Reply To: Off-grid living in December

[WrethaOffGrid]

For us, living off grid in December means burning wood for heat, fortunately, we have an abundance of wood where we live. A couple of weeks ago, PB and his son drove across the neighborhood to cut down a large oak that was growing up into some utility lines and needed to come down. They were able to safely cut down the tree and over the last few weeks have gone over to collect all of the wood. We tend to live “colder” than most of our neighbors and friends, if it’s in the 50s-60s inside of the SkyCastle, I’m good with that. At night, for sleeping, we like it even colder, it can be in the mid 40s inside of the SkyCastle and we sleep quite cozy. We have really good sleeping gear, my main blanket is a 100% down comforter that keeps me toasty warm. Plus my little dog who loves sleeping burrowed under the blanket by my side. We have been keeping it a little warmer overnight recently though, our other dog is getting older and can’t get up in the bed anymore, we have tried to keep him in mind overnight.

We have lived this way since Dec ’07. I remember the winter before we moved from the city, we started turning off the heat at night to help get us acclimated, it was pretty uncomfortable at first, but it was a good test for us to know how it would feel to live with less heat in the winter. I would never complain to my neighbors, but when I’m at their house for a visit, I’m often uncomfortable as they tend to keep their house too warm for me. It’s all in what you are used to. I know my house would be too cold for most people, we try to understand and heat it up for visitors.

How do you heat your home?