As the housing crisis continues to inflict havoc on families across the USA and Europe, the option of living in a vehicle is sometimes the only one available.

For a good, reliable intro, check out Roll Your Own: The Complete Guide to Living in a Truck, Bus, Van, or Camper.

Matt Howe’s web guide to Van living is refreshingly practical.

His key advice: stay organized. “Nothing is more frustrating than trying to find something you desperately need and not being able to because your van is a mess.”

A YouTube film features a guy who lives in a Walmart parking lot going over the details of his van conversion, from carpets to extra lights.

But its not all good news.  One woman on YouTube described the “humiliation and degradation” of being reduced to van living.

I’ve lost stuff for days that was two feet away from me the whole time. Organization is probably the most important part of smooth living in your van.”

Another good idea is to keep something near your bed that you can beat somebody’s brains in with if they try to break in: It helps you sleep a little easier—you’re a little jumpy at outside noises the first month or so. It’s good to keep some little portable camp lights around too; they always come in handy.”

Check out vandwellers.org

LaMar's off grid cabin

I just love learning how other people live off grid, especially when they are doing it in a very similar way to how I live. LaMar Alexander has done all of this and more, we may be in different places, but we both started out with small and simple systems, cobbling together this and that, building an independent life one piece at a time.

LaMar has graciously shared his life with the rest of us, in book and video format, here are some interesting and educational videos about how he is upgrading his solar systems. There are 4 videos in this series, you can view them here or click on the links to view at YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajp0VkWZ9Jk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrkyMKb73co

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EylS_Kt0gQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n7e9ttcmlM

 

 
LaMar has written a great book about how he built his off grid cabin and the systems that are part of his off grid cabin, this IS a “how to” book about building an off grid cabin, a great companion book to Nick’s book Off The Grid-Inside The Movement For More Space, Less Government, And True Independence In Modern America I own both books and found lots of great information in them.

Hidden away in UK woodland, a new subculture

Until now the idea of preparing for the coming collapse in the UK was seen as faintly crazy, a bit like  believing the Mayan prophecy of doom in December 2012.

But sites like post-apocalypse.co.uk, and companies like Emergency Food Storage in Leeds  and B Prep in London are reporting sales increasing 10-fold in a year,  as Brits get ready for the collapse of the Euro and an almighty recession.

Ordinary families are storing cash, fuel, food and household products  in anticipation of a calamitous disruption to everyday life.

Emergency Food Storage is selling products from Mountain House, a U.S. brand that started manufacturing in Britain five years ago.

In the past year alone, sales of its tins of food with a 25-year shelf-life have increased by 350 per cent. The contents of these tins are similar to the sachets of foods that mountaineers and other outward-bounds types might be familiar with. But because they are in cans, rather than packets, they last for 25 years, rather than five.

They are created by cooking a normal meal, such as spaghetti bolognaise, and then freezing it rapidly. Finally, the water content is extracted under pressure, a process known as sublimation.

Freeze-drying preserves the taste of the food as well as up to 97 per cent of its nutritional value. It also massively reduces its weight and bulk. For example, 1,000kg of strawberries reduces to 100kg of freeze-dried fruit. The meals are returned to near-enough their original state by adding water (preferably hot, but cold will do).

But because the process is energy-intensive, the food is not cheap.  A six pack of self-heating breakfasts is £32.95

EFS is selling 72 tins of Mountain House food for £2,199.95. This is billed as a deluxe 12-month survival pack of 450 meals. But the same product can be cheaper on Amazon or E-Bay.

Other equipment is similarly expensive.  A Grab Bag Emergency Pack filled with survival equipment is over £200.  Bushcraft Survival courses start at several hundred pounds for a weekend.

First of all I would like to apologize for such a long time between posts. About ten months have gone by with a huge learning curve. Many of my original plans had to be updated or changed.
As far as the original plans for the building everything went well. We built a single room that was almost 500 square feet. We purchased a carport and closed it in with sheet metal. We have almost six inches of ridged insulation.
I have attached a few pictures of the progress. The best addition is the front porch. We can sit for hours and just look at the river and the area around us. We have added wind generation and solar power along with a propane powered generator. If you are using straight 12 volts we have plenty of storage. If you are using an inverter to supply 110 volts that is another matter. All inverters work with a close tolerance in operating voltage. The one I purchased goes from 12.8 to 11.2 so with the six batteries for storage this does not last as long as I would like it to. The wind generator works great when you have a hefty wind blowing. Solar cells are a slow recharge source.
Winter is upon us and I love the wood stove. We have enough wood on our place to last at least fifteen years. We had an ice storm last year so a lot of trees came down, I have not cut down a live tree yet. We have mostly cotton wood and pecan in the area. I mix them up to help control the rate that the fire burns. The cotton wood is almost like kindling it burns way too fast.
I have attached some pictures as far as progressin building. In looking back this is the best move I have ever made. We go out every Friday night and camp out. It is great to look at the stars and listen to the coyotes bark and howl. We have a deer feeder about twenty yards from the cabin; the raccoons seem to be eating most of the corn. We have a mixed breed dog that loves to chase them when she goes out the door. I am waiting to see what happens when she catches them, I think it will be a surprise of her life.

Already adding an addition to the cabin, will try to update my post a little more often.

PS;
The deer was taken just east of our place by my son. The picture of the water is what you see form the front porch.

Keep talking, texting tweeting in the boonies

The much-maligned Blackberry has emerged as the best phone for off-grid users.

Although Blackberry customers were left without a service for days earlier this year, the phone is way ahead of current competitors when it comes to battery life, the key factor for those generating their own power.

The longer battery life comes about because the phone draws less power than Android or iPhone models. Although that does not solve the problem of getting a signal in remote locations.Motorola’s Droid, along with the Dell Streak, came out on top of a battery-life contest for Android-running handsets, devised by Laptop Magazine. But it only had about 7 hours power compared to over a day for Blackberry.

and Chinese maker Huawei claims its soon to be released Honor Smartphone has up to 3 days of use on a single charge, making it the longest battery life among smartphones that fall under the 4″ display category. Of course, the claim has yet to be proven, and the way a phone is used is key to determining the battery life, so we hope to get hold of a unit to find out for myself.

The Motorola Droid X has enough juice to run for 7 hours and 42 minutes. Dell’s Streak—which some analysts say is either a large smartphone or small tablet PC—ran for 7 hours, 35 minutes, while Motorola‘s Droid came in third, at 7 hours, 7 minutes. Bringing up the rear was the HTC Incredible, which exhausted itself after 4 hours and 33 minutes.

RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone feature proprietary hardware and software (meaning it’s all controlled by RIM and Apple); Google‘s Android operating system (OS) runs on many different phones (made by LG, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, etc.) So Android offers a lot more options, but it also brings into play a myriad of vendors essentially selling the same product, creating distinctions without differences.

RIM’s BlackBerry has been a corporate standard for many years, mainly due to its security features (such as the ability to remotely wipe its memory if lost, something you can’t do as easily with an iPhone) and its user-friendly thumb keyboard. But RIM has let its BlackBerry OS fall behind and is still trying to play catch-up.

Another downside is the relative lack of cool Blackberry apps. On the plus side, most BlackBerries still feature that thumb keyboard that appeals to users who enjoy writing lengthy e-mails on the road. Also, BlackBerry boasts the longest battery life of all the smart phones and that’s the most important thing.

Apple’s iPhone is a cultural phenomenon; it kick-started the smart phone revolution. Its appeal is universal – - except in the corporate world where it hasn’t had much penetration save for high-tech companies or with fashion-conscious users. Apple’s iOS for the iPhone is a closed, proprietary system which, for some, is a bonus, because, theoretically, it can’t be hacked by bad guys.  And now with the iPhone available on two carriers (AT&T and Verizon), and with Sprint coming on board with the iPhone 5, users have more choices among carriers. The Apple App Store boasts tens upon thousands of apps (not all of them variations on Angry Birds) for most every business use imaginable.

Google‘s Android platform is the nerdy counterpart to Apple’s iOS. Spanning several hardware platforms ( HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, etc.), Android is an open source free-for-all that also features a healthy App Market with thousands of apps and an expanding user base. Androids are business-friendly but lack the reliability and security of the BlackBerry and the status and simplicity of the iPhone.

But Google‘s recent announcement of its intention to acquire Motorola Mobility leads one to think that Android will likely expand its security options, develop on a more homogenous platform, and we’ve already seen improvements in Android security in the past few months.

So, for old school, hard keyboard, security-conscious users, the BlackBerry is best (Buy the BlackBerry Bold 9780 Unlocked Cell Phone with Full QWERTY Keyboard here). But understand that by choosing it, you may be marginalizing yourself. Besides offering more apps, both the iPhone and the Android are more fun to use. And if you think that the smart phone eventually will replace the PC as the key platform for business computing (as HP apparently did when it announced it was getting out of the computer business), you’ll need a phone that you like, not one you’ll merely use.

The Laptop Magazine test consisted of the devices running an Android application, that the magazine writes “opens the phone’s Web browser to one of 60 popular Websites, remains there for 60 seconds, closes the browser, then reopens the browser to the next Website on the list. It does so until the phone’s battery dies, while recording the time elapsed.”

To create a level playing field, several adjustments were made to each handset. First, two free applications, My Settings and Advanced Task Killer, were downloaded to each device. Then, in My Settings, the Laptop gang turned off auto brightness and set the brightness of each screen to 40 percent. They also turned off WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS location, cell location and auto sync, deactivated the screen timeout and turned off Flash support and plug-ins in the Web browser. Lastly, they placed each phone in a place where it was receiving at least four bars of service.

Each phone was then tested twice, and its score was the result of the tests’ average.

“We know this doesn’t take into account things such as texting, making phone calls and using multimedia apps, but we feel it gives a fair indication of how long one phone will last compared to another under similar settings,” Laptop reported.

That said, it’s still difficult to say all phones were equal. Screen size has long been equated with battery life, making the Dell Streak an unexpected second-place finisher, as it features a 5-inch display—the largest in the industry, and the reason why many it consider it more of a tablet. Dell included.

Which phones offer the best battery life, then?

“It really comes down to what you view most often on your phone,” Laptop concluded.

The battery life average was 5 hours, 5 minutes. Coming in just under that, for fourth place, was the Samsung Epic 4G, at 5 hours, 34 minutes, followed by the HTC Evo 4G at 5 hours, 27 minutes. The Samsung Vibrant finished in sixth, at 4 hours, 44 minutes, and in seventh place — putting in 10 more seconds than the HTC Incredible — was the Samsung Captivate, with a battery life of 4 hours and 43 minutes.

To see how ten of the hottest Android phones stack up, check out the buyer’s guide table at www.windowsitpro.com,

Below are some of the highlights for shoppers to consider.

Standard Features

Standard features that you can expect on any Android phone include:

* Camera and video

* Email (native Gmail support, and Outlook syncing through Exchange ActiveSync)

* GPS

* Wi-Fi

* Bluetooth

* Contacts management

* Touch screen/touch screen keyboard

* Android market access

Points of Differentiation

Despite all of these phones using the same OS, there are some significant points of differentiation to consider.

Exchange and Outlook support

All Android phones have ActiveSync, which allows for push synchronization between your Outlook account and your phone. However, many of these devices don’t have native contact and calendar syncing, so if you’re going to choose one of the devices that doesn’t and you use Outlook, you’ll need to download an app to sync them. The leading app for 2-way syncing is CompanionLink, which costs $39.99. Google also offers a free solution called Google Calendar Sync; however, you have to tie your Outlook account to a Gmail account in order for it to work, which will be an issue for some corporate accounts.

Different Android versions

Each of the phones in this list either comes with version 1.5 (or 1.6) or 2.0 (or 2.1). Android 2.0 is a significant upgrade from the past version, but the only two Android smartphones that offer 2.0 are the Motorola Droid and the Google Nexus One. One of the most significant new features in 2.0 is contact syncing. See all the new features of Android 2.0 at developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.0-highlights.html.

Different carriers

Some individuals strongly prefer one carrier to another, and some organizations have corporate deals with a given carrier. As such, it’s important to realize that many Android phones (and smartphones in general) only bundle with a specific carrier. If your carrier of choice is T-Mobile, then many devices are available. If you prefer one of the other three carriers, your options are more limited. The Google Nexus One offers the greatest selection, and is available on T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon.

Physical vs. virtual keyboard

If finger dexterity is your Achilles’ thumb, you may prefer a physical keyboard, which would lead you to one of the sliders such as the Motorola Droid or CLIQ.

Best by Category

What device you use is a personal decision and will vary by individual, so I’m hesitant to make specific recommendations. Once you do decide which Android device you want (if any), I strongly recommend taking some time to see what users are saying across the web — while much of it might be inane, you should get some very good nuggets concerning the pros and cons from people that use the phone on a daily basis.

With that in mind, here is a quick list of the phone winners in each category (some categories, such as camera,  didn’t factor because there are so many draws):

* Best processor: Google Nexus One

* Best memory/storage: Motorola Droid

* Best display size/resolution: Motorola Droid

* Best price: HTC Droid Eris, Motorola Backflip, and Samsung Moment

* Best battery life: HTC Hero

* Best variety in carrier coverage: Google Nexus One

* Lightest weight: T-Mobile MyTouch 3G

Free heat if you scavenge wood

As we worry about the cost of heating our homes this winter, a wood burning stove is an increasingly attractive option.  Be prepared to spend money on a high quality product.

Avoid cheap Chinese imports. And householders should know the dangers of trying to install a wood burning stove themselves

As energy companies announce another hike in fuel prices, many will be thinking about cost effective ways to keep warm. Chinese imports combined with DIY installation could prove a lethal combination.

Tristan Johnston, product development engineer at Broseley Fires, said: “it is not worth putting lives at risk by skimping on the cost of installation or buying a stove on an internet auction site that doesn’t meet stringent safety standards.” The company has seen an increasing number of cheap stoves with false safety markings. More alarmingly, many people think they can install the stove themselves or with the help of a friend.”

Why are stoves so popular? There are four main reasons:

1. They’re very energy efficient: Everyone likes an open fire, but the efficiency of burning logs in a grate is very low. An open fire has to suck a lot of the warm air out of the room and it is replaced by cold air from outside.

An open fire is estimated to be only about 20 to 25 per cent efficient, but it can be much lower, even falling into negative efficiency, potentially making your room colder than before you started.

But a modern wood-burning stove can run at over 80 per cent efficiency. So if you put your logs in a stove instead of on a fire you will benefit from at least three times the amount of heat.

Trist Wicks, manager at R A Wicks in Merriott, specialises in fireplaces, stoves and flues. He said: “Woodwarm multi-fuel stoves are probably the best on the market. The glass stays clean while the fire is burning and they have the highest energy efficiency rating.”

2. They’re carbon neutral: Wood is the original carbon neutral fuel. True, it releases carbon dioxide when it is burnt, but the amount given off is the same as was stored by the tree when it was growing.

And, if the tree were left to rot in the woods it would produce the same amount of carbon emissions as are released by burning it.

Most firewood in this country comes from sustainable sources, so for every tree cut down another is planted, and the carbon released from the felled tree will be absorbed by another tree. And, with the aid of new technology, a wood-burning stove can be even greener.

With the cleanburn or cleanheat system the gases created when the wood is burnt are circulated back into the stove and burnt off. This increases heat and cuts emissions.

Trist said: “Woodburners are great for cutting heating bills. They are a green and carbon neutral source of energy and a great source of heat.”

3. They’re clean: Both in terms of smoke and the amount of ash produced for the owner to clean up, modern wood burners are very impressive.

Even in daily use the stove should not need cleaning out more than every few weeks. In fact, a bed of ashes helps the wood to burn.

4. They look great: There are many manufacturers producing the comforting traditional-style wood burners that look fantastic in period properties.

But if you fancy something a little more adventurous, the ultra-modern freestanding stoves with big glass windows certainly make a statement. In traditional black iron, shining steel, or even a white ceramic finish, there is something to suit every décor.

“By law, once they have been installed stoves need to be checked and signed off by a local authority building control department,” said Jonhston, “which can cost £200 ($320). However, a qualified engineer can self-certify their work to ensure it meets all necessary regulations,” he continued. “A badly fitted stove can cause a chimney fire, as can burning the incorrect fuel, and we have heard of cases where this has caused many thousands of pounds worth of damage.

“An even greater threat is carbon monoxide poisoning which can prove fatal and so it is vitally important that homeowners buy their wood burner from a reputable dealer – preferably a fire specialist – and insist that it is installed by a registered engineer.”

In the UK, HETAS is the official body responsible for approving biomass and solid fuel domestic heating appliances, fuels and services – including the registration of competent installers and servicing companies. A HETAS or CE approved stove will also ensure that it is safe and fit for purpose.

Bruce Allen from HETAS adds: “Making sure your stove is installed correctly is vitally important for safety. Not only that, but an installation which meets building regulations will also burn fuel more efficiently and cost less money to run.” Added Mr Johnston: “A recent survey carried out by Brosely found that 70% of our distributors and installers frequently met customers who believe they could install a stove on their own, without professional help, this is an issue that the whole industry needs to face up to.”

USF prof. making the off-grid world a better place

University of San Francisco professor Sami Rollins thinks better tools could be developed to help people living in off-grid homes — and she’s on a course to create those tools.

It’s one thing for a homeowner to be interested in knowing how much power their solar panels are producing when their home is tied to the grid — because whenever the solar power runs out, there’s electricity for the grid to pick up the slack. But if solar panels are the only means a homeowner has of turning on lamps or a television or running a dishwasher, knowing how much power is being produced is imperative.

Rollins, an associate professor of computer science, and a colleague from the University of Arkansas won a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study challenges that affect off-grid and renewable energy homeowners and to develop tools that can work to address those.

Rollins said the idea for the research came from a friend of a colleague describing the frantic process of running around a house and turning off lights and appliances when the charge of the batteries he uses to store solar power drop below certain levels.

Rollins said she wants to discover more about how off-grid dwellers use and manage energy “and then farther down the road, can we automate some of these processes … and utilize a system that provides them with recommendations for reducing … energy consumptions at certain times or even increasing it when sun is out and you’re generating largest amount of power for that day.”

In the first phase of the research, going on now, they’re looking for people with both on- and off-grid homes to take an online survey that will give the researchers a better understanding of how people use energy in their homes. Then they’ll work to collect information from homeowners that already have data on renewable energy production.

In the next phase, the researchers will study for a year up to 15 off-grid homes in the San Francisco Bay Area or Fayetteville, Ark., and will monitor energy use through an energy management system that includes power meter devices installed in the homes. They’ll use the data they collect to create a database and also to build a smart phone application that will let off-grid users see graphs of energy use or send alerts with recommendations for when people shouldn’t be using certain appliances, for instance.

“How specific we can get remains to be seen, but that’s kind of the goal: To be able to not only look at what’s happening right now and make recommendations to, for example, turn off this lamp, but to look at the history of how often that lamp has been used and see” whether it’s possible, based on its history of use, to turn it off at a certain time of day or night,” Rollins said.

“There are various appliances where you can schedule their use, and others where it’s not likely you can do that,” Rollins said.

Click here to sign up to take the survey about home energy use (open to both on- and off-grid properties) or participate in the year-long study.

Better than bank finance

Great article by Merlyn Seeley on Examiner.com about the wide range of ways you can make money if you are lucky enough to have a patch of good quality land. Especially off-grid land.

He points out that just buying the land is he hardest part – everything else is the reward.  Also that the more land you own the easier it is to make money from it.

One thing he does not mention is renting it out.  In normal circumstances, its probably the last thing to consider, but if you are desperate for money now, then perhaps its the first thing to consider.  You could even rent it to a solar power company which could place its panels there and harvest electricity.  If you have some cash yourself you could generate your own power and sell it to neighbors – undercutting the Utilities.

Anyway, here are some of Merlyn’s suggestions:

Trees

There are companies that will come to your place and pay you to have them clear your land of certain trees. I am not talking about clear cutting as that just ruins the place, but logging certain timber is always an option and usually pays well. All this involves is you contacting timber companies and telling them that you have standing timber for sell all they have to do is come cut it. You can sell your timber to a company or an individual.

WARNING: Make sure you have a plan to deal with the waste they will probably leave behind – the leaves, twigs and branches they do not want.

Firewood

One way is to sell it for firewood. There are always people looking for firewood during the cold months and they will come cut the wood and haul it and you get paid. Some will want the wood already cut for them and the price is usually higher if you do work for them.

Rock

If your place has lot of rock, there are places that are looking for rock to buy. If you have a truck you could haul rock to the places that want it and sell that. For that matter the same goes for top soil. A lot of land has a lot of places where you can harvest dirt and sell your top soil.

Certain rocks will sell at the farmers market if you walk around and pick out certain rocks that are unique. Maybe they havegeode crystals in them? Maybe they are fossils? In fact if you take the time to carve small designs in cedar pieces they will sell like hotcakes at the market because of the smell and unique idea cedar carvings hold. People will buy all sorts of things, but when you start telling them that the item was harvest from your own homestead they become more interested.

Animals

Raising your own animals for not only food but also for profit, is easier than it sounds. In most rural areas there are small animal auctions and large animal auctions where you can sell animals you raise yourself. These places you can buy or trade for your first animals and then breed them to make more, these you can sell for profit.

Check the local area your property is in, different animals are in higher demand than others. Some places its rabbits, other places it may be chickens or goats. Whatever the demand is that is what you want to concentrate on breeding for sells. Chicken and duck eggs area always in demand where ever you go so always plan on selling eggs for profit as well as for yourself.

Veggies

You have a nice bit of land and a lot of time now so in the spring put in a large garden. One big enough to feed your family and one that you can sell everything you grow as well. Organic garden veggies and fruit and herbs bring in a pretty penny at the local farmers market.

During the Christmas seasons you can advertise around the local towns that you have a Christmas tree farm and the trees are “you cut you haul”.

In the right location, street light can be cost effective

Looking for ways to lower your utility bills or maybe just reduce your electricity consumption if your power is from sun or wind?

Lowering the amount of power you use to light your home is one place to start.

About 20 per cent of your monthly energy usage goes toward illuminating your home. Slashing that bill takes a little more effort than simply turning off the lights.

Here are seven tips to help you cut your lighting costs and make instant savings.

1 Pick the best bulb: There are more energy efficient light bulbs to choose from than ever. Start by migrating to more efficient bulbs as your old ones burn out. Newer bulbs can outlast traditional ones by up to 10 times and can save you up to 75 per cent in lighting costs.

However, you really need to know which kind of bulb is best for the various fixtures throughout your home. For example, Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) shouldn’t be used in a dimmable or three-way fixture unless it is specifically designed for that use. LED bulbs use the least energy and are ok for background light, but not so good for reading. Choosing the wrong bulb will drastically shorten its lifespan and ultimately waste your money. You can learn more about the best uses for various types of energy efficient bulbs at www.doyourpart.com/columns.

2 Turn it off: You always heard it growing up – “Turn off the lights when you leave the room.” This is clearly an easy way to lower your energy costs but it’s not always true.

If you are using fluorescent bulbs and only plan to leave the room for a few minutes, it’s best to leave the lights on. Frequent on/off cycling can reduce the lifespan of fluorescent bulbs.

3 Plan your day – If you do things that need light during the day, you will need less light at night.  Get up at sunrise, and go to bed earlier.

4. Use a timer: Sometimes there’s a need to leave the light on, but not continuously. In that case, choose a timer and then you won’t have to remember to flick the switch – ever! Choose a mechanical timer over electronic or digital timers, which can shorten the lifespan of some CFL bulbs.

5 Turn the lights down lower: Putting dimmers on your lights not only lets you control the mood in any room, it can also save money and extend the life of the bulb. Just be sure the label states that the bulb is intended to be used with a dimmer.

6 Let motion sensors do the work Finally, consider motion sensors. This way, lights come on when motion is detected and turn off when no activity is detected over a selected period of time. This is ideal for security lights outside, but you can also install motion sensors indoors.(EG: Mr Beams MB360 Wireless LED Spotlight with Motion Sensor and Photocell – Weatherproof – Battery Operated – 140 Lumens)

7. Make use of surrounding lighting – in the city, street lights can easily light your room for everything except reading. In the country, moonlight can cut your electricity usage for several nights each month. Even your own light can be used twice – no need to light two rooms if you leave the door open.

Our pre-off-grid life was pretty much like most anyone else, we lived in a regular house, a mobile home actually, in a regular neighborhood in north central Texas. PB owned his own business, taking care of restaurant equipment for several big name companies and a smattering of smaller ones, he was a one-man-band, no employees. I worked 2 jobs, the first as a merchandiser and pricing coordinator for a big box electronics company and the other job was as a trainer in a semi-well known gym for women. We weren’t what you would call well off financially, but we were happy.

We were both empty nesters from previous marriages, in the beginning neither one of us knew the other had a secret desire to live off grid, when we began to explore the idea of actually doing this, it didn’t take us long to find our perfect plot of land in far west Texas, it was just under 6 acres of unimproved, rough, almost inaccessible land on the side of a mountain in the high desert.

I cashed in my stock from my job and had enough to buy the land and had a little left over to buy some building material for the start of the cabin (soon to be renamed the sky castle). In less than 2 weeks, PB had a minimal structure built, it was enough for us to move in. We were able to get some solar panels, a charge controller, a few deep cycle batteries and a few other things we needed to get started. We began to disassemble our current city lives, PB shut down his business, I quit both of my jobs, and on December 22, 2007 we moved all of our remaining belongings to our new life in west Texas.

The first few months were pretty rough, we lived in a most primitive manner, some might even say our first few years were pretty primitive, I suspect some might even say we still live very primitively, that’s OK, it’s quite wonderful to me. We met a great neighbor who gave us some help, it made life a bit easier, things like access to his water well instead of having to go to the community well, access to his washer and dryer instead of washing by hand and hanging to dry, access to his shower instead of taking spit baths… all things we were prepared to do on our own, but having such a great neighbor we were able to do many things a little easier, in return we do most of the maintenance on his house, we do other things for him too, so it’s a fair trade.

We quickly learned about the barter system and before long we had enough connections with the community that when anyone had some used, scrap or excess building materials, they would contact us first to see if we could use it. Most of the rest of the sky castle was built using this scrap material that would have otherwise gone to the landfill. PB would go and tear down a building at a friend’s property and we would get to take the material home. Please understand, we aren’t tree huggers, we aren’t doing any of this because it’s “green”, for us it was cheap and expedient, the fact that we were in fact being green was merely a bonus.

Little by little we built up our little place into a home, with running water, eventually installing on demand propane powered water heaters, water tanks for more water storage, we built another room, the first one was 16×16, the addition was 12×12, we built on decks and eventually, my favorite addition, the shower. We also began to work on other things, like the garden, putting up out buildings, sheds and such.

All of this has taken time and lots of sweat, we have spent very little money, mainly because we do everything ourselves, and a lot of experimentation, some of which worked great, some which failed miserably. We have been blessed by good health and only minor accidents, mostly scrapes and splinters. We have grown to really love our little community, I’d say that has been as important as anything we have done. No matter how perfect your place might be, if you aren’t happy with or welcome into your community, that will not end up in a good way.

Now we are living like kings, at least that is my opinion, of course by most people’s standards including the government, we live well under the poverty level, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, I love my life, I love living with the freedom I have, I love working hard for what we have, it really does make me appreciate each and every little thing we have. When we first started out, I was hauling 3 one gallon containers of water up the hill from my neighbor’s house every day, sometimes twice a day, I guarantee you that makes me appreciate my 1550 gallon poly plastic water container with all the plumbing involved, doing dishes and laundry by hand inside my sky castle, getting to shower with hot running water…

I look forward to many more years with PB, improving our lives and the sky castle. The last couple of days has been quite fun for PB, one of our friends and neighbors came by, he had been eyeballing the gravel in our creek bed, he offered a trade for a few trailer loads of gravel, he let us use his Bobcat tractor to do some dirt work, PB achieved in a few hours of work what would have taken him weeks if not months of hard manual work, it cost zero dollars, but was priceless for us. I have to say that life is good.

A big part of my happiness is because of my faith, I found a little church in the neighborhood (we are blessed with 2 of them close by), I joined and quickly became active in the church, now I’m on the board of trustees, working to make things better and better. I have been a Christian for many years, most of my life, but living out here and being part of this church and community has helped me grow in my faith and get closer to God. I’m not saying that is necessary for you, (though for me it is), it’s a choice you have to make, I am saying that going to church is a good way to get closer to your community, and hopefully to God too, I am blessed everyday and in every way, even in the bad times, there is always a lesson to learn, a period of growth, a strengthening. Getting to live in and near nature allows me to personally witness Divinity on a daily basis.

I have many people contact me to ask for my advice on how they should go about moving off grid, how to do it cheaply, how they should do it… it’s difficult to answer because everyone is different, everyone has different standards of how they want to live, everyone has different ideas and circumstances. My biggest advice is to have a dream and set goals, let nothing come between you and your goals, I have found that people will do what they really want to do, and unfortunately there are many who wish but don’t take the action necessary to make their wish a reality. I’m not judging, just stating the facts about what I see.

If you truly want to live off grid, then do it, you don’t have to do it all at once, but start taking the steps necessary to get you to the place where you want to be. Each step you take is a step closer to your dream, don’t let life get in the way, don’t let family, friends, a job, or anything else get in the way, do what is necessary to make yourself happy and the rest of everything will fall into place. I’m not advocating doing anything illegal, I’m assuming that most of my readers are reasonable, law abiding people. I am advocating living your life to the fullest extent, and if that includes living off grid, then do it.

If you want to learn more about our lives living off grid, you can read more of my stories here

http://www.off-grid.net/section/wretha/

you can also read about us in the book Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America by Nick Rosen, we are chapter 9 in the book.

Warm in the coldest weather

This extraordinary little house was built around 1910 as a Croquet Pavilion by Harold Fowler, an International champion. It has now been renovated as an off-grid holiday cottage, usually by the week.

A local specialist in environmentally sustainable construction, Julian Bishop, was commissioned to design an eco-cottage.  The brief asked that the visual profile and footprint remain as unchanged as possible, allowing the building to maintain, but not increase its position in the landscape.  The materials were environmentally sustainable: energy to come from natural sources and water to be collected from the roof.   The craftsmen involved were locally based and committed environmentally.   The result was that materials used have less environmental impact and are less toxic.  Experience living on the coast indicated that trapping moisture is detrimental to the health of both the building and the people.   Materials used allow the building to “breath” helping to prevent condensation inside.

The whole property, then known as Druidstone Villa, was bought by Lord Kensington in 1929 and sold to local surgeon, John Gillam, in 1949 as a family home.  In 1972 Jane (Gillam) and Rod Bell set up a hotel in the Villa. The Roundhouse was in need of some considerable renovation.  With no electricity, a coal burning stove battling  with the  drafts and a chemical loo in a shed, even a Spartan would have found it tricky to cope.   To prevent further deterioration, as a Millennium project, it was decided to renovate it as a miniature example of sustainable living.

LIME CRETE has been used instead of concrete in the foundations, mortars and pointing.  It uses less energy in the process and the transport.

LECA is vitrified expanded clay balls, rather like cat litter for tigers.   It makes a dry, lightweight insulation under the floor.  To stabilise it before laying limecrete slab, a natural fibre membrane and a reinforcing grid was used, otherwise it behaves like a ball pool in a children’s play area when you try to lay anything on top.

MASONITE/OSB/HERAKLITH.  Masonite is a super-strong structural “I” beam made from small section soft wood and a hardboard web of solid timber. Steamed and compressed, the wood fibres bond together with their own natural glues.   It does the job of a larger section of timber and avoids the cold bridging effect.   OSB (orientated strand board) was used internally to the Masonite timber framing. It has lower formaldehyde outgasing than ordinary plywood’s.  Larch batten forms a service zone between the OSB and the Heraklith used instead of plasterboard.  Heraklith is a magnesite bound wood wool board to which two coats of lime render has been applied.

WOODS.  Elm and Cherry harvested from sustainable sources on local farms  were used for the internal doors, stairs and balustrades.  Cladding externally is in vertical Oak Boarding, Larch was used for other structural works; both sourced locally.

WOOL.  Welsh wool was sent to Bradford for washing.    Loose wool rather than processed slabs proved good for stuffing into all sorts of difficult places.    Be aware of the possibility of a moth infestation when using wool insulation.   They treated with Borax but still worry when they see anything unidentified in the moth family.

ROOFING An insulated warm roof construction, to overlay the existing exposed rafters and timber boarding, was added.  they used expanded polyurethane (Kingspan) insulated board.   A high-grade insulation was essential to minimise visual changes to the roof thickness.   Further insulation can be added internally but the preservation of the open rafter “roofscape” was a primary consideration.  Softwood timber penny gap boarding was laid to support a new external waterproof layer of titanium zinc sheeting.  A new vented finial was installed at the apex to allow water vapour to escape.

WALLS   It was decided not to insulate the existing masonry walls since this would alter the appearance.   Internally the timber panelling would be lost and limited space would be reduced further.

WINDOWS   The existing windows were copied using new painted softwood but with double-glazed units and low E glass.   They have already had to repair and replace the windows.   They need a great deal of maintenance.   A small porch would help keep out the winter winds but Planning were not keen.

FLOOR   The existing softwood timber floor was taken up and joists laid on new sleeper walls.  Second hand oak boarding with 200mm of natural sheep’s wool insulation between and under the joists was used.

HEATING   The original building was heated by a very inefficient open fire. This has been replaced by an imported firebrick Finoven, a type of “Kachelhoven” or tile stove, from Holland.   These are not common in Britain; it works on a principle of a large thermal mass being heated with a short, fast burn of timber.  The stove is then shut down and the heat slowly escapes from the double walled firebrick surround.   The stove is built through the thickness of an internal wall between the living room and the shower room.  It incorporates a “back boiler” to heat water.  An existing alcove in the south wall was utilised to house the solar hot water storage tank, which has a double heat exchanger, one for the solar panel and one for the stove.    Solar hot water seems to be enough for normal showering right through the summer.

ELECTRIC LIGHT AND REFRIGERATION.  There is an Aerogen self-furling, wind generator running parallel to a photovoltaic solar panel.  This turbine, with the PV panel, supplies low voltage electricity for lighting and low power loads required by refrigeration, fans and pumps.  The system can be switched to provide 240 volts for a computer or phone charger!    Hair dryers and Irons overload the system.   There are display boards indicating the amount of power stored and whether it is made by wind or sun.

REED BED DRAINAGE treats the sewerage by separation and a succession of reed beds and ponds, hopefully increasing the species of Dragonfly in the area.   An eel has already taken up residence in the pond.   Willow has been planted for coppicing as fuel for the stove.  The surviving trees are starting to show their qualities after ten years and they hope to coppice next year.   The reed bed system is a bit of a “grey” area.   they still do not completely understand its mysteries!

PAINTS.  Clay based paints have been used.   This helps those with allergies.

RAINWATER is collected from the roof is stored underground in a recycled juice container.  The loo uses half the amount of water and it has to be the loo with the best view in the entire world.   Water is environmentally VERY expensive to purify and they just flush it down the loo.   I have seen a wash hand basin (Japanese) that sits over a cistern for a loo and uses the hand washing water to flush.   If you know where to get one let us know!

TEN YEARS ON   –     The Roundhouse is incredibly self sufficient costing about £400 a year in fuel for heating and cooking.    The sun and the wind provide all other energy needs.    The energy systems have needed to very little servicing although they feel that the wind generator will need something fairly serious in the next year or so.    It is the most popular let with guests coming to visit right through the winter.    I would feel completely comfortable living there all year round.

More detailed information on the building techniques and systems used is available at the hotel.   There is also a list of the specialists if you would like help in the setting up your own eco house.

THE PROJECT is now paid for in full and was achieved with the co-operation of many people and organisations that provided expertise and financial assistance.   Architect Julian Bishop led the design team, with specialist help from Bob Williams of Sustainergy on low voltage electrical installation and wind turbine. Cliff Blundell supervised work with limecrete.   Jamie Ashe handled the mysterious installation of the Reed bed.

THE BUILDING TEAM, led by Ian Doyle, working against the clock and in the teeth of the storms way beyond the call of duty, are planning some work at the hotel on reducing carbon footprint.

Roundhouse Open Day:  Bookings by arrangement only  – Fridays are best as that is change over day for residential visits.

Phone … 01437 781221

Already well know in developing countries

Clean water is vital to off-grid living, and only the lucky minority can depend on easy access to flowing water or a proper well. Most will be pleased with rainwater or a trickle of dirty water on their land, which they can then filter before use.

Adding a siphon to a gravity fed water filter improves the water flow.  This article discusses the way a siphon works with a ceramic water filter cartridge but the general principal applies to other water filter technologies as well.

What is a siphon?  A siphon is simply a length of hose that is added to the output of the filter where the water normally drips out.  The dimensions of the tube are critical. The inside diameter needs to be small enough that the tube can completely fill with water. The outside diameter of the tube needs to form a good seal with the filter.  The length of the tube should be at least a foot long but can be much longer if needed.  Ideally it should rest on the bottom of the container.

How does a siphon work? A siphon forms a vacuum that pulls water through the filters much like a syringe.  This vacuum force is in addition to the normal force of gravity but is much stronger.   This is proven by the fact that a siphon can counteract gravity and pull water uphill (as long as the eventual outlet is lower than the water inlet).   In a gravity drip bucket system, the addition of a siphon can more than double the water flow rate over simple gravity alone.   It has also been proven to improve the flow rate of low pressure systems.   See the table below.

Setting up a siphon In a simple gravity feed system, setting up a siphon is very easy.   You simply insert the hose into the filter outlet and drop the other end into the clean water receptacle.    Initially, gravity will force water through the filter, but instead of dripping into the bucket it will begin to fill the siphon hose.    When the hose is filled the siphon is formed.  As the water exits the siphon it creates a vacuum which pulls more water into the hose.

Troubleshooting Since the siphon is such a simple device there are just a few problems that can arise.  The most common is if there is a bad seal at the inlet and air is pulled in instead of water.  If this happens the flow rate will slow down to just the normal gravity feed rate.  However if you use clear hose for the siphon it is very simple to troubleshoot.  (If you see air in the line you have a bad seal or the tube is damaged).   One simple fix that often works is to simply stretch the tube out slightly with the end of a pen or pencil and then reinstall it into the filter.   If that still does not work a small dab of plumber’s putty should do the trick.

A second problem that can happen is if the feed rate of the filter is too slow to fill the siphon tube,   This may be an indication that the filter needs to be cleaned or replaced or it may mean that the inside diameter of the siphon hose is too large.

The third problem that can happen is if the siphon is damaged or blocked.  Again if you are using a clear tube it should be easy to perform a visual inspection.  Check to see if there is anything blocking the tube or if the tube has any splits in it.

Once the siphon is set up properly it will work wonderfully: no electricity needed, no manual pumping, no batteries to change out, and still a lot more clean water available.

Summary Siphons are a low-tech, low-cost way to more than double the flow rates of water filters.   Regardless of whether you use siphons or not, everyone should have backup water purification capability just in case things happen.  Most folks have flashlights, weather radios, and first aid kits stored somewhere for emergencies and water availability should be in the same category.

Every bug-out bag should have one

Imagine you’re driving or trekking, or living, hours from nowhere and things go seriously wrong. Medical emergency, auto failure, up to your neck in quicksand, even under attack from looters. No cell-phone reception and nobody around to send for help. Now what?

With a cell-phone-sized Spot Emergency messager, just push the appropriate button and rescuers are on the way. The SPOT Satellite Messenger is what’s known as a personal locator beacon, designed to summon aid from places conventional communication can’t reach.  Buy it here in the US. Buy it here in the UK.

For anything less than a life-and-death situation, a Help button transmits your GPS coordinates to your emergency contacts via text message and e-mail — accurate to 20 feet based on testing. Contracted professional services are notified as well. That info goes out every 5 minutes for an hour or until you cancel it.

In dire circumstances, like those listed at the top of this article, the SOS button sends your message and coordinates to the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center, where it’s relayed to the emergency personnel best suited to your location. That might be any agency from the local police to your local Embassy if you’re in a jam overseas. SPOT claims more satellites in its SOS network than anyone else in the business, allowing the receiver to get a fix and get the word out when speed counts most.

When all’s well, the OK button sends a preprogrammed thumbs-up text/e-mail message to reassure everybody back at the ranch. Or send a different note by holding down the Custom Message button. Changing messages or contacts is as easy as logging onto the SPOT website and typing. All that will cost you $99 for a year of basic SPOT service, plus $169.99 for the GPS Messenger.

Engineered to withstand temperatures from -20 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the 5.2-ounce unit is tougher than any survivalists. It’s quite waterproof as well. After nearly a year of being dropped on concrete floors and bouncing around in tankbags and jacket pockets, a SPOT test device is still accurate and bulletproof.

Negatives: As with any GPS receiver, you need a clear shot at those satellites. The Messenger can have a hard time finding itself under heavy tree cover or in a narrow, rocky ravine. Power comes from three AAA Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries, which should last about three months –  carry an extra set just in case. Even if you never send for help, just knowing you could is worth the initial investment. SPOT offers various alternatives, including the Connect, which lets a Smartphone talk to communication satellites when you’re way off-grid.

Price: $169.99 plus $99 per year. But there are others such as ACR Aqualink 406 2882 Personal Locator Beacon Includes Internal GPS, 5-Year Battery, Belt Clip, Lanyard and LED Strobe Light

Contact: SPOT LLC

www.findmespot.com

Depression Era: next time it could be you

IF YOU READ the article on Global Storming last month, you will know why changes in weather patterns are making extreme weather so common, and natural disasters so much more likely. Then there are the signs of imminent economic collapse to consider, plus geopolitics, terrorism and disease. Finally there is the distinct possibility that each of us face that our home, our job, our family, might be the next one sacrificed on the roulette wheel of our national economy.

But the key question is: what do you do about it?

Resilience is far more in the mind that in the larder or the fuel supply. There are three principles for people to find meaning and inspiration when times are the blackest.The physical preparation, the year’s supply of food, the bug-out bag, the gold coins sewn into your coat – the most obvious manifestations of preparedness — are not the most important things that will see us through troubled times.

The first is to be at one with your community.  It is not selfish survivalism that will inspire most of us to live through floods, fire or famine.  It’s the help of others, and the helping of others, working together for a common goal — not just survival but shared life, that is key.

The next principle is to lead a healthy lifestyle: Eating, sleeping, exercising healthily – all add meaning, and underpin our instinctive belief that life is worth living even when times are hardest. These activities also reduce stress levels and help combat physical illness .

Finally, there is one more thing that everyone facing disaster should do, and that is to live in the moment as much as possible. Don’t look back to what was, or forward to what might be. Instead, put all physical and emotional energy into surviving in the moment and helping others do the same.

In the book Man’s Search for Meaning, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl studied people who survivors in extreme circumstances. Each had something important that they needed to live for, something that gave meaning and purpose to their lives.

Preparedness is relative. With the exception of earthquakes natural disasters usually strike after a warning. So most people have some chance to prepare for a calamity, physically but rarely emotionally. Remember as you prepare: Community, Health, and the power of Now.

Homesteading, it’s a buzzword that means different things to different people, back in the day, it meant getting land for free as long as you lived on it and improved it for x number of years. It was a way to get people to move west (in the USA), back when travel was slow and painful, even dangerous.

Today it usually refers to someone who is living more like our ancestors did, in a more self sufficient manner, on a plot of land, often raising livestock, growing their own food, living more independently. Most of us are more than one generation removed from those who lived on a farm or homestead, so we don’t benefit from the knowledge of our family members who lived in a more self sufficient manner. I know in my family, it was my great grand parents who had lived on a farm, my grandparents and parents lived in suburban neighborhoods with small yards and animals no bigger than a dog.

Because of this, those of us who want to live closer to the land have to resort to alternative methods of obtaining  knowledge. I continually scour the internet for books about living off grid, gardening and such, I found this book The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading: An Encyclopedia of Independent Living (The Ultimate Guides), actually I didn’t find it, I was offered an opportunity to review it and I jumped at the chance, it was a book I had been looking at previously and was more than happy to review it.

I keep getting distracted from writing because I keep finding more and more interesting things in this book to read, I just read about growing cotton, then picking it, cleaning it, and spinning it. Since I crochet, this is especially appealing to me, and something I think I can do with little trouble. For now, I’m not set up to raise wool bearing animals, but I can grow cotton and process it.

This book has a lot to offer, it doesn’t go into extreme detail on any one subject, but gives you enough information so that you can decide if that particular thing is something you really want to try.  Nicole Faires (don’t you just love her name?) the author, has certainly lived the life, she is not just spouting theory, she grew up on a hobby farm raising chickens and growing her own food among other things.

While not an exhaustive list of homesteading subjects, I believe it covers the majority of them quite nicely, such as:

• land-buying, communities…
• water-getting it, purifying it and such
• food-finding it, growing it, preserving it…
• animals-livestock, domestic…
• shelter-various home styles, barns, fences…
• financial-making money from your skills…
• health-medicines, herbal medicines,
• and lots more

There is a great  dictionary in the back so you will at least sound like you know what you are talking about when chatting with the old timers at the feed store, LOL, seriously, I have had a good time reading the terminology and their meanings. Such as “butt-up”, before reading this book, I would have said that is how one lands when tripping over a rock and doing a face plant, now I know that is a type of roof ridge made in thatching which forces the straw together from both sides of the roof to form a peak. “Flying change”, I would think it’s what happens when you lose control of your change purse, but it really has to do with horses.

Near the back of the book, just before the index, the author’s bio and several blank pages (perfect for adding your own notes), there is a great bibliography with tons of resources, mostly in the form of internet links. These will send you to more detailed resources for the subjects found in this book. This alone is worth the price of the book.

The book is easy to read, well made, with lots of color photographs and diagrams, nice thick glossy pages ensure this book will last for a long time, that’s a good thing because once you have this book, you will be referring to it over and over again throughout the years.

PB (my hubby) has been trying to steal this book from me ever since I received it, his comment on it was that it is a good all over resource, not detailed on each thing, but a good book and he’s glad we have it, he has also been going on and on about how well this book is physically put together, the binding, the paper quality and the pictures. Now that I’m finished with this review, I can safely give the book to him, I’ll not see it again for a while. :)

See my other book reviews here:
http://www.off-grid.net/tag/book-review/

Honesty disclaimer:
I did receive this book free from the publisher for the expressed intent of giving a review, that in no way influenced my review, all of my reviews are honest and from the heart.