Off-grid living in December

[WrethaOffGrid]

Off-grid living in December can be both challenging and rewarding! Here are some activities off-grid individuals might engage in during this time:

1. Winterizing: Preparing the living space and systems for winter. This could involve insulating homes, setting up alternative heating sources, and ensuring access to water in freezing temperatures.
2. Outdoor Activities: Depending on the climate, there might be opportunities for winter sports like skiing, snowshoeing, or ice fishing.
3. Food Preservation: Using this time to preserve or can food from the previous season’s harvest, ensuring a steady supply of food throughout winter.
4. Crafts and Hobbies: Engaging in indoor activities like knitting, woodworking, painting, or other crafts that don’t require electricity.
5. Learning and Skill-Building: Taking advantage of quieter times to learn new skills or educate oneself through books, manuals, or online resources.
6. Community Engagement: Building connections with nearby off-grid communities, sharing resources, and helping each other with tasks.
7. Reflection and Relaxation: Embracing the slower pace of winter to reflect, meditate, and rejuvenate for the upcoming seasons.
8. Energy Generation and Maintenance: Checking and maintaining alternative energy sources such as solar panels, wind turbines, or generators to ensure continuous power supply during darker, colder days.
9. Holiday Celebrations: Celebrating holidays in unique ways, perhaps with homemade gifts, traditional ceremonies, or by creating decorations from natural materials.
10. Nature Exploration: Observing changes in nature during winter, such as animal behavior or the beauty of a snowy landscape.

What activities someone chooses largely depends on their specific off-grid setup, available resources, and personal preferences.

[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?

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