The Winter of Our Discontent

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 […]
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dan.carol
- Posted in From off the Grid
Mar, 01, 2014
2 Comments.
Advice From a Woodworker

If you know someone who wants to be a woodworker, here’s what I have to say: What you are building is not furniture. You are building within yourself the ability to create furniture. You will never get paid enough for the time you put into your best pieces. You need to settle with that now, […]
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dan.carol
- Posted in Dan's Philosophy, From off the Grid, Notes from the Woodshop
Nov, 30, 2013
2 Comments.
Why it Pays to Go Tankless

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 […]
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dan.carol
- Posted in From off the Grid
Nov, 17, 2013
2 Comments.
The Box That Saved My Marriage

There’s the score card from a round of golf played with your brother and dad, a guitar pick, and a rock. A business card, a spring, and the handful of change from your pocket. All of it looks like nothing much to me, but if I throw any of it away, I’ll be in big […]
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dan.carol
- Posted in Dan's Philosophy, From off the Grid, New Work from AP, Notes from the Woodshop
Nov, 02, 2013
1 Comment.
Porcupine in a Box

This morning at 7am I ran out into the woods in my nightgown with a big stick and put myself between our dog, Helgi, and a porcupine. The two animals faced off for about 10 minutes, the dog barking and wheeling, the porcupine scurrying in circles, and me in the middle, screaming my head off, […]
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dan.carol
- Posted in From off the Grid, Notes from the Woodshop
Aug, 21, 2013
7 Comments.
Among the White Cedars

They grow as if cork-screwing out of the ground, the longitudinal strips of their bark spiraled and turning upward. Their roots grab the earth like fingers, then lift and hold the trunk as it bends and winds around obstacles. You get the feeling, in a cedar grove, as if great intention occurred over a sustained […]
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dan.carol
- Posted in Dan's Philosophy, From off the Grid
Jul, 13, 2013
2 Comments.
My Solar Powered Clothes Dryer

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 […]
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dan.carol
- Posted in From off the Grid
Jun, 16, 2013
No Comments.
How I Learned to Split Wood

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 […]
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dan.carol
- Posted in From off the Grid
Apr, 14, 2013
No Comments.
Work & Place: A Brief Interview with Daniel Dunbar

The end of winter is quite possibly the heaviest time of year. Everything is swollen with water and frozen snow, things are melting, sloshing, sliding. We are all worn out from the stress of additional winter chores, and it’s easy for your mood to get like our driveway – muddy. And yet . . . […]
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dan.carol
- Posted in Dan's Philosophy, From off the Grid, Notes from the Woodshop
Mar, 29, 2013
2 Comments.
How Living Off the Grid Changed the Way I Cook

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 […]
Read More- Posted by
dan.carol
- Posted in From off the Grid
Mar, 10, 2013
5 Comments.