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

reply to post by Egyptia


We live in a county of 2,000 people and are very tight knit community composed of mostly farmers and ranchers and I really don't think we'll. Have much of an issue with looters here in a SHTF scenario and if we do I have a good way of solving any problems with looters. The 4 LEO's in our county know what my solution for looters is and would pretty much agree with it in a SHTF situation.

As far as martial law goes it would have to be enforced by federal agents or troops since I know our law enforcement officials wouldn't go for it and niether would our NG. I've had several conversations with our sheriff about such a scenario and he's dead set against it, he's also a major in the NDNG and assured me it wouldn't happen from them. Besides except for possible food supplies from the farms here there would be no other reason to confiscate our lands, nit saying it wouldn't happen itsjust not very likely.

That's certainly not "off the grid". Off the grid means NO satellite, cellphone, short wave radio (requires a license), Internet, phone, credit cards, store purchases, diapup, not even gas for a generator, no trips to town, no doctors, schools, no vehicles at all, no electrical appliances or electrical gadgets of any sort, no property ownership, no job, not even mail or other deliveries ... you name it. If it's traceable, it's not "off the grid".

What you are doing is called "Going Green" which is a very good goal anyway. Good Luck!

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Good luck, here in The Netherlands there is nowhere to hide. Here there is no place left where you can find silence, there is always a highway to be heared.

Maybe you become unfortunate...or blessed to have provided a new haven for people when ts has htf and become a town with your name on it in the 'new' world.

Hope to hear from you in the future tho...

pretty hardcore i like it
wild the amount of preparation just for that
your an ATS member that talks the talk and you walk the walk .
thous kids are lucky!

Hey Guys I'm going off grid, but not off THE grid too. I'll be my keeping my electric, my internet, my phone, my car, my bank, my job and everything else. I just wanted to let you know of the new semantics I made up. Going off grid, is different from going off THE grid. You see by leaving out the THE I can keep all my technology but still get morons to praise what I am doing.

Purely from a philosophic standpoint, and my notoriously uncommon perspective, here's my thoughts...

Humanity spent at least 120,000 years struggling, generation after generation to create the "grid"... the society and all of the trappings that we enjoy today. Our ancestors toiled and toiled, waiting patiently as a series of very rare, once every few generations type geniuses might arise and move the standard a bit higher with their unique and visionary ideas. While waiting for the visionaries to come, our ancestors also put a lot of work into trying to create forms of governance and laws that at least try to be fair to the people.

My grandfather was born in the 1880's - into a world where horses were transportation. I was born in 1966, into a world where home computers were just pipe dreams for sci-fi writers. My son was born in 1990, into a world where there was no such thing as a Tweet or a text message. His children will be born into a world that I would recognize. But their kids?

Unfathomable generations worked so that today most of us can live in "modest homes" that even our grandparents would see as marvelous castles....

And all that leads up to people who want to return to the way it was before all of these amazing things were made possible!?!

I do get the logic. Bug out bag, ready to survive in case TSHTF, self reliant, untraceable, Big Brother won't peek into my bedroom dog gone it... I understand it.

It just all seems so very contrary and interesting to me on a psychological and sociological level. It's very profound and thought provoking stuff.

Good luck to you on your return to the simple life. As for me? I'm going to stay right here, at this computer, with my plasma TV mounted on the wall, eating food from the Krogers down the road. If the stuff does hit the fan, maybe my decision will prove out to be poor. But then again I might pass you, on that day ( if it comes ) on my way to my old school home to be... saying "Man, you missed some really killer stuff over the past x number of years, since you bugged out..."

~Heff

Originally posted by Trexter Ziam
That's certainly not "off the grid". Off the grid means NO satellite, cellphone, short wave radio (requires a license), Internet, phone, credit cards, store purchases, diapup, not even gas for a generator, no trips to town, no doctors, schools, no vehicles at all, no electrical appliances or electrical gadgets of any sort, no property ownership, no job, not even mail or other deliveries ... you name it. If it's traceable, it's not "off the grid".

What you are doing is called "Going Green" which is a very good goal anyway. Good Luck!

edit on 29/9/2012 by Trexter Ziam because: (no reason given)

Off the grid means different things to different people, ask ten people and you'll get ten different definitions/answers, and since there is no consensus on the meaning of the word it is pointless to argue over a strict definition.

From my personal perspective, "grid" means electrical grid, so as long as you are disconnected and independent from the public utility power grid you fulfill the definition of living "off the grid". Many have extended this to mean independent from most or all of the public utilities such as water and gas connections as well, however in this modern age it is tough to conceive of being cut-off completely from the internet, though I know many now who are still fully connected to the grid, such as myself, but watch zero TV.

In terms of your own food production, to me this comes under the term of self-sufficiency and has nothing to do with the grid, but that is just my own opinion.

Again to me, what you are describing as opposed to what the OP has described is dropping out of society.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


This is what I have been wanting to do for a long time.I
have one problem,my husband doesn't want to.He thinks
that everything is going to be ok and I'm chicken little! He
even lets others see what I have in my pantry.I have had
to clear out most of my supplies because of outsiders
seeing what I have.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


"Off grid" and "off the grid" are the same thing, just different dialects (as per level of education and how badly you want to portray it verbally).

You're going "under the grid", I guess. you can't have your cake and eat it too, my friend. Either commit yourself or give it up. From the sound of it, you don't have the steel to really pull through this plan.

Originally posted by jacknast76
Hey Guys I'm going off grid, but not off THE grid too. I'll be my keeping my electric, my internet, my phone, my car, my bank, my job and everything else. I just wanted to let you know of the new semantics I made up. Going off grid, is different from going off THE grid. You see by leaving out the THE I can keep all my technology but still get morons to praise what I am doing.

Off the grid means Off the electric grid. That's it's true meaning, it's just that all the movies and all the first people who went off the grid also went into hiding, and now you guys are all confused, except the diver, who even if nothing happens is getting energy out of the air, and food out of the ground..

You realize when I was in the Army they were talking about going off the Grid. I can assure you they weren't talking about giving up technology and hiding, they were looking into making their own electricity.

USACE Announces New Action to Support Deployment of Renewable Energy on U.S. Military Installations
Link

There is another article that won't load because it's been removed from every database I search but the name comes up on google.

"July 7, 2012
US Army Speeds Up Move Off-Grid"

And:
Solar project aims to help wean Army off grid


Cool stuff. Not sure how they are going to fight with no radios or tanks though... (sarcasm)

meanwhile you're an angry person who deserves to be laughed at

reply to post by Nucleardiver
And soo,.
have you got all your off grid electrical's protected against EMP?

US Army speeds up "off grid"
Hmm,. why would they be doing this,,
I have a possibility www.disaster-survival-resources.com...

Originally posted by Hefficide
And all that leads up to people who want to return to the way it was before all of these amazing things were made possible!?!

Exactly. Look at these guys living n places like Slab City. Do you REALLY want to live like that? It's a friggin' trailer park with rusted out cars on blocks. I don;t call that civilized. Of course, that may be an extreme case, but the Romans lived better, WAY better than that thousands of years ago. I'm all for being "off grid" or "off the grid" Arguing the definitions is downright silly. But Slab City?

Whatever floats your boat. But Wow!

reply to post by Nucleardiver

In 1981 we loaded up everything we had including all seven children and moved to my husband's father's ranch.
We left a beautiful home with all the amenities and moved into a Victorian home that hadn't been lived in since 1916.
We cleaned and scrubbed everything and then moved in in a raging blizzard!!
I thought I was the most stupid mother in the world. We lived 8 miles from town, the driveway was 3 miles long.
Wood stove in the kitchen, another in the dining room and a small fireplace in the living room.
Bedrooms were freezing cold. I just knew the kids would hate us. No tv. It was before cell phones and internet. What would the kids do for fun. They made their own fun, They actually talked to each other. They laughed and sang. they milked cows, they raised chickens and rabbits. They chopped wood. They rode horses. They helped gather and brand cattle and rode the mountains. they built a bucking horse out of a barrel and ropes.We did have a real bath tub and the girls would heat water and put the clothes in and dance in the water and clothes to get them clean. Then hang them on the line to dry.
Today there is only one daughter that would not go back to that time in their lives.
You are doing a great thing for your family and I am proud of you.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Just a thought, you could try pos water heaters. It would only heat water when and where you needed it.
second line.

Hey Nucleardiver I just wanted to say "good for you"!

My homestead has never been connected to the electrical grid and I've been living here for over two years now. No external utils at all (and to everyone that needs to get into a semantic tizzy about this, yes, everyone that I know that is similarly not connected calls it "off the grid").

We get LOADS of sun here so my system is based upon photo-voltaic collectors feeding a battery array and then into an inverter to power the house.
We also a solar-geyser to make hot-water for bathing etc (with a wood-stove back up for cold and cloudy days).
Cooking is on gas, again with a wood-stove backup for in case gas ceases to be available.
Where I am it's mostly not too cold so heating the home is not a problem. But there is a big 'ol fireplace for when we want it.
I have SO MUCH wood I don't know what to do with it all so I use that as much as possible for fuel.
We harvest rainwater for drinking and washing and and the house's effluent is cleaned using a constructed wetland.
We grow almost all the veg we need to live and barter with our neighbors for things like eggs and milk.

And no, to the wanna-be cave-dwellers, this is not all about some kind of bizarre desire to return to the stone ages. This is not about "giving up on technology". This is about making technology work for you in a new way. I am not reliant on a system that I don't believe in. I am largely self-reliant, especially when factoring mutual community support in. And since most of my neighbors are in a similar way "off the grid" that makes our community very robust in terms of survive-ability.

And, believe it or not, it even makes economic sense. If I amortize the cost of my system over the life-span of the components it costs me substantially less than the cost of getting electricity to my homestead, the monthly line-rental fees and then the unit cost of using electricity. It actually makes sense (where I am) as an investment!

But I still have all the technology I might want. I have pretty good internet access, laptop, phone, fridge... whatever. This is not the ludite option, as I have said. But if those systems (phone system, internet, whatever) failed it wouldn't phase me. I'd "change gears" in my life and just go on living...

But all of this aside: it just feels really good to be self-sufficient!

But anyway, what I really wanted to do is offer you some solidarity, ND. Its not only do-able but it's a really great way to live. Ignore the haters. They're just doing what they do best.

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.

Very true but with the fact you toss kids in the mix that's about as off grid as you can get with kids. you go anymore and i would worry that children services or somebody like that shows up. I would invest more into your garden. but as the years go by your garden will improve. It is a very good start

lol thats not goodbye technology, what you mean to say is im done paying the man to use my toys!!

far from off grid or off the grid lol but a clap just for trying ^^ ill never go off the grid, or stop using technology even if i have my own reactor lol

Originally posted by Trexter Ziam
That's certainly not "off the grid". Off the grid means NO satellite, cellphone, short wave radio (requires a license), Internet, phone, credit cards, store purchases, diapup, not even gas for a generator, no trips to town, no doctors, schools, no vehicles at all, no electrical appliances or electrical gadgets of any sort, no property ownership, no job, not even mail or other deliveries ... you name it. If it's traceable, it's not "off the grid".

What you are doing is called "Going Green" which is a very good goal anyway. Good Luck!

edit on 29/9/2012 by Trexter Ziam because: (no reason given)

I agree. Not taking anything away from OP, as he seems to be able to self sustain quite well, but where I live "off the grid" means off technology, as well as all the other stuff. Maybe regionally it means different things and we're just arguing semantics.

Regardless, it's awesome, OP!