Choosing To Live Off-The-Grid

"Why in this modern world would anyone want to live in a house without electric or plumbing?"

"You are going to have a hard life living like that. Ask me how I know."

"I love my electric." This was from my Mother.

"I think of it as a privilege to pay the electric and gas company $200. a month for their services." This was from my Mother in-law. 

So many people warned my husband and me when we bought our house in the middle of the state forest. A house that had never been hooked up to any electric or telephone lines. A house that had been a hunting camp since 1923. A house that needed much tender loving care and repairs. At first I admit, it was like an adventure. My stepdaughter said, "It's like you are always on vacation."

I can't tell you how many times all the people on the grid who are paying for the privilege of using the power grid have had power outages since we moved here. We had a tornado and still had our power. The people around us were without power for more than a week. It doesn't feel like a hardship to me. It is more a hardship to me to pay that electric bill. I'd rather buy a new wind turbine or a bag of horse feed. Things I can have because I don't pay the electric company.

We didn't chose to live off-the-grid due to it being cheaper. Though it is, after you have built up your system. We chose it because we wanted independence. We had started reading Backwoods Home Magazine and Countryside Magazine and they really influenced us a lot. Our plan of living in a rural area and generating our own power became something we wanted to do in the worse way.

You don't need a lot of money to get started if you add a little bit at a time to your system. I write about that pretty regular on my other blog, Solar Baby. I am not trying to convert anyone to living this way. It has to be something you really want to do. Anyone can do it if they really want to, just like anything else in life.

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole