So you all know we live “off-grid” on our homestead in our trailers and are building our house to be off-grid as well.
But what does that mean?
It does not mean that we are completely independent from modern conveniences. I mean, I do drive a vehicle (more than I want to, I admit). We heat our trailers with propane. And there are times our little temporary solar system just does not cut it and we need to run the generator to charge the batteries. Like when the sun hasn’t come out for days.
Or, like today, when we did have some sun, but I didn’t get laundry out on the line in time for it to dry and needed to use the generator to run the clothes dryer.
It’s times like this that I’m very glad for modern conveniences like generators and the gasoline needed to run them.
Big generator pulled up to the well shed to run the dryer
Our washer can run on our small solar system, but the dryer requires more power.
BTW this is how we vent the dryer. We don’t want to put a hole in the shed wall since this is temporary until we can move the washer and dryer into the house. We also route the washer drain out this window.
So, yeah, for us, living off-grid does not mean that we do not rely on the grid. We are not one of those families who live in the wilderness, eating only what we can hunt or gather or grow, heating our house only with wood we can gather, etc. Not by a long shot!
But it does mean that we produce about 90% of our daily (not construction) power needs through our solar system. (And once we are living in the house it will be even more since our solar system will be larger.) And we stock up on propane and gasoline when the storms are threatening. It means that in an emergency situation, we could live quite comfortably for quite a while. And in a long term situation, we could get by without the backup generators if we ran out of gas. Yeah, it might mean not watching TV, and having to do essential bits of laundry by hand and hanging it to dry in front of the fire in the house, but we’d get by till the sun came back out. Way better than most people who rely completely on the grid. For us, it’s about being as self sufficient as is feasible in our current lifestyle. I also like the idea that by using mostly solar power, we are reducing our carbon footprint.
Now, to just get this house built so that we can focus on producing our own food again and be even more sustainable. š
Castle Rock Homestead 
We think alike! When we tell people we are “off-grid”, we get so many ideas of what that means. To us, being off-grid means we are not hooked up to the electric power grid, which was the original meaning of the term. Lately, some think that being off-grid means to be completely self-sufficient. Well…I’m not giving up my TV, refrigerator or clothes washer and we certainly are not living in a cave!! BTW, I envy you and that fact that you are already dried in. We haven’t been able to do any construction for almost two months because of the constant rain/snow that we have been receiving. But, it’s almost spring – glorious spring! Wahoo!! Are your fruit trees starting to bloom yet, or is it still too early in your area?
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Yeah, other than the month we took off because of my accident, we’ve been able to work all winter. It’s been wonderful, and the whole reason we did not cut the holes for our doors and windows yet. š And, no, our fruit trees are still dormant. They usually don’t start blooming till late March/early April. And even then, 8 times out of 10 we have a killing frost after they bloom. š Luckily right now they are still small enough to cover with sheets, etc if frost threatens. š Are yours blooming already? What’s your elevation? We are at 5400′.
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