New to forum

[hungsolo]

Hi there. I am new to the forum. I live 125% on the grid. My family is totally wasteful and it’s no fun. I have dreamed of, not only going off the grid, but homesteading as much as possible. My goal is to not need to go to the store for sustainment, or rely on others to meet my physiological needs. I am a year or two away from beginning.

Two questions. In British Columbia, Can you run your household using your own generated power, and still be connected to the grid?

Those of you with wells, how do you power your water well pump? Do you pump it into head tanks?

[elnav]

Yes to both questions. My wife was born on an off-grid homestead near Prince George. We currently live in the Hazelton area. BC hydro does have some requirements as defined in their grid tie program. You could just as well use this as a off-grid interconnection. All of the electrical hardware is available off the shelf . Since you are going to tie to Hydro at least part time the equipment and wiring must be done to code which is not a big problem. In our area where so many people live off grid full time and even more places have permanent back up most of the contractors are quite familiar with how to do it. <smile> Some of them even put up off-grid stand alone bill boards along the road advertising their business. The signs are illuminated at night with typical sun and wind charging but their home base is elsewhere.

[elnav]

Hungosol; give me an email address to which I can send a more detailed answer.

BC provides some unique challenges not necessarily encountered in other places where people live off grid. Due to geography there are several places where people have been compelled to live off grid for decades long before the term ‘off-grid’ even came into common use. I first got involved in wind turbine controller design back in the mid seventies and have been interested ever since.

[caverdude]

Welcome to the forum. What area of the country/globe are you at? Arkansas USA here. I’m 90% off grid as I’m not home at my camper 90% of the time lol. My career is trucking at the moment. What are you calling pseudo-off-grid?

https://blog.larrydgray.net

[Mr. Fixit]

I’m in Southeast Virginia.  I’ve lived in a camper off and on for several years. The last 3 have been without any water hookup and 20 amps of electricity run from an extension cord. Although I’ve done a bit of research, I’ve yet to build the systems that I want to experiment with to make my place truly self sufficient. I ultimately want to be able to park in the middle of nowhere if I chose without suffering total loss of any function and have little to no operational expense. Fortunately, I have some vehicles that I can liquidate to help finance my experiments.

I’ve been self employed in the Automotive field for 7 years. The last 3 years, I’ve simply rented a lot or a shop for work and just parked my camper there.  It has saved me the expense of  having another payment simply for a place to rest my head and my fuel expenses dropped as I have never have had to drive home from work.

I think I’m getting to a point where I’m emotionally ready to take a giant leap. You see…I am not a big fan of being in this area. Being originally from Minnesota in a town of 300 people, all I see is greed here. Besides that, I honestly don’t feel safe for a number of reasons. The reason I decided to join this site is that I’m hoping to find like minded individuals to help me with advice, help and motivation to make such a change as I would like to do for them.  I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that I’ve never been so uncertain of the future of my environment as I have been as of late. Honestly, I’m frightened and it’s not just for myself.

[caverdude]

You may want to listen to the Survival Pod Cast  https://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com then because you are not alone. Also they have a great forum.

[yaz.darling]

Hi, I’m Yazz. Brisbane city, Australia. Keen to meet some other Australians (in person obviously), and learn some things, looking to buy land and be off grid in 12-24 months, selling the house in the suburbs. Anywhere I can find local off griders?

Also, my boyf registered to this site but it won’t let him log in. How can he rectify this? Changed p/word but it still won’t work.

[retired profile of WrethaOffGrid]

Yaz.darling,

What is your boyfriend’s username and name here, I’ll look into it and see what I can do,

Wretha

[Nick Rosen]

hi I’m marcelle, I am a single mom to a 7yr old boy. Originally from the UK but have lived in the usa now for 28yrs.  I have my son in public school now for his 2nd yr but would really like to find a community and be off grid so as I could homeschool/unschool with other parents or alternative school him.  I work pt and teach drama/dance after school, I am interested in somatic movement therapy and healing arts, currently I have my MA in special education and a modern dance background. Some of the places I am thinking about moving to are: the UK, Western Massachusetts nr Amherst, Earthaven or nearby in Asheville NC, or an intentional community in Virginia.  I like Vermont but think it may be really cold….I’m open to other areas too, but chose these as there is an artists scene there and progressive minded people.   I do not mind living simple, ie. yurts, tiny houses ect…I prefer to live inexpensively as I do not have cash to purchase expensive houses or land at the moment. I prefer to live in a child friendly community, or multi generational.

Thank you for reading:)

[Author]

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