Living Offgrid Affordably: Before Breaking Ground

Reader Contribution by Jeff Chaney
Published on August 29, 2011
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To My Readership:

Hello, everyone! It has come to my attention that I have inadvertently mislead you. I put the statement “You may access the entire series of articles…” at the bottom of the 1st and/or 2nd article, because I did not know how easy it would be to access the previous articles on the MOTHER EARTH NEWS site. That statement, I now see, was unintentionally misleading. I publish the articles as they are written. When I publish an article, I post the previous one on the website, for easy access. I am a professional writer only because I have earned $0.13 cents from Yahoo! That is the extent of my writing career. I am much better at homesteading! Please, bear with me. If you are intrigued by this story, it will only get better because it is just getting started, and will take some unusual turns (compared to normal techniques.) I am very sorry for the snafu, and sincerely hope you benefit from the rest of the series! Thanks again, for your interest. —Jeff Chaney

Now that we have successfully exited the minefield of purchasing land, discussed in the second article, Getting Started- Buying Land, we will wax philosophical for a moment, before proceeding.

It is time for us to slow down and think about what we are doing. From the time we are born, we are conditioned to think a certain way. Everyone understands that they are expected to do well in school, get a drivers license, land a good job, marry their sweetheart, and have children. Achieve the American dream of home ownership. There are just some things that we are expected to look at a specific way.

Customarily, all of us look around at this beautiful world and think it is boundless. It is an easy thing to do. There is plenty of room, and vast resources are at our disposal. Waste goes down the drain or in the truck to the landfill. Problem solved. But, it’s not. Flip a switch and the light comes on, or the appliance magically works. What is involved in generating that electricity? We never stop to think.

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