Les Stroud, a survival specialist, seen on TV's Survivorman and Beyond Survival recently produced a special called Off the Grid. He was inspired by the book Walden which is about man getting back to nature. The special made it look like a neat thing to do. Becoming self-sufficient while environmentally friendly, building your own green home. Adapting to a more holistic lifestyle. It further engrained such ideas and desires I already have deeper. On this page I will share my research and ideas to go off the grid and make your own homestead. I will also list some products and websites to help you out.
Here are some useful skills to acquire before going off the grid and becoming totally self defendant;
survival training
first aid, CPR, paramedic, first responder
US Army and other military manuals
martial arts, hand to hand combat
weapons training; guns, knife, crossbow, Bo and arrow
tracking, hunting, flint knapping, trapping
raising livestock, butchering
mechanics, small engine repair, welding
basic engineering and electric
basic construction, woodworking
natural medicine
water filtration
gardening, natural pesticides, pest control
complete food storage, including without refrigeration
cooking
distillation, making potato alcohol
CB shortwave, ham operator
orienteering
To fulfill going fully off the grid and completely self sufficient and independent you are going to need some money. Especially if you are going to move somewhere more isolated and have land to have a homestead. The cheapest I have been able to find everything to get started in my plan is around $115,000. $100,000 if you skip the cargo truck. This was to have 160 acres of land, a older EMP resistant vehicle and equipment. The land which had a small cabin, a lake, and some cultivated land was $70,000. A old military pickup for around $4500, a military cargo truck for around $14,000. Leaving around 25,000 for all of the other equipment. To build an environmentally energy friendly green house will be extra cash at a later time. The average person can have a house set up properly to begin with without breaking the bank. A Medium package to get a household going will run you $15,000.
So how could a person go about raising $115,000 by themselves. What I would do first is to have a job, preferably where you can work from home or out of the office. Next I would get a loan from a bank for a mortgage on a smaller home. The one requisite would be that you could rent out part of it. Usually this rent covers the mortgage payments so you don't have to every month and can use your money for other things. To increase your cash flow you could use the rental space as a bed and breakfast. The next stage would be to start doing house flipping, trying to get houses in good condition or that have been repossessed. Picking them up for next to nothing and flipping them rather quickly to make a profit. A small second mortgage may be required. The goal is to average at least $20,000 each house. In around 2 to 3 years you should be able to raise enough capital.
While you are getting the money you will need you will want to start collecting some of the items you will require. Especially if you are going to do free cycling to help reduce the cost of your home you will construct. Free cycling is trying to get items and resources for free that you will recycle. It would also include sourcing objects at thrift stores, garage sales, and junk dealers. Before you go out to your homestead it would be good to get manuals, books, and reference guides together containing all of the skills you have acquired as well as all other useful information. You also should get an air tight, weatherproof and fireproof lockable steel container to store them safely. I would also create a binder of laminate instructors and cheat sheets. A really good complete first aid kit is a necessity. It would be best to move out to your homestead sometime in the spring as you will most likely be camping most of the first year. So he will require all of the necessary camping equipment. You will need a good quality on whether tent unless you get a small camping trailer. As well as a warm sleeping bag for cooler nights, an air mattress for comfort, a kerosene lantern and stove, a stainless steel cooking kit, a good knife and a Swiss Army knife, a quality shake flashlight, a wind up radio, solar power cell phone charger, a cooler and water storage. You will likely want to get a water filtering system set up as soon as possible, as well as an emergency portable generator. It would be good to have a supply of water proof matches and possibly some MRE prepackaged food rations.
http://www.campingworld.com/
http://www.disasternecessities.com/
Make sure your radio is able to pick shortwave one and two as well as the seven NOAA weather bands.
As you won't have very much power at the beginning it would be best to purchase manual nonpower items such as a complete set of hand tools alongside electric powered tools. For cutting down the trees you will need a bucksaw, an axe, and a hatchet. It will also be necessary to have a way to move the logs and lumber. This will require you to have either an ATV, if you tractor, or a horse. I would probably have both a draft horse and one of the two gasoline choices. Either way you will need accessories with it such as a trailer and a log skid. There is something called a MultiMate Multi-Utility Attachment System for ATV's & Tractors manufactured by Norwood Industries.
The property will be set up very much like a farmstead environment of the early homesteaders. Besides the primary house on the property there will also be several other outbuildings. A matermill and windmill on-site, a large greenhouse, storage sheds, a workhouse, barns and animal shelters, and guest houses. With some land designated as farmland for growing crops as well as 3 acres for a private vegetable garden. Using crop rotation and compost, and growing everything organic. It would also have an orchard and berry fields. Some of the land will also be designated to raising livestock. I would have some cows (dairy and beef), a team of work horses, sheep and goats, pigs, chicken and ducks, turkey, rabbits (8 hutches). The properly will also have a pond pond (1/3 acre) stocked with fish, catfish and perch. In the garden will be some raised beds that have straw filled burlap tubes for edges. The garden will make use of natural possibly bamboo stakes to support taller plants and will use drip lines for irrigation to save water. The garden will not use chemicals but will make use of beneficial insects to combat disease.
One of the best shape for a greenhouse is that of a geodesic dome. Partially using hydroponics to grow food and flowers all year. Inside there could be a small pond raising fish using aquaponics. The greenhouse could also serve as a kind of spiritual oasis and a good place to relax or meditate. Emotional and spiritual wellness are also necessary to survive by yourself.
For my storage sheds and possibly the guest houses the plan is to use used shipping containers. They are 8 feet wide by 9 feet tall by by 40 feet long and are available for around $1200. To maintain integrity, instead of attaching siding there is a ceramic paint called "Super Therm" made by Superior Products of Minnesota. It is used as a paint or an adhesive, that has features of an insulator, a fireproofing material and an acoustic barrier. With this ceramic paint, it is claimed that the insulation capacity is equal to a conventional house. The main house could also make use of this material alongside environmentally friendly insulation such as recycled denim.
The properly will also make use of the landscape beneficially to help with productivity and protection from the elements. One way is to have a tree line to the north and the west as a windbreak. The main house and buildings should be slightly elevated on a earthen hill. To further prevent flooding it would be good to build a surrounding dike and ditch muck like the ancient hill forts of Britain and Europe. Of course you will also need to ensure that there is good drainage.
The best home to build would be an "Earth-sheltered" home that also utilizes recycled materials and uses lumber harvested from the property for framing. "Earth-sheltered" homes are nestled partially or completely into the earth.. They fit much more aesthetically into the surrounding landscape. About six feet under the earth the temperature varies by only a few degrees year round. If you dig into a south-facing hillside, or berm the north part of the house with soil, you can take advantage of this. The part of the house that is underground needs to be well insulated, or the earth will continually suck warmth out of the house. You can use the stability of the earth's temperature to moderate thermal fluctuations of the house. This means that it will take much less energy to either heat or cool the house. For creating substantially bermed walls you could use recycled tires filled with packed earth. Another innovative idea to utilize would be straw bales in the walls to a degree. Looking through historical documents houses weren't very large to help with energy costs. This is what my plan calls for and it is much more environmentally friendly. The house I designed is only 28 feet long by 16 feet wide and it is two stories. It is designed to be built facing south and slightly angled East. The north side is intended to have bermed earth for insulation. The second story will have two bedrooms but could accommodate three and it will have a balcony which is above a growing space with slanted windows on the first floor. This space will run the length of the house and will have a outdoor porch in front of it. The first floor is to contain the kitchen and a living/family room with รค large central fireplace. At the back of the house within the berm will be a small bathroom and storage area. There will also be what is called a summer kitchen next to the house to reduce cooling costs in the summer. A root cellar for additional storage is also planned for partially beneath the house.
Some of the footprint of the house will be returned back to nature as the design employs a living roof. This is where the roof is planted with grasses or flowers. This also helps with energy reduction. To help with your supply of water it is good to set up a rain catchment system. One good source is to employ gathering water from the roof. One or two ground wells will be your primary source of water. For storage I would have several underground cisterns (cement fiberglass lined) installed as well as a aboveground tank for immediate water use. It is essential to reduce your water usage by having low flow equipment, reuse gray water, and use a compost toilet system. To safely use your water it would be best to have a built-in 5 point natural water filtering system, a built-in whole house water filter system, as well as an in-line filter utilizing activated carbon and ceramic. The ultimate storage containers for water long-term are made of glass or ceramic, or are ceramic lined. For more immediate consumption plastic containers can be used as long as they are food quality BHP free.
The house is also intended to greatly use passive solar for heating. The greenhouse growing area at the front of the house will have slanted windows to optimize contact with the Sun during the winter. This is when the sun is low on the horizon so that the sunlight can stream far into the house. During the summer the sunlight won't reach beyond the indoor planters. The plan is to also use photovoltaic tubes to make needed hot water, which could be stored in a heavily insulated hot water tank.
To assist with cooling there are passive systems which will provide natural air conditioning. The normal methods of having dormers, skylights, and hopper windows to open works quite well. A newer technique based on ancient technology is to install what is called a air tunnel. It is basically a long wind tunnel which is buried around 8 feet underground with an exposed opening. It creates a current of cold air traveling along the tunnel. This would be also useful to cool the root cellar to help keep food good longer.
In Canada financially speaking if you want to go off grid the most economical way to generate power is to go with solar power. Of course you are also going to supplement using wind and micro Hydro turbines if possible. To be energy wise a wood burning stove would be good to have just in case. One of the best wind turbines on the market is the Sprite 450 W wind turbine, which is compact yet powerful. Initially I would have three 175W panels, 24 V each, with plans to expand to six panels. Instead of placed stationary at my house the intention is to meld them on movable tracking towers which follow the sun for optimum energy production. To store any excess power produced several in-line 460 amp hour batteries are needed. A device called an power inverter is needed to convert this collected DC power into AC for normal use. My plan calls for running some of my lights straight DC power, these would be all LEDs. It is also good to have a backup generator, preferably a flex fuel power model.
Part of my plan is to create ethanol biofuel to power those things that require gasoline. To do this a home distillation system will have to be set up. Ethanol is made by fermenting and distilling starch and sugar crops including corn, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, sawdust, and compost like cornstalks and fruit and vegetable peels. 100 gallons of this material will yield 10 gallons of fuel. There are several steps involved in turning raw fuel into ethanol. First during step one Conversion the carbohydrate sugars are broken down. They may be ground, crushed or have an enzyme added to help to break down the material. In step two the Fermentation phase, yeast is added so that alcohol will be produced, much like winemaking. After this a still is used for step three the Distillation of the alcohol. This separates the alcohol from the rest of the liquid that has been formed. Next, step four Filtration gets rid of impurities and also removes any excess water. In order to use your homemade ethanol you will need to either mix it with regular gasoline or convert your engines. A good mix is E85, eighty-five percent ethanol and fifteen percent gasoline.
Water Filtration
After collection you may want to run the water through an all-natural system to filter the water before it enters the storage containers. The usual is method is using either a slow or fast sand filter where the water flows through vertically through different sentiments using gravity. One of these can be created by puncturing small holes in a 55 gallon drum, and filling it with multiple alternating layers of gravel, sand and charcoal to filter out impurities such as rocks, algae, lead, and E. coli.
A disinfection system is commonly used after this kind of filtration, using chlorine or ozone. Personally I would use a ozonator which utilizes UV light. You may also decide to do electrodeionization. To further disinfect and remove carbon residue it is important to boil the water at this point to remove bacteria before storage. The best way to filter and disinfect water is to use distillation. It removes everything from so you would need to re-mineralize the water before consumption.
At this point that water would enter your whole home water filter system for general use. You will want to further filter the water before drinking it. The best is to use several techniques in conjunction. Such as running the water through an ultrafiltration nano-membrane, a reverse osmosis synthetic fiber filter, and an activated carbon filter. Most good home faucet and countertop filters contain all three.
Whole House Water Filter System
If you're looking to improve the quality of your water supply, a whole house water filter system is a great appliance to have. It is the most efficient methods of water filtration. Having a whole house water filtration system installed in your home can positively impact your health, save you money in the long run and protect the environment. It can also improve your home's air quality. One wholehouse water filter can provide healthy water for the entire house - your shower, sink, washing machine and dishwasher. The best filters are certified in California which has the most stringent certification of all states.
It is very effective in removing chlorine, dirt and rust. Some also remove other contaminants like herbicides, pesticides and industrial solvents. However, bear in mind that apart from the chlorine and sediments, whole house systems are generally not certified to remove the other contaminants. This is because as the water passes through your plumbing, lead and other contaminants can be reintroduced in your tap water after the whole house system had removed them.
multimate - Norwood industries
http://www.norwoodindustries.com/index.htm
MultiMate Multi-Utility Attachment System for ATV's & Tractors
norwood@norwoodindustries.com
http://www.dreamgreenhomes.com/index.htm
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/earthship.htm
