03/30/2024
This is for people considering what an off-grid lifestyle would be like, and find like-minded people who are interested in exploring starting a small energy and food self-sufficient community in the area of rural Wisconsin and Minnesota.
There are many reasons to become energy and food self-sufficient; It is generally more peaceful and less expensive-once you are set up. You generally eat what you raise from your animals to your gardens, it doesn't get any fresher. Consider how much you would save growing and raising your own food with others. The security of sourcing your own energy and food is another advantage. Some might not have enough saved for retirement, but if you can eliminate your food, heating, electric and mortgage/rent bills, maybe you can.
So, what might that look like in Wisconsin and Minnesota?
Here is a brief overview of some decisions you will need to make.
A more detailed analysis will be on the website (coming soon).
1. Location
2. Kind of home to build or buy
3. Heating & AC
4. water
5. Hot water
6. Grey water
7. Toilet
8. Food
9. Community
10. Financial options
1. Location: Being off grid usually means rural, and you can choose to rent or buy some land that has zero utilities for much less. If there is not a well there, you would need to find out if you can put a shallow (20-40') well in without a permit. That can be done DIY quickly and cheaply a number of ways, which we will explore on the website in detail.
2. There are a number of kinds of homes you can choose, but one that is on wheels or built on skids it considered movable and doesn't impact property taxes. Trailers/campers are usually not very energy efficient, but insulated cabins can be. Steel Panel cabins are about $40/square foot with steel frame, painted steel lined walls and roof, with hard foam insulation sandwiched between them.
$13,000 for an insulated 13' x 25' cabin shell kit.
Add windows, door, floor, and you have an insulated cabin shell with room for a kitchen, shower and LR, bedroom and loft for storage. Adding solar, batteries, lighting, plumbing, interior finishes and you have a small off-grid cabin for around $50,000, less if you DIY. You can also build a stick frame cabin for less if you have the skill set. Many more options will be detailed on the website, from very nice log cabins to budget cabins.
Heating & AC: Lots of options depending on how self-sufficient you want to be. Heating with electricity is not feasible in December and January from solar, there just isn't enough sunlight. Propane heat is probably the least effort, but you are relying on resupply. Pellet stoves too, you are dependent on a supply chain. Having back-up heat is recommended, and the world's most efficient wood heater is a rocket stove. There are 2 available to buy; The Liberator and the Gamera. The beauty of a rocket stove is that it harvests nearly all the BTU's before exhausting what little emissions it creates (very little). They can run on what is called "cut-offs", the rounded outside of trees that lumber yards want to just get rid of, so a lot of inexpensive wood works very efficiently for very little money. Another good back-up are small diesel heaters. They run for a day on 1-2 gallons of diesel, which can be stored for a decade or more safely. A Mini-Split can be run for 8-10 months a year from solar and battery providing Spring/Fall heat and Summer AC. Designing your cabin to bring in winter sun for passive heating is ideal.
4. Water- Ideally you can find a location where a shallow (20-40') well can be driven DIY for cheap. An RV water pump (DC) can be used to create water pressure in the cabin from battery power/solar. You can also set up a water catchment system from the roof into 325-gallon IBC containers (indoors stacked for 650 gallons).
Hot water- Several choices, the ideal one is where you are creating hot water (stored in a regular insulated water heater) while heating the cabin with your rocket stove. This is done using a thermosyphon system, but the hot water storage needs to be near the rocket stove. If it isn't, a small DC pump would circulate the water until it is hot. A DC heating element in the water heater can be used when you are no longer heating with wood for the year, using your solar and battery power.
6. Grey water is from the sinks, shower, drains. This is easily piped outside in a trench to a drain field.
7. Toilet- There are many composting toilets to choose from, depending on how much maintenance you choose to do. The more expensive, the less maintenance, from $10.00-3k. Ecodomeo makes one that can service 50 people a day for years with almost no maintenance.
8. Food- How about gardening with no weeding and no watering? Look up the "Ruth Stout" method. A year-round greenhouse can be community based or attached to the South side of your cabin. Ideally a community can share resources between gardens, chickens, and other animals on a rotational grazing system. Pumpkin seeds are a natural chicken dewormer and are easy to grow as food for animals. Consider that a single person can eat well with 3-6 hens, and feed them all winter long from indoor stored pumpkins and Butternut squash. If you plan to feed your chickens from indoor stored food, plan extra space for that or a root cellar.
If you are someone that needs to lose some weight to be healthy, research "Carnivore diet" on YouTube. Works fast for everyone.
9. Community- While these cabins can be built for solitude, many would prefer to be around others of like mind in a community.
We are trying to find others that are interested in becoming food and energy self-sufficient, with the goal of starting a community. Imagine a farm that needs help as the owners become older.
This is called an Agrihood, where people come together to all work together to run the farm or use it to support the small community instead. Maybe a year-round greenhouse is there, growing food as people want all year. Working together in canning, growing and raising animals. All can have their own space and share the rest of the farm too.
10. Financial options- None of this comes for free, you need to have access to some money from the sale of your current home, retirement funds that you can access, or some savings. Some can take out a personal loan and pay it back monthly from not having food and energy bills. Some who have a 401K can take out a loan from it to get self-sufficient. This is where we start helping each other out as a community, finding possibilities.
If you are interested in exploring the possibilities, message me and we will walk this path together.
