Ed Essex – Biographies – MOTHER EARTH NEWS

By Staff
Updated on March 5, 2013
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Ed Essex – Off-the-Grid-Living Expert

Place of Residence: My wife Laurie and I live 2.5 miles from the nearest paved road on 40 acres at an elevation of 4200 feet. Our land consists of natural grass open areas, a little sagebrush, and a healthy stand of Ponderosa Pine with a few scattered Douglas Fir and Tamarack thrown in. Our home and barn are also occupied by two cats, an Anatolian Shepherd, two horses and nine free range chickens. We can access the National Forest from our property. There are 5 fishing lakes within 10 miles. Paradise? It is for us. Others think we are “nuts”. 

Occupation: I worked for 15 years in the retail grocery business. Had to “make it on my own” first before I went to work in the family commercial construction business. I’ve worked as a laborer, project manager, general manager, and owner for the family business and others. In 2004 I started a successful commercial masonry business until the economic downturn hit. It didn’t just slow down for us, it ended completely. There were no more buildings to build. Laurie and I decided it was “now or never”, packed everything we owned and headed for our 40 acres in eastern Washington.   

Background: In 2010 I left the commercial construction industry after 27 years to build a new home off grid in the Okanogan Highlands of Eastern Washington State and operate our new website: goodideasforlife. I work part time to help us get by while the website continues to build a larger customer base. It takes time. Eventually, it is our goal to rely on the website for 100 percent of our income. We own and use most of the products we sell. It’s hard to put our site into a particular category. I think it is best described in the About Us section. 

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