What Off-Grid Means to Us

What Off-Grid Means to Us

  One of my friends asked me, “How can you be off-grid and still be on Facebook and Instagram?” 

   I don’t know about you, but if I were completely disconnected like she seemed to think I should be, I’d end up talking to a pine cone I stuck googly eyes on and named Connie. 

  I love staying in touch with friends and family through social media, email, phone calls and such. I don’t think I could give that up. Ken wouldn’t have a problem with it, but I might die. O.K. maybe not actually die, but I’d at least die a little inside. 

  So, what do we really mean when we say we’re off grid? We don’t mean complete separation from society.  What WE mean is being as self-reliant as we can, trying not to depend on public services for most of our basic needs. We’re not ruling out using them completely. We may find that our alternative methods don’t get the job done the way we’d like so we’re keeping all our options open. 

  We’re planning on using solar and occasionally a generator for our electricity, maybe even wind power, but if we decide it’s not working for us, we’re not opposed to thinking about public power. Hanging clothes to dry is cool and all, but I do dream of having a dryer again someday. Supposedly that CAN happen with solar, but if it doesn’t I may have to renegotiate. 

Ken teaching Josh how to hook up the generator to the RV. 

  Right now we take our garbage to local collection sites, but if the county decided to do pick-up at the end of our lane, I would be all for it. Ken might not, depending on the price and pick up schedule. (When I told him I wrote about this he said, “What? And pay a fee every month? Not worth it.” I knew he’d say that.)

  So, you will still see me sharing pics of my kids and sunsets and random things I find interesting. You’ll see Ken in the photos and videos I sneak of him doing things he’s never done before. Eventually that might turn into actual episodic YouTube videos. It might be a while, but if you’re interested in seeing how it all develops…like, follow, subscribe, sign up for updates and all that good stuff, come back and see us often.

Joshua using the internet while the generator is on. 


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