tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73986741850901359212011-04-21T17:41:39.249-07:00A journal of our journey to living off the grid over the past 15 years, with news updates and recommendations for off grid living, including how to build a wind generator and how to make solar panels.Les and Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15109542439784176241noreply@blogger.comBlogger31100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7398674185090135921.post-42873859700966209282008-12-19T11:18:00.000-08:002008-12-19T12:05:55.453-08:00<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Pretty good story about getting started living off the grid. Of course there is a lot they left out...<br /><a href="http://build-wind-generators.blogspot.com/2008/12/wind-power-generators-practical.html" target="_blank">Homemade Wind Generators | Wind Power Generators: Wind Power <b>...</b></a><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">By tool-holder </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><br />Homemade Wind Generators - Two Big Variables Not t... Cheap Residential Wind Power · Assembling a Premade Wind Turbine - Save Thousands... <b>Living Off the Grid</b> With Wind Generator · Small Wind Generators Will Dramatically Reduce You. <b>...</b></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7398674185090135921-4287385970096620928?l=living-off-the-grid-with-les-and-jane.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Les and Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15109542439784176241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7398674185090135921.post-57013800349422201172008-12-19T10:48:00.000-08:002008-12-19T11:03:49.505-08:00From dreams to the reality of living off the grid for our family.<br />The work had begun and we were ready. Our first task was to clear some land where the house was going to be built and obtain our building permits.<br />I will update this post as soon as I sort through all of the photos...<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7398674185090135921-5701380034942220117?l=living-off-the-grid-with-les-and-jane.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Les and Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15109542439784176241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7398674185090135921.post-63658788341249658582008-12-17T11:16:00.000-08:002008-12-19T10:56:54.077-08:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Living Off The Grid- Day One</span><br /></div>Reaching back to that day - May 5, 1994 - the van door closed, Jane and I looked at each other and we knew we were home.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R8s3EgsAHMQ/SUlQ_oeiXJI/AAAAAAAAAAw/pU5YE7D_I_w/s1600-h/Jane.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R8s3EgsAHMQ/SUlQ_oeiXJI/AAAAAAAAAAw/pU5YE7D_I_w/s320/Jane.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280841092196097170" border="0" /></a>The door had closed on our old life, a life barely even visible to us today, as I write this... a new life, truly a dream come true, living off the grid.<br />We visited our 20 acre property several times the year before we moved to familiarize ourselves with the area and our new land. It really sounded good saying that, "Our new land".<br />Do you see that smile on Jane's face? We were just exploring around our pond in the back, about 4 acres or so complete with a beaver house and a couple of otters.<br />It was really interesting to see them for the first time, and to know that we were sharing our little piece of land with so many wild creatures was really kind of inspiring.<br />People talk about sharing the planet and saving the whales, carbon footprint, but we could see all of those things first hand taking shape right before our eyes.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R8s3EgsAHMQ/SUlXk4qj8YI/AAAAAAAAABA/FceT9DZdea4/s1600-h/Les.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R8s3EgsAHMQ/SUlXk4qj8YI/AAAAAAAAABA/FceT9DZdea4/s320/Les.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280848329266426242" border="0" /></a>It was the beginning of a huge transformation in our life. We knew what we wanted in the beginning of our living off the grid adventure, but the journey has taken us further than we could have ever imagined.<br />We liked the idea of renewable energy, solar panels and wind generators but we had no idea how to do it, or even where to start.<br />Jane and I knew we had a big problem when we looked at the price of solar panels, and wind generators and started figuring out how much it would cost to implement the system we wanted.<br />Eventually we came up with the solution... and we will discuss what we learned in our next post.<br />By for now,<br />Les and Jane<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7398674185090135921-6365878834124965858?l=living-off-the-grid-with-les-and-jane.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Les and Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15109542439784176241noreply@blogger.com0