Rob Wyatt, Electric Vehicle Adventurer
Name: Rob Wyatt
Occupation:
Engineer, photographer, writer,
homesteader, arborist, brewer
Place of Residence: Boulder County, Colo.
Background
and Personal History:
Rob grew up in the English countryside near Burton on Trent,
the home of British brewing. Growing up smelling hops created a life-long
interest in beer which lasts to this day. Work as an engineer brought Rob to the United States in 1994 and after 12
years of corporate life and living in big cities, he has retreated to the country
for better access to the outdoors, better quality of life and most importantly, a
better environment to raise his daughter. Today, Rob, his 9-year-old daughter Owyn
and long-time girlfriend Sarah all live the high life at 8,000 feet on 20 acres, in the foothills of Boulder County. They maintain small organic gardens
in addition to raising chickens, goats and a few horses.
Current Projects:
Rob heats his house with wood and wood pellets, which he
makes himself. The 4-mile fire ripped through his land in September 2010, leaving
lots of dead trees and a near unlimited supply of firewood and slash. He is in the process of modifying an old
pellet stove to directly burn wood chips which, if it works, should save energy
and time making pellets.
To keep his interest in brewing alive Rob has a complete
micro-scale brewery and is actively involved in a local startup distillery.
Other Fun
Facts:
Rob lived entirely off the grid and drove a Unimog
expedition camper vehicle to Panama.
The summer keeps him busy as a Wildland Firefighter.
He says, “Digging fire line is just high-speed gardening”. A firm
believer of doing his part to help his less-able neighbors, he spends a lot of
time cutting trees and performing fire mitigation.
Rob and his family compost and recycle everything they can, buying things based
on packaging to generate as little waste as possible. They make a trip to the
transfer station once or twice a year.
He supports his family by working remotely from home, and he admits that high-speed Internet is the one modern service that he couldn’t live without.
Rob believes in local products and local, slow and whole foods. He plays a game in
the supermarket or farmers market with his kid where she has to pick the
strangest looking produce she can find and together they research how to cook
and eat it.
