Off Grid Adventures - What Can You Live Without?

A little over fifteen months ago, I moved into an off-grid, solar energy home with my three kids. I had absolutely no idea what it would be like, I just knew that I wanted to live there because it was the best possible location for the kids at the time. The owners of the home, my friends and neighbors for over a decade, happened to move away at the exact same time that I needed to move. They were happy to have someone they knew and trusted living in their custom home, and we were grateful to be in a nice place that was also so convenient for us.

We started our solar journey on a lovely hot June day and quickly discovered that summer time was a period of rest for solar powered people. Steady and long lasting rays were keeping our batteries charged up with a seemingly endless supply of electricity. It was nothing like the dark months ahead, when managing power became nothing short of a part time job. So we settled in easily and soon got to know the ins and outs of solar electricity.

It was during these first few months that we started working out which electrical appliances were truly necessary. A solar home is not built like many standard houses, you will not find a large supply of outlets - you have to pick and choose what gets plugged and what goes off to Goodwill. Appliances with heating elements like the waffle iron and the toaster were out. The iron was out. No microwaves, lamps with normal bulbs, or air conditioning units. Our refrigerator was now just a tad larger than a dorm fridge. A dryer and a vacuum cleaner could be used but only with careful attention to amp hours, voltage and by switching out inverters. One appliance that I could not get by without was the nutribullet for smoothies and also for processing herbs. Luckily, that takes barely a charge to get it going.

In no time at all, though, we adapted to these changes in lifestyle. I won’t lie, giving up the iron was more of a Godsend, especially since my days in an office now resembled me in pj’s at my kitchen table. No more ironing! That was a celebration.

Not so much the toaster. At first I told the kids, we’ll GRILL the bread on our gas stove top! But nobody liked grilled bread. Apparently, that adaptation was beyond our genetic code. Thankfully, my brother bought us a little housewarming gift, a Coleman stovetop toaster. It’s quite a bit different from using a regular toaster, you have to stay with it and rotate often or your bread will go up in flames and in our case, setting off fire alarms you just discovered you have no way of reaching.

Staying with it has become a metaphor for solar living.

You don’t just set it and forget anything. You are on top of your electricity usage. And your water usage, and wood supply, the amount of propane in the tank, the condition of the oil in your generator, the amount of water in your 300 gallon tank, how much a pc draws in electricity as compared to a laptop, how much wood is needed daily to heat the house, the amount of snow sitting on your solar panels in relation to the gravitational pull, etc. etc. You are one with your power.

Solar living has made us more aware of our power usage and has taught us exactly what it takes to live off the grid. It’s a lot of work to be honest, but I’ve loved being here, the learning involved, and the level of awareness it’s brought.