Goodbye to the system and technology. Im going off grid, not "off the grid"

(EDIT: Since there appears to be some confusion let me make this clear, I am not going "Off the grid" or dropping out of society. I am going off grid, free from dependence on utilities, mainly electricity, as well as free to a large degree from the dependence on technology and the system for my basic needs. I still need a phone and internet because of my job and being on call and will choose to have TV for getting some news. However at any time I can drop these conveniences and still survive quite well independent of any utilities and free from the need of commercialization for the most part.)

Well folks I've spent about a year preparing, planning, and setting up and now its time, I'm officially going off grid in the next couple of days. My family and I have been planning this for some time and we feel we are ready to give it a test run of at least a couple of months, maybe more. We are doing this now as a test run to see how well we'll be able to survive when, not if TSHTF but I am hoping that our planning is correct and we can stay off grid permanently.

We have our own alternative energy system consisting of wind and limited solar generation with a battery bank with power inverter and emergency back up generator. We've tested our setup and have enough power to run our home on a limited basis just off of our wind and solar system. We figure that if we are conservative with our energy demands we can run our lights when needed at night as well as have television for a couple of hours in the evening. If we find that we need more power I can add some more batteries to the battery @bank to achieve higher amperage and get longer use out of our system.

Our energy system provides enough power to run our refrigerator and freezer full time and our water heater for an hour each day. For heat in our home we use a boiler system that's tied into our wood stove and circulates water through radiant heat tubes that I installed in the floor when we built our home. We have enough wood to last us about 2 years according to my calculations.

We already provide about 60% of our food for ourselves and will be trying to increase this in the future. We provide about 90% of our meat source through either hunting wild game, fishing, or farm raised beef and currently have enough meat to last us for around 6-7 months either cured or in the freezer. We will however have to go to the grocery store for some of our vegetables that we don't have canned as well as for some other cooking supplies. We hope to increase our sustainability to the point that we are providing 75% of our food needs off the land but with winter approaching we will have to wait for spring to increase our vegetable output.

We will not have internet access at our home due to where we live we are unable to get any type of broadband internet, only dial up is available. We currently have internet off of the hotspot on my phone but since my contract expires on Monday I will not be renewing it and will have to rely on dial up for internet to stay up on news. The only utility that I will be paying for is satellite and phone, and if it wasn't for my two sons and wife I wouldn't have satellite because I personally don't watch TV. I had considered getting a prepaid cellphone with internet and still may go that route for phone internet, I'm not totally decided on this yet. However we will not have cellphones unless we do decide to go this route and then it will only be one phone, not the 4 we have now.

This is going to be a change for us, especially my teenage sons but they understand why we are doing it. I have grown increasingly more tired of the world of technology that we surround ourselves with in our modern lives. I think back to 20 years ago when I was in my early twenties and realize how we lived life just fine without cellphones and internet and how we actually had more quality time to spend with our friends and family or ourselves. I have now come to realize that depending on technology makes you a virtual subject to that technology and begets further subjection to technology because you think you need the newest Android or IPhone, or newest computer or TV.

So this is it, we are going to try our experiment starting next week once we are disconnected from the electric company. I will be checking in to ATS occasionally to see what's going on and keep up with what's going on in the world but I won't be nearly as active as I have been lately.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


What you just described it not going off grid. It is not even close to going off grid. I do like your idea but to truly live off grid you have a heck of a long way to go.

At least one of us is living my dream. Good luck! Let us know of any pitfalls that you run into that you hadn't prepared for...if any.

Originally posted by SubTruth
reply to post by Nucleardiver

 

What you just described it not going off grid. It is not even close to going off grid. I do like your idea but to truly live off grid you have a heck of a long way to go.

Yes. Yes it does.

reply to post by Nucleardiver

There was a movie with John Lithgow in it. I can't remember the name just now. He went to the jungles of South America and invented a power station that blew up one night. They ended up awash on some beach scavenging for junk washed in on the tide. It was an epic struggle. I enjoyed watching it very much.

Originally posted by superman2012

Originally posted by SubTruth
reply to post by Nucleardiver

 

What you just described it not going off grid. It is not even close to going off grid. I do like your idea but to truly live off grid you have a heck of a long way to go.

Yes. Yes it does.

By the wiki definition you are correct.



But you still need to go to the grocery store and you still have TV and cell phone. But if it makes you feel better you are off the electric grid and so are alot of other people.



Also never trust wiki.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Well done, you!!! Let us know when you can, how it is going. My folks are retired and they have septic system, a well, and just went solar last year, so they are getting close. I wish I would have still been a child when they got to this point - I think it would have been fantastic! Then again, kids are all different, so who knows. We took our kids camping pretty often, but they have no interest nowadays.

Keep us posted...

reply to post by SubTruth


Now we're just arguing semantics. Off-grid applies exactly to what they are doing. Off-grid is cutting yourself off of public utilities. It may not be "roughing it" but it is off-grid by taking it exactly as what they meant and the term itself.

I think the title might mislead some. "Off the Grid" has a deeper meaning for some folk. There have been docs on this about being completely below the radar. Sometimes its scary, sometimes its freedom.

Trailers...

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Opinion; while the experience getting away from the modern conveniences of technology may be healthy in some respects, limiting your children, teenagers, on the cusp of adulthood where if nothing happens they'll need every advantage in the job market place they can get, might negatively effect their level of competitive skill on par with their peers having a technical advantage.

There are, of course arguments on the other side of this, but, I wanted to (respectfully) convey the concern on how distancing the teens from technology may negatively impact their level of competition in the work place if by chance they have any interest in careers that may require a technical hand-hold.

As another alternative, you could still remain mostly off the grid by building more wind turbines so as to supply all the energy would need, whereby the kids wouldn't have to be distanced from at least minimal electrical use technologies like laptops, pads, etc.

It sounds like you have covered all bases. Kudos.


But the internet.

Oh the woes.....dial-up internet.

Maybe you could consider a prepaid smart phone and using it as an access point(wifi). It won't be as fast as broadband but it should be considerably faster than dial-up.

If you have 4G/LTE in the area, using the phone as an access point should be faster than broadband.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


I'm jealous of you
I'm jealous of you

I'm jealous of you
I'm jealous of you

I'm jealous of you
I'm jealous of you

I'm jealous of you
I'm jealous of you


I suggest running the demo for 2 months. On success, return to the grid, replenish and improve.

Originally posted by SubTruth

Originally posted by superman2012

Originally posted by SubTruth
reply to post by Nucleardiver

 

What you just described it not going off grid. It is not even close to going off grid. I do like your idea but to truly live off grid you have a heck of a long way to go.

Yes. Yes it does.

By the wiki definition you are correct.



But you still need to go to the grocery store and you still have TV and cell phone. But if it makes you feel better you are off the electric grid and so are alot of other people.

Also never trust wiki.

Actually as it stands right now we go to the grocery store once about every 2 to 2 1/2 months and that's really only for condiments and such and items that we can't get at the farmers market here locally. Its 50+ miles to the grocery store for us so we don't go often. As far as having a cell phone and TV that is only by choice not necessity since we do want to stay in touch with distant family, and as I said if it wasn't for my children I wouldn't have TV.

However if needed right now we could be 100% self suffecient, that is what being off grid means. We have several cows with 2 being dairy cows so we don't buy milk and if we wanted to take the time to churn we could have cream and butter. We have several hogs we've raised also and I have a 5 gallon food grade bucket with lard that I've processed when slaughtering, therefore we have cooking grease. We also have several laying hens and guinea birds that supply us with eggs although during the winter their laying reduces significantly.

We could actually go through the entire winter and not go to the grocery store for anything with the food we have canned, frozen, and in the root cellar now and by spring we could replinish our supplies of veggies. However there are some vegetables that we like to eat that won't grow here so if we want those we will have to go to the store, same with some other foods such as seafood and fruits. Our home is paid for since we built it over the last year as we had the money and our land is paid for as well. We really are not dependent on anyone for anything as it stands right now and could remain that way for as long as we wanted to, that is the definition of being off grid.

As I said we are choosing to have a couple of conveniences, that doesn't mean we aren't off grid. After all we are trying to be self sufficient and self reliant, not live as the Swiss family robinson.

reply to post by Druscilla


I will be installing 4 more wind turbines this spring and those combined with another battery bank should provide us with double the amount of electricity than we have now. However I build my own wind turbines and by the time I have these 4 done we will be well into the freeze up and won't be able to install them.

Our plan is to eventually not have to be conservative with our energy uses and eventually sell electricity back to the utility company. Right now we will be doing it on a bare minimum scenario so that we fan make sure that we can make it in a worse case scenario.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Go for it Nucleardiver. I for one think it is interesting and I am always envious of families that work together like that. I think as long as there is perspective this is great. Live life for the the sake of it.

CJ

Congrats! The willingness and preparation to get into position was obviously hard work of the kind that keep most who have the desire from doing it.

Look forward to your updates and I hope all of y'all keep good journals of your experience.

Originally posted by Nucleardiver
I have now come to realize that depending on technology makes you a virtual subject to that technology and begets further subjection to technology because you think you need the newest Android or IPhone, or newest computer or TV.

Yet you are still using a phone, satellite dish, a tv, fridge freezer etc.

So just what technologies are you actually giving up?

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Good luck. Might I suggest having an alternate safe location. I think when the sh#t hits the fan, many homes will be taken over by martial law and/or subject to looters who are desperate.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


It sounds like you have property. Maybe you can have a wireless company (AT&T, Verizon, etc) install a cell tower on it. They pay quite well.

I also know a guy who sell excess enegy from his wind turbine (It's one of the big commercial ones) and he makes a decent wage with it. Though he is responsible for the maintenance as well.

Let us know how it works out, ok?

reply to post by Nucleardiver


First let me say good for you! I admire and am jealous. Having said that make no mistake you are still dependent on technology. Those batteries will wear out and need to be replaced on occasion. Same with generators etc. as for internet there are a couple satellite companies the claim anywhere in the states they can hook you up. Hughes.net and Wild Blue. Maybe they don't have installers in your area IDK?

Anyway good luck and hope everything works out for you.