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

If you still pay taxes and are a registered corporation under the government, I wouldn't consider you off the grid.

I do like this though, my plan is to move into the mountains of British Columbia, as they never stop.

Well its been almost 2 months for us so I wanted to update and let everyone know how things are going.

Since we went off the grid Ive been lucky enough to have been able to complete my final 2 turbines and was also fortunate enough to come across a great deal on some more batteries from a government surplus site. We are nkw capable of having power pretty much whenever we need it. With winter fast approaching its dark by 5:00 so we need the lights more now and have found that we can go all evening from the time the kids get home from school or slorts until about 10:00 pm and still have adequate reserve for in the mornings when everyones getting up and ready for their day.

Yes, we do have television but limit our time watching to one movie a night or 2 hours, and for internet I did get a verizon prepaid phone which works decent most of the time. Its the onky phone we have but we can get internet for staying in touch with family anx when the kids need to rssearch school projects.

The woodfired bliler heating system I designed is working great and having already had several days and nights below zero it has kept us plenty warm, and I have only been using an average of 6 logs per day including for hot water for bathing as well as cooking. I will however be modifying my heating system to burn coal since Ive recently acquired 4 tons of coal through my job at no charge.

Our food supplies have been sufficient as well with our canned goods from our garden projecting to last well into spring and we also still have root crops in the ground covered with hay but we will be harvesting them this weekend.

We have also built another root celler and have it pretty well stocked with root crops as well as cured meats since the ground is now frozen. Since it is hunting season here we have been stocking up on our game foods, 3 deer cured and in the cellar plus an elk I bought along with goose, pheasant, grouse, and partridge. Now that the sloughs are starting to freeze over we will be doing a lot of ice fishing soon and will be smoking them in the smokehouse I am building now.

We will have to go to the groceey store the first of December for toiletries and such which will be the first time since September that weve went.

I have kept track of our expenses over the last 2 months and it has totaled just over $650, not including gas going back and forth to work which my wife may drive 30 miles a week getting to work and uses maybe 5 gallons a week in diesel, and I have a company truck and they pay the gas. So the total on our expenses for 2 months is, electric $0, food $10 for a bag of sugar(I have to have my sweet tea), TV $50, internet/phone $100, property taxes for 2 months $56, 10 gel cell deepcycle batteries for the electric system $400 from government liquidation, and $45 in miscellaneous expenses.

I have also found a local restaurant near where I work and am starting next month getting their used cooking oil that will be about 15 gallons a week which I will filter and use for fuel for my wifes truck with some modifications.

So all in all things are going good for us with our test run and were gonna keep going like we are. Weve found that its nice to be suffecient and not have to depend on the grid for our power and have already seen the benefit of supplying our own power when we were hit with an ice storm last friday that left several farms around us without power for several hours.

Ill post more updates as we continue and I find time to get on the net and ATS. I havent been on here much since we did this and actually find its nice not having a tv or computer running alm the time and being back to a less technological life.

Wow!! Sounds like you all are doing great!!! I wish I had you in my family-lol!
Thanks for the update, please keep 'em coming when you can.
Pic of all the great adjustments and setups would be cooooool (hint)
ps.. Amazed that you only have to basically shop once every 3 or 4 months!!!