Posts by — Nick Rosen

The cast of one of the world’s first reality TV shows, Castaway, are reuniting this weekend — 10 years on.

Based on the 60s series Gilligan’s Island, the 36 volunteers agreed to go off the grid together on the remote Hebredian island of Taransay, and it was a life-changing experience for many of them.

They were filmed as they struggled to cope with composting loos and eco homes.  They soon found that the production company was tricky and manipulative. One of them sued successfully for libel. (more…)

Former bank manager Penny Burgess, runs her own family business in Cheltenham, UK, and lives in a rented cottage on a farm, with her husband and children, 10 chickens, a dog and lots of fruit and vegetables. She is not affiliated to any political party, and has no links to any other organisation. She really is just a man on the street.

Here is Penny’s story of how she is trying to get the British government to pay attention to those of its citizens who wish to, or need to live off the grid. She already has strong grassroots support – but she needs more support. She needs your support:
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If you have the right kind of land, Truffle growing could pay for your off-grid lifestyle – Paul Thomas of Plantation Systems explains.

The black truffle (Tuber melanosporum) is an underground fungus which grows in association with certain trees, prized by anyone interested in food for its unique and exquisite flavour/ Prices for the best quality black winter truffle reach $1500 (£1000) per kilo. (more…)

I have a place in the North West of the island- looking for others in the area who are off the grid to get a discount on group-buying solar panels and other things.
Its a beautiful spot up in the hills and I am looking for someone to live there and work the place when I am not there.

Off-Grid.net is crowdsourcing

–if you live or work off the grid (ie without utility power or water), upload a video to help build a global portrait of an off-grid day.

Upload your video here.

Your crowdsourcing contribution to the “Off-Grid Life in a Day” could be a brief think-piece like this clip of Beans of Maine author Carolyn Chute.

It could be a guided tour of your smallholding. It might even be a glimpse of the tasks your household performs during a typical day, from chopping wood to pumping water to relaxing quietly on the back porch (more…)

As the Banksters continue to draw their massive paychecks, the rest of us are hunkering down for what looks increasingly like the end of economic growth in large parts of the country.

Everybody knows that the wealthy have in fact been bailed out. Sales of luxury goods continue to soar. At the same time, Jeff Weniger from Harris Private Bank estimates that over 9m Americans without jobs are receiving no support.

Jim Juczak  is located at the Woodhenge Sustainable Community: “The Center for the Study of Things Practical and Not So Practical.” Jim looks 40 but is in fact about 50. He is quite simply the best scrounger in upstate New York. He is one of the stars of Off the Grid

Jim scrounges building materials, clothes, food, junk, guns – just about anything. He lives to scrounge. Or rather he lives for free – his life is dedicated to not paying the market price for anything, and he loves to share his knowledge with others. (more…)

British energy company National Grid has promised not to kill again after the company shut off the power to a New Hampshire woman who needed oxygen to breathe, causing her death on June 24th (see our original story). The company had acted over an unpaid bill even though the customer was known to be at risk. County prosecutors will decide whether National Grid will face any criminal charges. “It’s really a question of negligence or recklessness,” said a Rockingham County spokesman. “It does not have to be an intentional act by the company.”

It was only after this statement June 30th that British-owned National Grid rushed out an announcement freezing all utility shut-offs (more…)