First true test off-grid
A couple of years ago my wife and I started discussing going off grid. In all our reading, something just feels right. Now we have done some boondocking with our camper before but never more than a couple days. We headed out Christmas Eve morning to put the camper and us to the first true test, nine days off grid. We headed to a friend's place in Tennessee. We had our camper outfitted with a solar system when we started to talking about this whole off-grid thing.
After a few cold nights in the camper(temps dropped into the teens) I made a few insulation adjustments to help our Mr. Heater propane heater help keep the camper warm. Warm not toasty. Every morning I got water from a hand pump to make my wife coffee. You know it is biblical that the husband makes coffee....Hebrews!
We spent 3 days helping clear a section of woods for our friends home build.
Needless to say it was hard work cutting trees down, sawing, dragging brush and stacking wood. We had to make quit a few adjustments in our thinking being off-grid for 9 days. Fetching water to drink, cook and bath with instead of just the turn of a handle. Being on top of each other in a 23' camper made getting around a little different. No phone was a huge plus for me it was nice not to have the distraction. I was able to get lots of reading done.
All in all I would say we learned a great deal and now have a better concept of what it might take to make the jump. Our first true test...PASSED!
Now for a nice long hot shower and shave.
ahhhh, I can remember the days of hauling wood. We had a wood burning furnace. It was a WHOLE day chore.
We had an assembly line of the family- all the kids HAD to help.
LONG days! oh yeah!
We had a backhoe with a front bucket that made the hauling process a lot easier, but still had to load and stack. Thanks for the resteem!
Interesting read...lots of hard work, you had!
Yes, it was hard work but well worth it to find out if we really can go off-grid.
This is pretty amazing. I tried to go the whole winter without using the furnace. My goal was to collect scraps of wood and anything else I could find, but about a week ago I decided to turn on just the pilot light to our furnace. You are a trooper!
Thank you. That's a good idea about collecting scrap wood, never throw anything out it might be usable or burnable. LOL
I've been experimenting with going off parts of the grid one at a time to see what it would be like. I am impressed that you did what you did for 9 days and survived! You were unplugged from almost everything. Thanks for sharing this.
I'm rather cautious and this was a big step for us, but if you don't try you will never know. following you now.
Yes! You really were off grid! I'm glad you had a good time and gained perspective! Life is good.
It was a major step for us and now even more hungry to step off grid completely.
Have you read about RAM pumps? Keep posting man!
Yes, I have and it will be something to look at when we get to that point.
Nice to know like-minded people here. Do pass by my offgrid approaches to electrical power the non-solar non-wind way; I named my circuit the JOULESTEEM circuit.
Keep the news coming!!!
pat neu keu meukoh teungku ?
@originalworks
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @tedgoodwin to be original material and upvoted it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!