# Canadians Living "Off Grid"



## TG (Jul 28, 2014)

Recent article with photos and documentary ? A film about people who have chosen to build their lives around renewable energy, with beautiful, inspiring, and often challenging results. (will be ready in the Spring of 2015, watch the trailer)

More Canadians Are Living 'Off The Grid' Than You Think


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Living off the grid is great, being able to do for yourself, even furnishing your own heat, water,food,and electricity all good. More people today are interested in what can they do for themselves instead of relying on others for supplying the things they need for life, again that is great IMO.
But, yes there is always a but, lets not be hypocritical in our ability to now live such a life. How many generations had to live "on grid" to supply us what we need to brag about how we don't need any outside help? Those solar cells they have mounted so proudly, where do you suppose they came from? I bet they weren't invented in some small shop by candlelight, the batteries for storing power, the electronic controller, or even the tires one guy was using for building material, without the on grid people those things would never had existed.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

I agree, Moonshine. To me, living off the grid means not relying on anything requiring replacement parts created by the industrialized world. 

Still, that sort of living would still be pretty darned nice. I imagine the stress level would be a lot lower.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Denton said:


> I agree, Moonshine. To me, living off the grid means not relying on anything requiring replacement parts created by the industrialized world.
> 
> Still, that sort of living would still be pretty darned nice. I imagine the stress level would be a lot lower.


I am sure it is, but lets not forget there is a price to pay for about everything. There is a lot to say for living such a life, but you have to be willing to give up a lot of things in your life, something a person had better think over very carefully before making such a jump.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

People get confused between living off grid & being independent. Living off grid is simply not being connected to commercial utilities. Independence is the next step growing & raising your own food. 

In spite of all the reality shows none of them are independent. Atleast Alaska RR series the people admit to being off grid & not independent. Alaska Bush People the Brown father is an idiot. "We don't need the outside world". Wonder where his family's clothing comes from as well as things like ammo for their guns.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

I look at "off the grid living" like I view camping. I've done the primitive camping thing plenty but I'm over that. Hence, because I've worked hard to accumulate "stuff" to make my life easy and fun, I use it. 

Having said that, we strive for self-sufficiency and that is rewarding and healthy. We also have a goal of building an off grid solar system as I believe the Socialists will continue to assault the use of coal in power plants across the US. I do not want to be a freakin pioneer, I just want to be self sufficient and not at the mercy of some pencil necked socialist telling me what I can and can't do.

Thanks


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

All this wilderness living got me to thinking. I think I will order a pizza, hot wings pick up some beer. The first two will be brought to my front door, the beer is only a few minutes away.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Moonshinedave said:


> All this wilderness living got me to thinking. I think I will order a pizza, hot wings pick up some beer. The first two will be brought to my front door, the beer is only a few minutes away.


I like the way you're thinking Dave! However, we are too far out to get anything delivered but that's why I have a lovely wife!


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## Mish (Nov 5, 2013)

Moonshinedave said:


> All this wilderness living got me to thinking. I think I will order a pizza, hot wings pick up some beer. The first two will be brought to my front door, the beer is only a few minutes away.


DAMN YOU!! Now I want pizza and wings!!! Grrrr!!! lol


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Mish said:


> DAMN YOU!! Now I want pizza and wings!!! Grrrr!!! lol


Do like me and send your wife to get some...


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## Mish (Nov 5, 2013)

Slippy said:


> Do like me and send your wife to get some...


Good idea!! Now I only need to find a wife!!


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

I think self sufficiency and living off grid can be both time consuming and expensive. And, I have a finite amount of time and money. 

Although, I would like to migrate towards that lifestyle - to be totally honest - I believe that I can do a lot worse than delaying this transition, so I can get more preps and personal skills training accomplished.

For example, living off the food grown in my small yard is less important than learning how to do it. I can learn more if I don't get bogged down in the hard work. So, I will grow a wide variety of stuff but the volume of it does not have to be that large.


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## graynomad (Nov 21, 2014)

Moonshinedave said:


> ...lets not be hypocritical in our ability to now live such a life. How many generations had to live "on grid" to supply us what we need to brag about how we don't need any outside help? Those solar cells they have mounted so proudly, where do you suppose they came from? I bet they weren't invented in some small shop by candlelight, the batteries for storing power, the electronic controller, or even the tires one guy was using for building material, without the on grid people those things would never had existed.


Very good point Dave. Even those of us (well most of us) who proudly state we live "off-grid" are only doing so with the "permission" of modern technology, IE solar panels etc. Even if you grow everything you almost certainly still depend on modern(ish) technology. I have some cross-cut saws, but so far still reach for the chainsaw, it's just easier and faster. I intend to at least start using the crosscuts so I have a backup plan, but even they are reasonably modern technology.

I for one and fairly happy with this, at least for now. The stuff is available so why not pick the eyes out of modern tech where appropriate? But that said I am slowly transferring things to say 18/19th century tech, that at least doesn't require power and/or fuel, whether I ever get to that point remains to be seen, but I can pretty much guarantee I will never be 100% independent from reasonably high tech (as I said, 18/19th cent level), the only way to take this further is to become a native hunter-gatherer, possible but only for a select few I would suggest.


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## graynomad (Nov 21, 2014)

Just watched that trailer, I would love to see the film. Hopefully it will air in Oz at some point.


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

There are a number of eco homes around too! The ones made from mostly recycled products. This interests me to no foreseeable end thanks for the links


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## Makwa (Dec 19, 2014)

A lot of really good points are made in this thread. I think living off the grid and being independent are good things to work towards, but as pointed out............ for most that means relying on modern technology and hard earned currency to make it all happen. Even if you were to forsake the modern equipment and go back to using all hand tools, horses and manual labour to make all things happen it takes money to do it.

Like many, my aim was to live in a way that allowed us to be mostly self-sufficient and not have to depend on the system to provide. There is absolutely no doubt that a great deal of time, effort and money is required to work towards that sort of situation. A half section of land is not just going to miraculously appear with your name on the title, your dwelling and outbuildings all take time and a lot of sweat and coin to build. Livestock and equipment do not come cheap. 

It all comes with time and commitment, but you first have to have a plan and know what it is you are working towards. Everyone has different levels of 'primitive' existence that they can take on a sustained basis. For some having a stack of firewood and taking the edge off the heating bill during a cold spell is what they want to achieve, for others (such as my wife and I) we heat our home with wood and we live in an area that gets a fair amount of -30 and colder during the winter. Winters are long here and I need around 8 to 10 cords of wood per winter. That is a lot of work and you really need to be committed to it. Most of the people I grew up with think we live a really hard life, but we don't see it that way.

In addition to coming to grips with what sort of work load you actually want to take on, you also have assess your NEED for people. Some need to have people around constantly and can't even dream of not having a lot of noise and a smart phone on the go 24/7........... then there are people on the other end of the pendulum who deliberately avoid human interaction on a regular basis. My wife and I are on the reclusive side, we like life on our ranch and going to town is like a form of torture. Going to the big city is to be avoided at all cost. LOL 

Anyways, my point is that you need to do an honest assessment of what you can stand and then try and marry it to a plan that arrives at an off the grid/independent life style that suits your needs. You have to be able to cope with the end result. If you go too far beyond your limitations and needs, you won't be able to keep it up for the rest of your life or even an extended period of time.

I live in a fairly remote area and have seen couples/families buy land in the vicinity and dive headfirst into their vision of being off the grid. Most do not have the required knowledge base and generally approach the change of life with rose tinted glasses. It usually does not take long for the realities of this sort of life to set in and few make it past two years before they sell out and leave the area. They might have survived if they had taken a more gentle approach to the lifestyle change, one with a learning curve that was not quite as steep.


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