Last month I broke my chopping axe while splitting some wood in the yard. Instead of re-handling right away, I decided to just go ahead and buy a new splitting axe. Why? Because I don’t actually chop wood very often. You see, there aren’t many large trees where we live – let alone dead ones…
Off-Grid Living
Cold Steel Trail Boss Review: Broke After One Year!
It’s funny, just last week I was thinking about writing a review for this axe, and I was planning on touting it as one of the best budget axes; then… it broke. I’ll admit, I mainly use this axe for chopping mesquite wood, which is a very hard wood, and I use it almost every…
Oil Lamps: An Underrated Off-Grid Survival Tool
Why Oil Lamps Are Perfect for Off-Grid Living Throughout the early half of October, we were hit with some unexpectedly bad weather. For several days, the sky was overcast, it rained perpetually, and frigid gusts of misty wind made being outside intolerable. Uncertain how long this would last, we were feeling somewhat hopeless, as we…
Building a Lean-to Pergola
MOVING OFF THE GRID: SEASON 1, EPISODE 4 In this episode of Moving Off the Grid, we build a lean-to pergola on the side of our tiny house using leftover lumber from our house and pallet fence, plus some sheet metal we purchased from a scrapyard. The Sun was so intense during the summer, we…
28 Foods That Have a Really Long Shelf Life
These 28 Foods Can Last for Many Months to Several Years Without Refrigeration When Stored Properly When you’re living off the grid, it’s essential to have a pantry stocked with foods that can last a long time. All of the foods on this list have incredibly long shelf lives. Some of them can even last…
Wood Stoves vs. Pellet Stoves: Pros and Cons of Each
There’s no better way to heat an off-grid home than with a wood stove, but that’s not to say they don’t have their drawbacks. Some people decide to get a pellet stove instead so they don’t have to deal with the flaws of wood stoves, but pellet stoves also have disadvantages. In this article, we’re…
How to Find Land for Your Off-Grid House
Step by Step Guide to Buying Land for an Off-Grid Homestead or Retreat Last year, we purchased 13.12 acres of land in a beautiful desert mountain valley for $11,800. Since then, we’ve put our tiny house on the property and we now live off the grid. This is our step-by-step process that you can follow to…
How Much Do Solar Panels Cost?
How Much Should You Pay for Solar Panels? What’s a Good Price? We bought our pair of Renogy 150W 12V monocrystalline solar panels on sale for about $300 plus sales tax. All together, we spent a little more than a $1.00 per watt for high quality name brand solar panels, which is a pretty good…
9 Things to Know Before Building Off-Grid
When you make the decision to build a home off the grid, you’re putting yourself in a tight spot. You’re not going to have the same luxuries other home builders have due to the fact you’ll likely be in a remote area far away from the nearest power grid, let alone any of the supplies…
How We’re Getting Off-Grid Internet
The Best Way We Found to Connect to the Internet Off the Grid Connecting to the Internet has been a struggle for us ever since we moved off the grid. If you noticed the five-week gap between episodes of Moving Off the Grid, that was due to poor Internet connectivity that was restricting us from…