All you need to go off-grid

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In the beginning, the first night

Early skycastle
Winter 2007
The wind was blowing a gale, harder than any wind I have even been in before. The walls were shaking and rattling, threatening to blow over any moment.

“I’m going to bed.” I announced, “This place will stand or fall whether I’m asleep or not.”

I crawled into the tent that was set up inside the one room cabin, I was wearing thick quilted coveralls to stave off the cold, I found out the following day that it got down to 14 degrees F overnight. Much of our canned food was inside the tent to take advantage of our body heat to keep it from freezing. I’ll explain why there was a tent inside the cabin a little further down.…

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November 24, 2014 No Comments
Communities

Make a wish, believe in it

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As the end of summer slides past us, the days are getting shorter and cooler. Our rainy season has all but ended,  the last few days has been almost dreamy, with low hanging clouds and ground fog rolling through, cool and damp, the smell of wood smoke in the air from the first warming fires of the season tickle my nose, we settle into the end of our 7th year living off-grid, this December will start our 8th year, time has flown by so quickly, sometimes I have a hard time remembering my life before moving off-grid, and that is just fine with me.…

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September 14, 2014 2 Comments
Communities

Yes, Texas has mountains…

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…and other random thoughts. :) One of the questions I get asked when I tell people where I live (on a mountain side, in the high desert, of far western Texas), they ask “Texas has mountains?” or “I didn’t know there were mountains in Texas…”. Well I’m here to tell you that Texas DOES have mountains, I live a mile high, in the Davis Mountains, which used to be called the Apache Mountains, fitting for me because I am part Apache (as well as Comanche), not enough to claim any benefits, but enough to give me some physical features and a wonderful heritage.

I can say that I feel so much at home here, like I have come home, I always wanted to live in the mountains and in the desert, I get to do both.…

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August 30, 2014 No Comments
Communities

Permaculture in Moretown, Vermont

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Ben Falk is a permaculture designer based in Moretown, Vermont. In this video, he speaks about different aspects of homesteading and cold weather, notably his wood cook-stove which also heats water, and his compost-powered greenhouse heating system. He also talks about the importance of being engaged with the land around us, and how gardening is just basically awesome!…

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July 30, 2014 No Comments

A new doc in town

I think I am in love, and it’s with another man, but it’s not what you might think :) About a month ago, I took my friend to a nearby town to see a new doctor, there is a very long story that goes with why she wanted a new doctor, one I’ll not bore you with… the first time I saw/met this doctor, my first impression was I like him. He is about as unpretentious as you can get, he wears jeans with the cuffs rolled up, cowboy boots, t-shirts with vintage cars on them, he drives an old beater pickup truck, yes my first impression was he wasn’t like most other doctors I have met.…

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July 26, 2014 No Comments
Communities

Happy Father’s Day

Dad

My Dad is much of the reason why I am getting to live my dream, he gave me a sense of adventure from a young age, as a family we would watch nature and science shows on PBS, we also watch Grizzly Adams, now THAT was how I wanted to live, in a small hand built cabin, on a mountain side, with few neighbors, a few good friends and independent.…

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June 15, 2014 3 Comments
Communities

Choices, we all have them….

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For those of you who have followed my writing for a while, you will notice I am frequently trying to get people to go beyond just dreaming about their dreams and actually DOING something about it. Dreams are nice to have, but take the steps to turn that dream into a goal and start working toward that goal.

I saw this article today, at first I thought, oh brother, another post about “10 things”, but once I began reading these 10 things, it really made sense, for everyone’s life, including those who want to go off-grid or live more independently.

Personally I think numbers 2, 5, 9 and 10 are very important, all of them are good… read them over and begin applying them to your life, whether you wish to live off-grid or not, these are great ‘ism’s.…

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May 18, 2014 4 Comments
Communities

Pioneer couple

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I grew up watching Texas Country Reporter, back in the day it was called 4 Country Reporter, that’s when there were only a few TV stations to choose from, channel 4 was a Dallas TV station thus the name was born. This show began back in the early 70s and showcased Texans living simple yet interesting lives, TCR gave us a glimpse into the window of those wonderful people.…

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March 22, 2014 6 Comments

Spring renewal

Spring is on its way, we have had some warm days, t-shirt and shorts kind of warm, living in far west Texas, we are pretty spoilt (not spoiled but spoilt). There is a cold front coming through though, a little while ago, just after dark, I could hear PB out by the wood pile giving the chainsaw a short workout.

Living in the high desert, we can have snow in May and have had, a couple of years back we had a blizzard on May 1. I have noticed our oak trees turning colors, our trees don’t lose their leaves in fall, but remain green all winter, they turn color, fall off and grow back in a matter of a few weeks usually just before the rainy season hits. This year it seems to be happening early, that either means our trees are confused, or we are going to have an early wet spring, I am hoping for the latter.…

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March 2, 2014 No Comments
Spirit

Mountain retreat from 100 Euros a night

The North-West of Majorca is one of the most beautiful spots on earth, and that is why I bought a shepherds hut there almost 15 years ago and learned to live off-grid.

I found it was a place where the cares and stresses of modern life would simply vanish – a chance to replenish my spiritual batteries, and think clearly about the problems of work or life confronting me at home.

Since then I bought the neighboring plot of land and houses. Now I want to share the beautiful places that are only available when you spend time off the grid. Its 700 metres above sea level up a tiny mountain road, in the famous Tramuntana range, where walkers and cyclists come from all over the world. Its surrounded by Pines and Olive trees, with views over the Ocean below and the sound of sheep bells jingling the hills.…

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February 26, 2014 1 Comment
Martin Davidson old fart, Lord Hall old fart
People

BBC- British Bullying Corporation

The BBC recently announced the sacking of one of its radio presenters and of channel boss Janice Hadlow. But her husband Martin Davidson remained in post despite presiding over decades of mediocre programming.

Now the full mediocrity of his work has been revealed — Davidson presided over the latest BBC season of films about the First World War, and they all bear the unmistakable tinge of old farts. This will have endeared him to biggest fart of all – Lord Tony Hall the BBC DG

Davidson has created a series of truly awful BBC dramas about WW1 – playing at prime time they are more suited to Open University than national TV.…

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February 6, 2014 No Comments
Communities

A tiny house for Macy

This Is What Happens When A Woman Gets Sick Of Divorce And Mortgages. And It’s Brilliant.

Macy Miller is an architect from Idaho that had a BIG dream about a tiny house. She had always wanted a place of her own, but the thought of a mortgage sickened her after she lost her home to foreclosure after getting divorced. So, her dream revolved around building a compact, but beautiful home. For two years, Macy worked on the 196 square-foot home, dedicating her free time to building the small paradise. Finally, construction has finished on her little hideaway… and it’s hard not to be jealous of this place, no matter how small it looks on the outside. After all, it only cost about $11,000.

…
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January 5, 2014 7 Comments