There’s just no nice way to say it. The line has been crossed. The off-grid chores that keep us running around outside even during winter have officially become NOT FUN. The four feet of snow and the number of times we’ve had to shovel the path up the hill to the generator shed; the number […]

We have a strange- looking contraption in our bathroom. It’s about the size of a carry-on suitcase and mounted to our wall above the commode. Copper pipes extend from the case like octopus arms that curve and climb. Mounted next to that is a small white keypad about the size of an alarm clock. This […]

It will be ten years come fall since we’ve had a clothes dryer at home. The decision came about early on in our life off the grid, so my enthusiasm for such things was still pretty big. We had been here about a year when the clothes dryer conked out, and I had been thinking […]

The first time I went out, all bundled and eager to split my own fire wood, I came back with a lump on my face the size of an egg.  I didn’t know how to aim my weapon, and a chunk of the log chipped off and struck me hard on the cheek. I sported […]

When you are no longer connected to the public utility lines, you approach cooking a whole different way. It begins with the tools you rely on, and ultimately changes the way you think about meals. When I first set up my off-grid kitchen, I was excited about the challenge and readily shod myself of the […]