australian Radio Towers, the company spearheading the town’s renewable energy project.
“It’s right on the end of the grid so it’s not disruptive to other communities further down the power line.”
Mr Price said the community is very receptive to the idea as there is already a huge push toward sustainability and renewable energy in the area.
“Ultimately it’s got to be a community-based decision but (because of) the size of the community and the style of the community it is, we’ve got a really good chance of doing that,” he said.
Tosh Szatow, from Energy For the People, wrote a feasibility study for the renewables project that found frustrated community members want to take back control of energy infrastructure.
“The community there is pretty frustrated with the rise in energy prices and not really seeing benefits proportionate to that — they’re not seeing more renewable energy, they’re not seeing better services and more reliable power,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Gary Bagnall has also expressed his support, but hurdles must be cleared before town can unplug
Mr Szatow said there are two approaches the community could adopt to achieve this.
“One way is that every house and every business gets their own solar system, potentially gets their own battery storage,” he said.
He said the second option would be to construct a hub somewhere in the town that individuals and businesses could source energy form.
“It means the town can be either completely off-grid or largely self-sufficient using renewable energy,” he said.
The cost of switching entirely to renewables would depend on which option is taken, but early estimates have the cost from anywhere between $4 million to just over $7 million.
And there are several hurdles that need to be cleared before the town could completely unplug from the grid.
One is that those developing the project would need to negotiate viable access, tariffs and potentially the transfer of ownership of a portion of the electricity network from the local power provider.
It will also require strong community support and legislative change from the New South Wales Government.
Organisers from Australian Radio Towers are in talks with school and community groups to discuss funding options and said they are confident the project could begin as soon as it is given the green light.
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