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August 2013

Community

How to go off-grid with little money…

areyouready
How to get off-grid with not a lot of money… that is the holy grail, right? I see many people posting messages here and on other websites, all saying very much the same thing, they want to be independent, to have a piece of land, to have a small place to live, to be off-grid, but they don’t have the money to do it, they often want to join other people in hopes of pooling resources, or just jumping on someone else’s bandwagon.

I am here to tell you it is possible to do this without resorting to illegal means and without having to join with other people or a group to get off-grid.

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Community

The Pantry Primer: Making meals from pantry basics

food-pantry
Your pantry is only useful if you can make tasty, filling meals from it.  It is vital that you purchase “ingredients” rather than meals, so that you can make a wide variety of foods. Not only is this healthier, but it is also a much more cost-effective way to build a stockpile.

The ingredients that you buy or preserve are the basis of your future health should a situation arise in which you must rely on your pantry.  It is imperative that you have the ability to cook from scratch if you intend to use a pantry full of ingredients, so brush up on your skills by using these items now, and not just storing them away.

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Land

We can help find you an off-grid home

We are looking for people who have the skills and the resources and want to make the move from their existing lives inside mainstream society, leave their jobs and their mortgages and their high=spending consumer lives, and move to a low-stress, low-consumption life off the grid.

Of course they will still be a need to work and make money, still a need to generate power, wash, cook, have shelter. But we want to show the world all these things are possible in total comfort, with no stress, off the grid, if you arrange yourself cleverly.

There are many reasons why I have been trying to make a film or a web series about people who are making the move to live off-grid. The first is that the masses of material on TV at the moment never seems to reflect real people and their real lives.

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Food

What to Eat When You’re Broke

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The lower your income is, the more difficult it is to be particular about what you feed your family.

This probably isn’t an earth-shattering revelation to anyone, but if you feel like experimenting, try to buy a week’s worth of healthy food for a family on a budget of, say, $50-75.  Food manufacturers that target lower income shoppers with more affordable products tend to include more GMOs and toxic ingredients in their offerings.

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People

Looking for like-minded people

My name is Sarah. At the age of six I became the only vegetarian in my family- a lifestyle choice I have been committed to for 13 years now. As a child, I realized that society was damned; too greedy for their own good. I never did understand why people cared so much about excess they had in their everyday lives, yet couldn’t care less about our mother earth we have now desecrated.
I looked up at the stars almost every night- the ones viewable from the city- and wished to be in a better place. I wished to disown the race that didn’t know what it stood for; that being the population, as a whole.

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People

Cuadrilla Killa – Lord Browne

The former boss of British Petroleum, who presided over a declining safety record before he perjured himself in court documents, has spoken up in favour of fracking.

Lord Browne is now boss of fracking company Cuadrilla Resources, which is drilling for oil in the UK. Still a senior figure in the UK Government, Browne told the UK Telegraph that fracking is in UK’s “national purpose” and is more environmentally friendly than importing gas.

The 65-year-old, dubbed the Cuadrilla Killa by opponents, stepped down from BP six years ago in dramatic circumstances, having committed perjury as he fought a high court battle to keep his sex life private. He was high-handedly entertaining his boyfriend on his Corporate expense account and took out an injunction to prevent the media reporting the fact.

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Food

Fall vegetable garden

woman in vegetable garden,self-sufficiency,food-growingMany of the same guidelines apply for fall gardening as spring gardening. The site for the garden needs to have a water source, full sun and well-drained soil.
The timing of the planting is important: Use a garden guide that is based on the first average killing frost date – ours is Nov. 16. Based on days to maturity, you can calculate back to when a vegetable needs to be planted.
Some of our vegetables have cold tolerance and will survive even if the temperature drops below 32 degrees. These frost-tolerant vegetables include beet, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, chard, collard, garlic, kale, lettuce, mustard, onion, parsley, spinach and turnip.

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Energy

Energy from neighbors, not utilities

A new study reported by Northwest Public Radio has found a growing trend for small wind turbines in the USA. These are mostly single turbines in people’s backyards, on farms, or supplementing power for businesses.

Meanwhile in China, Xinhua reported yesterday that the government is forcing power companies to provide consultancy and acceptance for individuals setting up small wind turbines and help connect them to the grid.

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Ed Begley Jr. Inks Eco-Home Series

Ed Begley Jr. signed $17 million pact with startup Evox Television to produce and star in an Internet-only series documenting his quest to build the greenest house in North America.

“On Begley Street” follows Begley and wife Rachelle Carson-Begley (pictured, above) with their teenage daughter Hayden on their quest to erect a 3,800-sq.-ft. house in Studio City, Calif., that will be fully off the grid with a 10,000-kilowatt solar-powered electrical system, rainwater-collection tank and gray-water recycling system.

“This show is about efficiency and saving money, and getting with the program in 2013,” said Ed Begley Jr.

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Land

Hobbit home destroyed

A young couple have been left heartbroken after planners ordered their unique ‘hobbit home’ to be bulldozed, effectively leaving them homeless.

Charlie Hague and Megan Williams, both 25, built the roundhouse from scratch with their own hands, using only natural materials.

But the couple lost their appeal today against a planning enforcement notice telling them to tear their pride and joy home down.

Charlie and Megan, who have a one-year-old son Eli, built the house on private land in Glandwr, North Pembrokeshire, UK, last summer.

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Getting Off the Grid – options for city dwellers

Living off the grid was popularized by our editor, Nick Rosen, in the mid-1990s, back before social media took center stage or the pressing environmental issues of our time were fully understood by the everyday person. Though today “living off the grid” might look different
than he initially envisioned it, it is definitely something everyone needs to consider, whether you live rurally or in a city. Living off the grid today does not mean that you need to run off to one of the eco-havens in North America or elsewhere.In the USA, Lasqueti Island, Common Ground, and Earthaven are certainly settlements to look towards when designing future housing developments that promote the environment and health, but you don’t need to get onto their waiting list or uproot your life to start cutting yourself away from the city grid today.
It is also important to remember that “living off of the grid” is not something people always
choose. In the USA it is estimated that 1,300,000 people live off the grid, in 50–75% of cases this is due to poverty. When taking into consideration how much renewable electricity and other renewable options can be (even with government subsidies) it can feel that being eco-friendly and reducing your utilities bill is a pipe dream.
It is not.
There are many different options to help you reduce your reliance to the grid, make your home more eco-friendly, reduce your carbon footprint, and even boost your wellbeing right at home – even in a city.

Why Live Off the Grid

Living off of the grid as much as possible has multiple benefits. Most of these benefits are seen over long periods of time, making your investments now the better choice.

Extreme Utilities Savings

Powering your home predominately with renewable electricity that you have produced is one of the best ways to keep your utilities costs as low as possible, especially if you live in an area that refuses you to disconnect entirely due to health and safety concerns.

Great for the Environment

We need to completely stop our use of coal and other non-renewable resources and instead switch over to renewable alternatives. The benefits are obvious. Currently, we reach Earth Overshoot Day in between July or August, depending on reports. This means that we strip the earth of more than can be replenished in a year, and we still have five months to go.
By investing in renewable energy, we can reduce the carbon impact of coal, which currently is responsible for 30% of CO2 emissions around the world.

Boosting Wellbeing

By getting off the grid, through renewables, home-grown gardens, and reducing the
number of electrical gadgets, we can actually boost our wellbeing. Humans need nature. When we are connected to it we feel calmer, happier, and healthier. By getting off the grid in many ways, from energy to food production, you can …

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How to butcher a chicken humanely – video

This is one method of dispatching and butchering a chicken, I noticed he said “sorry” to the chicken before starting the procedure… it’s what I would do too.

He uses a killing cone, a plucker, I will say that I think he needs to sharpen his knives, he does a good job but I noticed a couple of times he had to saw more than I thought he should have to cut through… this is part one of two…

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