Living off the grid

[TNphoneman]

Anyone else living off the grid? i.e. No electricity, no city water, no sewer service, no phone lines.

Not as bad as you might think. I am doing it now as I type.

Solar and wind power with a generator as a backup. Satellite internet... I qualified for the rural internet package.. 25 mb for $69

No neighbors that I can see from my place, even at night. Deer in the yard and pure quiet. Good fishing nearby. This is the life. Lots of snow in the winter and low population levels. Closest town does not even have a gas station or post office.

 

[angelas111]

i don't but i do have my doomsday kit ready with every thing needed to survive.

 

[TNphoneman]

The funny thing is that when you watch those prepper shows, they will be lost when the chainsaw runs out of gas.

 

[angelas111]

that show is funny. many of them go about it the wrong way. i am prepared to live like its 1800 if need be.

 

[TNphoneman]

Good for you... Modern firearms will do no good when you can not get bullets... LOL or the stuff to reload with. Canned goods only last so long. Salt and sugar are going to be your biggest commodities if the power goes out.

 

[tony23]

Modern firearms will do no good when you can not get bullets... .

I bought a compound bow had a chance to kill a wild boar but bottled it built a straw bale house, sun and wind power, water from a spring 300 fruit trees, firewood from the land...you know the score.

sadly had to leave it (for now)

 

[Dawgtown]

I don't live off the grid, I live in the 'burbs but about an hour from here, I have a hunting lodge that is off the grid with a Verizon tower nearby. I go down there, run my laptop and do some work from there at night then wake up early and hunt deer, boar, turkey, dove, quail, and other small game. Going to be overhauling the solar down there this fall (hopefully) and will be spending several days at a time down there. I can access my server from there remotely and never miss a thing!

 

[CEPI]

Cob house, slings, bows, trapping, fire making ability, surrounded by natural springs. Thats the way to go!

 

[Patel]

Where do you live?

 

[foshizzle]

This sounds quite lovely and awesome! POST SOME PICTURES! I am really interested now...
I live in Berlin... Germany's biggest city, quite the opposite hehe

 

[MeetTheVirus]

Even though I have always been a city guy. I understand why a lot of people would like that lifestyle and im happy, that your happy.

I sadly get anxiety is small places like that.

 

[knall]

I don't think I would be able to handle that. So the solar and wind generator is enough to power everything? Is that the speed of your internet? I always thought it was much slower.

 

[TNphoneman]

Who said anything about small places.... Building a log cabin this summer.

I only have 20 acres at the moment but the ones on either side of me are available that I will pick up later if they are still not sold.

 

[TNphoneman]

I don't think I would be able to handle that. So the solar and wind generator is enough to power everything? Is that the speed of your internet? I always thought it was much slower.

Yes it is if you size it right. For heat I use wood. I am going to put both a wood heating stove and a wood cook stove in the cabin along with propane appliances. If I can not get propane for some reason then I will just have to go to preserving and smoking meat... or shooting smaller deer... They even make solar powered well pumps that I will be installing into the well. As a backup we will install a hand pump. #1 consideration is water, you can shoot or grow everything else.

On the way home the other night I saw at least 200 deer in a 15 mile stretch.

 

[DamnTees]

Living off the grid does not mean sacrificing some of the basic human necessities it just gets really expensive.

Quick question about living off the grid TN: Do you have any problems with permitting etc? I have found that even in VERY rural environments you still are subject to the sphere of influence of the county or city authority.

 

[lancis]

Dont you get bored after a while? I moved to the county, with my own house and yard. But after half a year here I feel bored. Civilization is 1 hour away, but still its getting tiresome to drive back and forth.

 

[knall]

Is it with your family or by yourself? Not much of a nature guy so I would just get bored.

 

[foshizzle]

That's awesome man! I am loving it! I wish I had the money to do something like that... well, maybe one day!
I hope you have a nice lady in your life and the two of you spend some nice time together in the nature hehe

 

[crashed]

Ok, I am jealous! Will do it one day though

 

[TNphoneman]

Living off the grid does not mean sacrificing some of the basic human necessities it just gets really expensive.

Quick question about living off the grid TN: Do you have any problems with permitting etc? I have found that even in VERY rural environments you still are subject to the sphere of influence of the county or city authority.

It is not as expensive as you might think. If you get lighting for like an RV you can run it off your batteries. If you start small and build your solar and wind system a little at a time it does not hurt as much. The good thing is that once you buy that there is no monthly expense. When you raise your own food it is really cheap. Chickens for eggs and meat. Rabbits for meat. Cows, goats, sheep etc are all able to graze and can be eaten. Propane for the appliances is going to be the only expense and that is at the most 2x a year to fill the tank. More than likely 1x if all it runs are appliances.

As far as permitting, no issues at all. I don't even need to get a building permit unless I hire a contractor to do the building.