Unplugged: From City Life to Off-Grid Homestead

Reader Contribution by Victoria Redhed Miller
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My husband, David, and I both grew up in the Seattle area. My family lived for many years right in the

heart of the city, while David lived in a suburb south of town. So how did we end up living on an off-grid homestead in the foothills of Washington State’s Olympic mountains?

I have to admit that before I knew David, I didn’t even know what “off the grid” meant. Grid? What grid? I lived in Seattle. Electricity was something one took for granted; it came from those outlets on the walls. I was hardly aware of it except during one of the infrequent power outages, and even then the electricity usually came back on within hours. So when I met David, and he casually told me about his “country place,” and that it was “off the grid,” I had no idea what he meant. I was embarrassed to admit that at the time.

David explained that his grandparents had bought the property back in 1936. From 1948-49, his grandfather built the wonderful house we live in. David and his sisters used to spend part of their summer vacations there, and that’s when his dreams of living there one day took root.

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