My Life Had To Change

An Aframe I saw in my travels

Lately I have been watching a video channel that is about a younger woman who has a lot of adventures. Building an awesome Aframe cabin on a remote property she bought. Setting up a wall tent and camping out alone. No fear of wild animals in the thick forest around her. No fear of going out on the huge lake that borders her property by herself. Clearing the land for the camp and the cabin as a surprise for her husband. I appreciate the fact that she films her walks in the forest as she discovers what is on her new property. She does it all with enthusiasm and skills for the various jobs needed. Yes, I envy her. Wishing I had been more like her. Maybe that is why I find myself watching videos about women living off the grid or exploring remote areas. 

With my brother and holding a doll

The fact is that I was never a "tomboy" type of girl. I don't know if I would have been capable of doing physical jobs that involved skills I see as male jobs. I never attempted them. I was not a brave type of girl or woman even after I grew up. As a little girl I played with dolls and I had a lot of them. Dolls and books were my favorite things back then. In fact, I learned to read and write before I even started school. I always liked the outdoors though. Especially the forest. When I lived in Florida as a child, I made a hut out of palmettos that would stay dry even in a storm. I wrote stories and made books out of onion skin paper. The hut was called "Africa" and my friend, Cindy and I would be in there writing our books to take to school. At that age the thought of snakes in the hut never crossed my mind! Now it would. 

Peaceful Forest

Even though I have lived in various places through out my life the one that stands out the most to me now is my last home. Peaceful Forest. My off the grid homestead that was in the middle of the state forest. It was very peaceful. If I had it to do over again would I? Absolutely! I think it would have been easier for me as I got older, if instead of living in the house, I had a tiny house or a camper to live in. I craved my own bedroom, a private space for me. I felt there was no room for me there. It was dusty from wood stoves and firewood being brought in. I was not comfortable when the wood stoves made it too hot. In the middle of the night I would get so hot I would go outside and sit on the porch to cool off.

Conifer Bug aka "Stink Bug"

Then there was the problem of "conifer" bugs or "stink bugs" and mice. They were everywhere! In the fall the bugs would come in on schedule in September. Hibernate through out the house. Then if the house got too warm from the stoves, out they would come. Dropping down from the ceiling right next to me! I would smell them before I would see them. The mice was another constant problem. Even with four cats who killed them regularly. They were in areas of the house where the cats could not go. I could not set up my kitchen and pantry the way I wanted it due to the mice. They would get into my dishes, silverware, pots and pans, etc. They did not get into the food so much but I did protect it by putting it in containers that they could not access. This alone wore on my nerves. I felt like they were making me go crazy. 

Batteries

Another thing that bothered me and maybe I was wrong about this. It was the batteries for the off the grid electric system. For years they were on the floor in the living room. In the main living area of our house. Where we spent a good many hours on the computer. I even ended up sleeping on the couch there right next to them. The big wood stove was within feet of the battery bank! Opening it to add wood while the batteries are letting off gases while charging. Scared me constantly that it was not a safe way to live. Also the wood stoves didn't always feel safe to me either. That is the main reason I started sleeping downstairs on the couch. So I could keep an eye on them during the night. 

My home for 7 years now!

These reasons along with my mobility issues are why I left that home and life. My life had to change. Giving up living in the forest was easier once I knew my cat had been killed by a bear. It still bothers me to this day. Nine years ago. At this time in my life I am content to watch the videos about others having adventures and building remote homes. It is not something I could have done anyway. Though I also enjoy watching videos about traveling and living in other locations I would not want to do that either. Maybe I am a "homebody" preferring to be in my own home. I am not sad about it because there are plenty of things I do. Being an introvert makes living alone easy. I like making my own choices on what I will do each day. 

 

Copyright © 2025 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2025 Kathleen G. Lupole

 

Guess What I Got Yesterday! On Wordless Wednesday

Sundanzer Solar-Powered Refrigerator

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2013  Kathleen G. Lupole
Updated 2019

So Many Projects - Not Enough Time

We are hitting many of our goals this year. It is a summer of work! My husband is working hard on putting up our wind turbine. Actually, the turbine is the easy part. It is the turbine tower that is hard. Lots of hard work and sweat has gone into that. He will have it easy to use and easy to bring down if it needs a repair. Getting this project finished means that soon we will have running water. Running water means I can use my brand new, never used, washing machine. Now that will be a nice thing to have!

Running water for us, will be just cold water for the time being. If the wind turbine and solar panels bring in more power than we need though, the charge controller will divert the power to the water heater. Then we will have hot water! It is a good start for us. Truth be told, I could live with the system that way. Heating the water most of the time on the wood stove is no big deal in the fall and winter.

It has been very hot and humid here this year, but we are getting through it okay. I have been busy rewriting my eBooks and working on my kitchen and pantry. As I cross projects off my "to do" list, I get excited. How about you? Are you getting a lot of projects done this summer? This is a homesteader's working time. My hard working husband has been working constantly. He will be proud of it once it is all done. So will I!

 

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2013  Kathleen G. Lupole

Changes Can Be A Good Thing

What makes someone decide to change their life? Could be money. Or a relationship. Maybe health issues. Your children or elderly parents. Even a job or financial issues. A number of factors figure into it. Sometimes, you just get bored with what is going on in your life.  You want to make some changes. For me, it is not so much that I don't want to be a homesteader or self-sufficient anymore. But I want CHANGE! I am 60 now, and want life a bit easier and a bit more interesting. It's now or never, as far as I am concerned.

Living off-the-grid has been an interesting way to live. No electric bills, other than gas for a generator. No heating bills, except that this year we purchased firewood logs for the first time. Probably will have to do that from now on. Don't want to take all our trees down. Everyone who does not live off-the-grid makes it sound like a wonderful dream. Well, it COULD be that way, if we had a lot of money and could have finished our house the way we planned. And built our alternative energy system larger to handle more power. Life happens.

This year my husband has started rebuilding his motorcycle. He said if he doesn't do it now, he never will. He wants to ride it, but wants it to run better and look awesome. So he has been working on that. Him doing that has made me think about what I want to do. What I want is a different place to live. A more modern house with more conveniences. Grid-tied would be great!

So I am working on my life, since he started working on his bike. Fair exchange, I think. I think he is also working on his relationship with his grown son. Moving from this homestead is part of the change in the future.. What nobody knows is that our house is pretty close to the road. The road is a dirt road through the state forest, but has become busier and busier since we moved here thirteen and a half years ago. Houses are sprouting up in the area, and more people have moved here from NJ and Long Island areas. Not that it is bad, just they are from the big city and bring that with them. Driving in a hurry down a little dirt road for no reason, other than they are used to being in a hurry.

With the death of my father this year, it has brought my life into focus for me. I need to change things I am not happy with. I can keep the things I am happy with. Make life easier and try to develop the ties with my family and friends, that I haven't seen much of in the last thirteen and a half years. Become my own person again. These are my goals for the coming year. I hope it is better.

Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2012  Kathleen G. Lupole

Updated 2020

Our Forest Homestead

When people come to our home for the first time, they think we live really "out there." It doesn't seem that way to us anymore. Since we are only a short way from many different little towns, it doesn't seem far at all. When we first moved here, it seemed more secluded to me back then. Of course, since then, we have had more houses built around the area and some of the camps have turned into full time residences.

As you can see the forest is thick and there aren't any houses close by. Our neighbor up the road, Charlie moved onto his property last year and plans on building a house in the near future. Until he moved in, we had no neighbors to speak of. I always kid that the only neighbors we have are the wild kind. In all honesty, there is not that many wild animals that we have seen. Mostly deer. None come onto our property though. They are seen around so we know they are out there. I guess we are too active for them to come around our property.

 

Our bridge leading to our home! 

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

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

Off-The-Grid By Nick Rosen Review

Forest Surrounds Our Home

Nick Rosen, of the Off-The-Grid forum,  recently released his book, Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America in July. I read this book with great interest to learn more about other “off-the-gridders”. I found the history of General Electric eye opening and read aloud many parts of that chapter to my husband. I especially loved the part about General Electric marketing directly to the housewives in those early years to lure them into buying electric appliances. It paid off too. Now nobody can live without many of those items and they are considered essential in most homes.

Nick Rosen is a journalist and documentary filmmaker and writes about living off-the-grid for the London Times, The Guardian and Reuters. He traveled across America interviewing people who were willing to let him into their homes and wrote his opinion of them and their lifestyle for this book. I understand from his book that living full time off-the-grid is not something he does currently but something he would like to do in the future. From his forum I get the feeling that he is promoting going off-the-grid and many of his members are either already doing it or dreaming about it.

One of the things that I find misleading about his book, “off the grid” is that many people will think it is about how to live off the grid, or about how to set up the various systems that the people live with. It is not. It is about what Nick Rosen terms the off the grid movement. I wrote in an earlier post on Solar Baby, “Why We Chose To Live Off-The-Grid”:

I liked reading and learning about so many other people living this way, as personally, I only know a handful. Nick Rosen gives you the picture that people living this way are eccentric characters and living this way out of necessity or political reasons. Many people living this way are doing neither. I won’t mention the pot growers or smokers, as that has nothing to do with being off-the-grid. I know people living on the grid who do both too. One thing I feel we have in common with many of the people interviewed is the need for seclusion. The feeling that the world is too crowded and needing space to live without someone breathing down your neck or at least at the front door. In my father-in-law’s house if you stand at the sink, you can see right into the neighbor’s dining room and see exactly what they are eating! Not for us, that is for sure. Nick introduced me to many people that I would be interested in meeting in person and discussing our systems or how we do certain household chores.

I especially was glad to meet Wretha as she is one of my regular blog readers on Solar Baby. Carolyn Chute I liked because she was the author of the book, The Beans of Egypt, Maine, and I read that many years ago. But for the most part most of the people in the book are not anything like my husband and myself, so I wouldn’t figure that all people living off-the-grid are like them. Makes me wonder if he wrote about us, what kind of picture he would paint about us? Maybe not so good………..hmmmm????

I don’t mean to give the impression that I didn’t enjoy his book because I did. I liked reading his impressions of  the off-the-grid lifestyle here in America since he is from Britain. It is also informative if you are searching for a community where you can go off-the-grid and fit right in. I have so many people contact me on this subject, but they are either just dreaming of it and not really serious, or they are afraid to take those first steps to do away with life as they know it on the grid. This book proves it can be done and that you do not need tons of money to start. Just what I have told people over and over.

So check it out and let me know what your thoughts on the off-the-grid movement is. Is just that you don’t want the electric  bill any longer? Or is that you want to live away from mainstream America in a secluded location? Or is there another reason? I’d be interested in knowing what people are thinking when they request the information from me on going off-the-grid.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Security For Your Homestead

Rural Areas Need Protection too!

One thing that runs across peoples' minds when they see we live out in the middle of the state forest is that they would be scared to live out here. Most of them though, are scared of wild animals, such as mountain lions, bob cats or bear. What I am most scared of, would have to be the human animal! They are the ones who steal or destroy. If you live out away from neighbors and have to leave for a few days or even a few hours that gives someone the perfect opportunity to break into your home or barn and steal your valuables.

Well, even out here you can have a security video camera to protect your homestead. Many of our neighbors have security systems and even the hunting camps now have them. A funny thing that happened, (well not really funny, and especially not to them!) is the closest hunting camp to us was broken into, and it is owned by policemen and lawyers as a hunting lodge. You'd think they would have a security system in place. They didn't then, maybe now they do.

Since our home is off-the-grid, you probably think we are too far away for a home surveillance system to do much good. But that is not true. We really are not that far from our nearest towns, which is Oxford and Greene. A system like this would give you that peace of mind so that if anything happens at your home while you are gone, it will not go unnoticed until your return. In fact this system alerts authorities before they even break into your home!


ADT Home Security offers a backup battery and equipment guide so you can better understand how to set up a home system and get your protection in place.....now, before you need it. In case of a power outage the high capacity backup battery will keep you connected. So you stay connected and are never in danger of  any kind of trouble or break-ins. I know you will rest better and have peace of mind when your home is protected from intrusions.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Living With An Alternative Energy System

Our Solar Array On The Barn Roof

One of my readers on this blog commented recently asking me to tell about our alternative energy system. Since I write a blog called Solar Baby already, I guess I didn't think my readers here would be that interested. Different kind of readers on that blog. This blog is more about homesteading and my ideas and thoughts on various subjects. So cruising various communities on The Blog Frog I saw on the homesteading community, Homestead Revival where members mentioned going off-the-grid. So I figured, maybe there is an interest in it? Especially when we are in an oil crisis constantly. When we endanger our own country, water, sea life, air and environment by our need for oil! Now please, do not post comments in reference to how much oil it uses to manufacture one panel. How much oil does it use to keep everyone happy? Too much! Anyway, this is the way we have chose to live and we really like it. I could never see either of us wanting to live on the grid ever again.

When we moved here in 1999, this house was a hunting camp and hadn't had full time residents living in it since 1923. We have been working on it and adding to it for 11 years now.  Living off the grid with a small system makes it so you have to learn to do things differently anyway. You can’t  just hook up a dryer and use a microwave without studying your system and how it would handle those excess energy hogs. You learn to give up items to be able to have other things. It may seem to be inconvenient, but when I see people posting things to do to live simply or to conserve………….I know I already live that way. Those things are routine for me. We are very frugal with water, with our power, with food, with driving anywhere. I use a clothesline for drying my laundry. I do many things manually and I guess many people do not like to do that. I don’t mind. Some of those jobs are my favorites.

We use a pitcher pump for our water, though that will be changing within the next year or so, we have used it for 11 years already. In the winter our pipes are never froze! I can pour a cup of warm water down the pump and it thaws it and I can use it almost instantly. It makes a difference to have that fresh water all winter. We get all the water inside for the day in the morning. Then we usually have to bring the horses more water some time during the day. And again at their supper time. That is when we refill water in the house again. So hauling it by hand makes us very frugal with it. I will stay that way, I hope, once it is in the house and running through our pipes.

For the next few weeks I will try to explain my electric energy system on this blog. Share my information with others and hope that it may make some of you think of the alternatives rather than just following the flow by using grid power.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Ideas For Writing Blogs

I think I like this Blog thing. I wonder how someone came up with this idea? It relaxes me when I am writing this out. I love to write and I could do this all day if I had the time. I always have ideas for stories, books, articles, websites, even movie scripts. One of our favorite things to do is to make a movie script and we keep it going for years. Only thing is, that we have never written a word of it down - it's just a movie we both describe together, and figure out what's going on in it, and who is going to play the different parts in it.

That's just one of the things you find to do when you don't watch television. Last week, a lady from the Nielsen ratings called and wanted me to do a survey on our television habits. She could not believe that we do not watch it and she had no idea what it meant to be "living off the grid"! She had no idea what it meant. She even said that she had never heard of that. So I had to explain to her about solar panels and what they did. I am sure she thought I was a nut!

We do have a friend who has a lot of solar panels and could be living off the grid. But they do not. Only thing is, that this person wants to, and he pretends that he is, but he's afraid to. I know a few people that talk about solar panels and living off the grid all the time, but do not and will probably never live that way. After having lived this way for six years now, I could not imagine living any other way!

When we first put the offer in on this house, at first I thought, "well, they won't accept it." And when they did, I kept thinking, "I am going to be alone at night (my husband was working nights at that time) in the middle of 4000 acres of state forest land. No neighbors! Only hunting camps on our road." But I lived through that period. And nothing got me. Now, I know, that you are safer in the woods than in the cities!

It's getting dark. I have to light my lamps. Talk to you all tomorrow.

Copyright © 2005  Kathleen G. Lupole