All you need to go off-grid

OFG-HowToFreeYourself.svg
Search
Sign in / Sign up

Featured
Community

Home & Away star goes off the grid

lisa-gormley-anti-fracking-300x242Home and Away’s Lisa Gormley is in the middle of building an off-the-grid eco cabin in the Tasmanian rainforest. She is looking forward to spending more time with her family, including her parents who live on a 20ha farm.

The 30-year-old moved to Tasmania with her parents when she was 12, and recently said she wanted to spend time with her family and travel. Not one to shy away from new challenges, Gormley was one of hundreds of people who gathered in Tasmania’s Upper Florentine Valley in April to rally against the Federal Government’s attempt to reopen some World Heritage-listed forests to logging.

One of Australia’s most popular stars she revealed she would be open to returning to her soapie roots, years after shocking fans with her decision to leave.

Dan Ewing and Lisa Gormley, who played on-screen couple Heath and Bianca, recently reunited on the Home And Away set to film An Eye For An Eye – a spin-off. And the walk down memory lane left both pining for the good old days. “I’d definitely be open to a discussion about coming back, I have to say,” Ewing admits.

“If the (right) storyline was there, I would. I wouldn’t want to play the same old Heath for another three years, though – I’d want it to be fresh and him to have evolved.” At least part of his willingness to return to the role of resident heavily inked bad boy Heath comes down to Archie, his one-year-old son.

Ewing and his wife Marni have been mostly raising their bundle of joy in Los Angeles. It’s a great city, especially for an ambitious actor, but he says nowhere compares to home.

“Having a kid really changes your perspective,” he admits. “The quality of life here in Australia is unique – you can’t find it elsewhere in the world. There are so many opportunities – we’re so lucky.

“But, most of all, I think it’s a dad thing … I’m looking at life for my child. And Marni really misses her family. Skype and FaceTime are great but it can’t beat the joy of seeing your little boy run up to grandma for a big hug.” LA will always be there, too – and technology means an actor doesn’t have to physically live Stateside these days to chase the big time, he says.

Since leaving the show, Gormley has spent a few years travelling, teaching overseas and starring in various stage productions. And the nature-loving performer is in the middle of building an off-the-grid eco cabin in the Tasmanian rainforest.

Gormley is also open to returning to the show that launched her career – just not yet. “I would, but maybe not for another little while because I’ve still got things I want to try,” she says. “I’ve done a lot of things that were on my list – I’m slowly …

Read More »
December 8, 2015 No Comments
Viggo Mortensen interview explaining his secret life off the grid
People

Backwoods past of Movie Star

Actor Viggo Mortensen recalls his favourite filming locations are “the outdoors and natural landscapes, so there are places in New Zealand, particularly the South Island that I really enjoyed and have gone back to. I’ve revisited remote places in the deserts and mountains of Argentina and North Africa. I look forward to going back to Russia to where Eastern Promises was shot, at the border between Siberia and the Ural Mountain region. I also enjoyed shooting in some very remote areas in the west of North America. I recently finished a movie called Captain Fantastic, where I play the father of six kids and we live in a big tent in a completely off-the-grid pine forest. These are places that I’m familiar with because I used to live in that part of the country, literally in the middle of a national forest for some time.”

How often do you travel? Nearly every two or three days I’ve been on a plane going somewhere this year, to Paris, Berlin, London, Argentina, Canada, and America. But I never lose the inspiration to travel because places always change. A place you think you know very well, including where you were born, is not the same place you were born in, it always changes.

Filming in Denmark and Argentina for Mortensen’s latest film ‘Jauja,’reminded him of his childhood in Argentina
“It wasn’t very different from my memories of it when I was there for the film. The streets, the sounds, the people, the way they speak, the food – everything was very familiar. But we were shooting in wild places far removed from urban landscapes, places nearly untouched by humans, with no roads, phones or internet. In Denmark, we shot in the south of the island of Zealand – the island Copenhagen is on. Anytime I go to Denmark I feel at home. I find the more one travels, the more places one can call home and the better you’ll get along with people and also yourself. Travel is probably the greatest anti-war weapon that exists – seeing things first hand, not through the internet, being in direct contact with different cultures, languages, smells and landscapes – different ways of looking at life can only be a positive thing.”

“During the filming of Lord of The Rings, the Department of Conservation allowed us special access into remote areas that most New Zealanders only knew from photos. We got to live and work in there and it was wonderful.

For a perfect holiday Mortensen leaves “my phone and computer behind. Because everything you need is going to be wherever you go. You’re going there to find out about other things so why bring things from the place you’ve just come from? Worst ever travelling experience? Sometimes things that are really disturbing or inconvenient are what make a trip memorable. I remember my dad taking us …

Read More »
April 11, 2015 No Comments

Whose Land Is It Anyway?


As the West prepares to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta – the cornerstone of our civil liberties – a small eco-village is under threat.

The Magna Carta stopped a powerful king from seizing the possessions of the rich and powerful barons. It was agreed in Runnymede. In June the Queen and President Obama will join 5000 other dignitaries there.

But in the wood next door, a few yards from the historic place where the Barons met, are 40 hand built homes. Living there are hard-working, eco-minded people who are doing the right thing. Musicians and web designers, factory workers and chefs – looking after themselves and the land – not one of the 60 or so residents are claiming benefits, they say.

Now a fence is being built around the village.

But not just any fence – its a 6 foot tall, black,steel fence – with nasty spikes on top. “Its just to protect folks from the building work next door” say the property developers that own the land.

Ironically, the Magna Carta was originally composed of two parts – it included the Charter of the Forest, which gave Freemen the right to scavenge in the woods for fuel and food.

Not any more it seems.

We will follow the fortunes of Runnymede eco-village int he coming weeks.…

Read More »
April 1, 2015 1 Comment

Laura Ling Launches New Web Series

Laura Ling is producing and hosting a new series called ‘Going Off-Grid.’

It highlights people who have decided to disconnect from the everyday world.

In 2010, Ling co-wrote a memoir, Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home, with her sister Lisa, based on her experiences in North Korea.

Fun facts about Laura Ling (Source: Wikipedia)

Ling’s career as a journalist began when she became a correspondent for KCET’s SoCal Connected and producer at Channel One News. She co-created Breaking it Down, a documentary series on MTV that aired between 1999 and 2001. Afterward, Ling joined Current TV, where she reported on issues about Cuba, Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, the West Bank, and the Amazon River, as well as about shantytowns in Sao Paulo, Brazil, gangs and homeless teens in Los Angeles, and underground churches in China. Prior to her detention, she had been reporting about the Mexican Drug War.

Ling hosted a one-hour news show on E!. The show premiered on Dec. 8, 2010.

Ling has received a national Edward R. Murrow Award, and was named one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year in 2009. In 2014, she won an Emmy Award.

In the last week of March 2009, North Korea announced that two American journalists were detained and would be indicted and tried for illegally entering the country. On May 3, 2009, it was officially announced that Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee were the journalists that had been detained, after they attempted to film refugees along the border with China. In June 2009, they were sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison for illegal entry into North Korea, and unspecified hostile acts. Many in the media called it a show trial. The United States government made diplomatic efforts to oppose this sentence before their release in August 2009.

Lisa Ling stated that when they left the United States, her sister and Lee never intended to cross into North Korea. She has also revealed that her sister requires medical treatment for an ulcer from which she is currently suffering.

Ling was pardoned along with Euna Lee, and they have both returned to the United States following an unannounced visit to North Korea by former US President Bill Clinton on August 4, 2009. Some human rights activists in South Korea have accused Lee and Ling of needlessly placing North Korean refugees in danger by not being more careful with their tapes and notebooks in the event they were apprehended.
You can check out ‘Going Off-Grid’ with Laura Ling on seekernetwork.com.

Follow Laura Ling on Twitter: @lauraling

Check out Laura Ling on Instagram: @iamlauraling…

Read More »
March 16, 2015 3 Comments
Community

Keyhole garden

keyhole1-6877246

It’s so nearly spring, I am itching to get out and do some gardening, I’ve been getting seed catalogs, the siren song of the gardener. About a year ago (+/-) I discovered another method of raised bed gardening, it’s called a keyhole garden for obvious reasons, it looks like a keyhole from above.

From what I can see, you make a round raised bed with a notch in it that goes to a central basket that holds compostable materials, kitchen scraps, fruit & veg, egg shells, coffee grounds (including the filter), paper, cardboard, grass clippings and the such. The garden is watered through this middle part, transferring the nutrients from the decomposing material in the middle to the garden that surrounds it.

The notch is important, it allows easy access to the central basket to add more compost and water, you also need to be able to reach every part of the garden area, so don’t make it too large, you can always build more keyhole gardens as needed.

I have seen many materials used for the outside, from bricks, to pavers, rocks, some are cemented in to make a permanent structure, others are just dry stacked so they can be removed later, it can even be made from wood, metal or plastic. I watched many videos on how different people make theirs, some do it very simple, others more elaborate, one I saw this evening looks pretty good, but I saw the builder do something I probably wouldn’t do, after marking out the circle, he used a fork to dig up the soil, the reason I wouldn’t do that is because you aren’t using THAT soil to plant in, you are placing layers of cardboard, paper and mulch type materials in the base, you don’t add soil until the last foot, so disturbing the base layer of soil is not necessary and it seemed to me it would be counter productive.

Here are a few videos you can watch to get a better idea of how this is done, enjoy!




web statistics


…

Read More »
March 11, 2015 No Comments
Community

2015 – the year of antitech backlash

Government spying, corporate prying, virtual sex, so-called freinds you never met …no wonder we are sick of it.

A London PR agency says this year people will forsake gadgets, social networks and other technology in favour of the simple life. And there are plenty of examples – from declining numbers on Facebook and Twitter, to a planned new phone called The Runcible – which is made of WOOD. …

Read More »
March 4, 2015 No Comments
Mobile

Free calls and wi-fi – forever

free-wifi_callingIf you are not paying rent or a mortgage then your cellphone bill is your biggest expense, right?

Wrong.

Remember the early days of Internet wi-fi?

You could go just about anywhere with your laptop and find a wi-fi hotspot with no password – because most people did not bother with passwords. Remember sitting outside offices, libraries or homes checking email?

Now that era is coming again – but with passwords this time – and using your smartphone instead of a laptop – and able to make calls, as well as send and receive data. There are even maps of the free wi-fi hotspots online – such as Wifimap – with free apps for your smartphone.

The phone companies should be scared – very scared – because its quite possible to live off free wi-fi connections permanently – and legally this time around.

You still have to buy a smart-phone – or use the one you got from AT&T once your phone is out of contract – but with a mixture of free wi-fi in bars and other public places, plus a bit of help from friends or even strangers,there is no need to ever pay a phone company bill again.

You can send texts via Whatsapp, do your voice conversations on Skype or Google voice – paying them, not the phone company, for the occasional call direct to a phone. And if your connections and timing are mission critical yet you still don’t want to pay for them – there are a host of free services springing up. The majority of mobile data traffic flows over Wi-Fi, and more access points are being built daily. There are commercial efforts to build cellphone businesses on Wi-Fi, too, from companies such as startup FreedomPop and pay-TV heavyweight Cablevision Systems Corp.

Tens of thousands of people in the U.S.are already doing it.

The most important thing when choosing a wifi calling app is voice & video quality without any lags. Choose one of these free wifi calling apps to voice or video chat with your loved ones for free.

Tango (Voice & Video calling)

A very popular wifi calling app for android and iOS, besides from voice and video calling, users can send cool fun animations in IM and also video messages. The voice call quality is great and Tango has the best cross platform compatability, its available for computer, android, iOS, and even windows phone.
Vtok enables voice and video calls to google contacts, you can use it as an alternative to google talk client on android. Works on Wifi & 3G, select the front or back camera and you can also choose to enable or disable video call anytime continuing with voice. The best part is you can even talk to other person who is using google chat on mac or pc.

Nimbuzz (Voice calls only)

This free wifi calling …

Read More »
March 2, 2015 2 Comments
Community

UK Green Leader Needs New Script. We Can Help Her.

Natalie Bennett, leader of the UK Green party, had a car-crash interview today as she attempted to explain the party’s housing policy to an unsympathetic radio host.

Their aim, she said, is to build 500,000 new homes at £60,000 apiece, but she seemed to have forgotten how these homes would be built, how they would pay for the land and in fact anything at all about the homes.

She told Nick Ferrari on LBC that the money would come from cancelling mortgage tax relief for Landlords, raising £2.7 billion.

How are you going to pay for the land? Ferrari asked repeatedly.

Here’s how Natalie: there is a national housing crisis, a national emergency, and special measures are called for.

They would, for starters, be Tiny Homes.

As long as the homes are not allowed to be resold at a profit by their new owners, and as long as they are eco-homes — not connected to the grid in any way, they can be seen as falling into a special category.

The land could be agricultural land, costing roughly £8,000 an acre, or as little as £500 per home.

Because the homes would also be smallholdings, where the residents could cultivate crops and livestock, there is a pre-existing legal category for these homes, known as agricultural tied.

Local councils would give planning permission for a change of use on the land from agricultural to residential only after the land had been secured by a specially created development company, to avoid speculators cashing in. The councils would benefit from an influx of ratepayers and employment opportunities.

Because they would collect their own water and generate their own energy, the homes would require very little infrastructure – only good road access and public transport.So the £60,000 figure is perfectly achievable.…

Read More »
February 24, 2015 No Comments
Community

Kicked my freezer-fridge conversion out

2015-01-11 16.41.03

Not away, but outside, I’m still using it, but with the colder temps and the more overcast days, I decided to let nature work for me instead of against me. A couple of weeks ago, PB moved the chest freezer to fridge conversion out on the front porch, it’s right next to the grill, it seems my front porch is really turning into an outdoor kitchen minus the plumbing.…

Read More »
January 11, 2015 5 Comments
Community

Illegal to be off-grid?

og

Apparently it is illegal in some places, Florida makes off-grid living illegal – mandates all homes must be connected to an electricity grid.

It’s no secret that an opposition to sustainable living exists. Earlier this year, Texas state brought several SWAT teams to a sustainable community and threatened to shut it down. Each one of the community members were initially handcuffed at gunpoint. It was called “The Garden of Eden Community,” and was totally self sustainable. …

Read More »
May 25, 2014 6 Comments

Battery desulfator review part two

A couple of months ago, I began testing a battery desulfator called the Wizbang Plus, it’s a simple device that you attach to your batteries, it creates an electric pulse that essentially “knocks” the sulfation off of the plates inside the batteries. Sulfation is the reason why batteries eventually fail. They hold less and less of a charge until they need to be replaced.

When I first hooked up the desulfator, I used it on 2 separate systems, an older battery on one and newer batteries on another. On the older battery, I’ll say that it seemed to work better, I could see a significant difference, enough that I am going to keep it hooked up, it is a slow process though. …

Read More »
February 1, 2014 No Comments
Community

How to go off-grid with little money…

areyouready
How to get off-grid with not a lot of money… that is the holy grail, right? I see many people posting messages here and on other websites, all saying very much the same thing, they want to be independent, to have a piece of land, to have a small place to live, to be off-grid, but they don’t have the money to do it, they often want to join other people in hopes of pooling resources, or just jumping on someone else’s bandwagon.

I am here to tell you it is possible to do this without resorting to illegal means and without having to join with other people or a group to get off-grid.…

Read More »
August 25, 2013 20 Comments