I have pondered for many years what most fundamental elements are required for relatively comfortable human survival. I've whittled it down to five. Throughout those years I have variously lived without one or more of them. I have a real sense of just how important they are, and to have all five as a foundation for living sets up the ability to add subgroups as desired.
These basic elements can be arranged in different ways. I tend to list them in order of most fundamental need.
THE FIVE BASICS FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL
1. Water - A person can survive for only about three days without water. It is also needed for proper hygiene and is very useful when preparing many kinds meals. When considering a life off grid, there are a few options for storing and maintaining a relatively steady supply of water. Wells, streams and rainwater harvesting will work. Having a way to pump water from any of these sources is a must, whether manually or with an electric pump.
I have chosen rainwater harvesting as my water source. A small 1/8th horsepower pump would use very little electricity. I use a similar system right now and am quite confident that it would work, even in a remote location. My current use of water can be liberally estimated at about 5 gallons per day, 35 gallons per week, 150.5 gallons per month and 1,806 gallons per year.
According to Maine Weather Stats, Maine's average number of days with precipitation is about 131 per year. That is about one day of rain every 2.7 days. According to the same source, the state's average yearly precipitation is around 44.2 inches. That is roughly 0.85 inches per week (it counts winter snow). The least amount of precipitation is in August, and the most is in November.
I will have more to say about the rain harvesting system later. The magic comes from the the square footage (or area) of the roof that the rain falls on. My roof will be 786 square feet. I will provide a calculator on this blog to easily estimate the total water that can be harvested from different amounts of rain falling on different surface areas.
2. Food - A person can survive for about three weeks without food. Unlike our prehistoric ancestors, the ability to hunt and gather what is needed to feed one's self is not a reliable option anymore. Here in Maine hunting in remote locations is a possible, but not necessarily steady means of obtaining enough protein. Having to forage for the carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins and minerals found in plants would be even harder.
Therefore a summer vegetable garden, fruit bushes and fruit bearing trees can supply much - though probably not all - of the plant material needed to survive. For me, having a store within a ten mile radius of the property will allow me to walk there and purchase what I will need to supplement what I grow.
The use of non-refrigerated storage, such as pickling and drying will also be a must. Of course refrigeration would also be very helpful. The size of the refrigerator I plan to use will be what I use now--a very small "college" sized unit (about 1.8 cubic feet). But I am also looking into a medium-sized freezer, instead of a refrigerator, in tandem with using a cooler with ice from the freezer to keep food
refrigerated.
My current use of food can be estimated to be about 1-2 meals per day. I am blessed (or maybe cursed) with a very slow metabolism. Another person might have to adjust this plan to suit her/him.
I estimate my protein intake to be about 4 oz per day. Meat can arguably be bought for an average of $1 per 1/4 pound, or $4 per pound. Cheese (which I eat frequently) is about the same amount of money, though I consume less than with meat--about 2 oz, or an 1/8 pound per day. I would be willing to also do some hunting. So at about $1.50 per day for protein would be $10.50 per week, $45.15 per month and $541.80 per year.
I should be able to harvest some very nutritious vegetables and fruit from my land. The first year will be a challenge, because I must establish bushes, trees, vines and a location on the yard for elevated vegetable gardening. But I should become more efficient with it each year.
I figure that - conservatively - on average, I should be able to use the garden as my exclusive source of non-protein between the months of May and October (being half the year). With pickling, canning and drying surpluses at harvest time (around late September), I estimate that surplus will last from November to just about February. This will leave 2 to 3 months where I will need a resupply. To be on the safe side, I will plan to only be able to have the harvest last for 2 months.
As everyone knows, fresh fruit and vegetables are very expensive in the market. They also have the unfortunate habit of only lasting for about a week. This often means a steady need to resupply one's self. So I am planning to stockpile about 4-6 months worth of pre-canned fruit and vegetables. At an average of 1 can being used per day, and considering that each will cost about $1, $150 will be needed each year for pre-canned items.
So far protein at $541.80 plus non-protein at $150.00 equals $691.80 for sustenance per year.
3. Shelter - People can survive without shelter. But it isn't fun. We see it in big cities with homeless populations, but it occurs in rural places too. For example on only one night, in the month of January 2007, about 268,755 (40% of the homeless population) slept without shelter. I myself have experienced this. For most of the day when one is homeless he/she can walk around or sit in public places. But the stress of not being able to have a place to lay one's head at night - especially over time - can become physically, mentally and spiritually destructive.
When I was in that situation, even during the day, the constant need to move on to another place so that I wouldn't be accused of loitering became overwhelming. Just stretching out every now and then is nearly impossible and socially awkward to say the least.
Having a place or a space to call your own seems so basic. But for those who are unable to find such a place the psychological tax is very great. With this in mind, even the smallest most basic unit of shelter can offer relief and privacy.
These days, with the "small house" or "tiny house" movement growing in an unsteady US economy, the attractive ability to live very comfortably with less means more than it ever has. When I say "less," I don't only mean less expense and maintenance for the owner/occupier, but less cost on the environment, less public space required to survive, and less energy needed from local utilities.
The initial house I plan to build will be as basic as it can be. Yet, I will construct it in such a way that it can be added on to. You can get an idea about what it will look like from this link: Basic Tiny House (pdf - Copyright Alex Wall 2014).
This design will allow for a kitchen area, great room, bathroom and sleeping loft. It also matches the minimum residency requirement of 300 square feet for most towns and municipalities; my plan being slightly over 310 square feet. I will get into greater detail about the house - including a floor plan - later on. As I indicated above, it will have a rain harvesting system directly linked to the kitchen sink. The toilet will use a rudimentary sawdust composting system, that allows human waste to be added to the garden compost (including toilet paper) safely and effectively, without a water flush. In essence there will be no waste at all.
4. Heat - The house will be heated by a small wood stove that can also be used for cooking if necessary, with its stove pipe (which can be disassembled for cleaning) running up through the second story inside the house, providing more direct radiant heat from the pipe itself to the second floor.
It will require approximate 4 cords of wood per year to feed the stove. Initially this wood will come from the property itself. I will have to settle for green wood the first year, but should be able to season a few extra cords for the second year and from then on.
I will also be experimenting with solar heating systems to heat air and water.
5. Power - There will be a battery bank of 4, 12 Volt (v) deep cycle marine batteries, linked by parallel connections to a DC/AC inverter which will kick the voltage up to a usable 120v AC. The batteries will be charged by whatever means available, possibly including a generator, photovoltaic panels, a wind turbine and also some form of human power. More on power sources later.
My electrical needs will be very small: A clock radio, a microwave, a small refrigerator and/or freezer, a hot water heater, silicone heating tape, a small water pump, some LED lighting, a laptop and occasionally some musical equipment. Most of these things will be used separately and not at the same time. I use these same things right now, and in the same way. My wattage (non-surge) is about 70 watts (w) continually. Current is at 1.6 amps (a), so a 2a capacity system would handle everything. As things stand now, I use no more than 2 Kilowatts (Kw) per day, and more like 1.5Kw.
I call this project "Self Sustaining Property." The "self sustaining" part has a double meaning...
First, the property should mostly sustain itself eventually, though there will likely be some significant outside needs (mostly food, and occasional Internet usage) for a few years. It is my hope to eventually be completely and absolutely independent of all outside needs.
The second meaning of "self sustaining" is that I hope personally to sustain myself by - at a minimum - not having to earn enough to pay income taxes (though there would still be property taxes), free to focusing on my creative interests (art, music and writing), as I continue maintaining and building up the efficiency of the property.
In this way, I should be able to live with very little need for outside assistance, even if I can never make very much money in my life, while allowing for greater financial success if I am able to achieve it. I believe that I don't have to work for someone else in order to survive and even thrive.
It is part of the antiquated "American Dream" that a citizen should own a house (which, these days, means carrying a 30 year mortgage, and usually the larger the house, the "better"), work all his/her life at one job (usually for someone else), and "retire" with a bunch of money carefully saved up for just that reason and watch the savings drain away as health deteriorates in old age.
I'm not going out on a limb by saying that the American Dream (if there ever REALLY was one) is over, and that trying to live up to that 1950's era social standard can be much more like a nightmare.
It is the time between graduating from high school or college and the initial money paid out by Social Security that is the biggest psychological strain for most people--the job. For example, most Americans hate their job. Here is a chart from 2013...
The truth is we live in a debt-based economy, no longer in a savings-based economy. For many of us the old adage of pulling ourselves "up by the bootstraps" is laughably unrealistic. In the last few years we have felt the bite of an imbalanced corporate society where just before President Obama's 2014 State of the Union Address, the...
...media[3] reported that the top wealthiest 1% possess 40% of the nation’s wealth; the bottom 80% own 7%. The gap between the top 10% and the middle class is over 1,000%; that increases another 1000% for the top 1%. The average employee "needs to work more than a month to earn what the CEO earns in one hour."[4] Although different from income inequality, the two are related. In Inequality for All—a 2013 documentary with Robert Reich in which he argued that income inequality is the defining issue for the United States—Reich states that 95% of economic gains went to the top 1% net worth (HNWI) since 2009 when the recovery allegedly started.[5]
Wikipedia: Wealth inequality in the United States
Wealth inequality, with political stagnation and polarization, added to the social inequality of certain groups (eg. people of color, women and the LGBT communities), and the difficulties brought about by environmental costs of maintaining American life (according to Scientific American, America has less than 5% of the world's population but uses 25% of the world's energy), demands that the average American should be trying to find other ways to survive. Seeking a way away from this traditional and conventionally wasteful culture should - in my mind at least - be the top priority of all American citizens. This isn't because it is only good for the planet, but because it is good for america AND each individual citizen. To NOT be moving (or at least thinking) in this direction is a complacency akin to sacrificing the secure futures of our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
It is a shameful and pathetically irresponsible that we as the first 21st Century generations of adults have been willing to sell our descendants' future away so that we can selfishly live in McMansions, with three car garages--along with the three cars to park in them, buying expensive toys we hardly ever use (jetskis, boats, ATV's...), eating more than we need, working until it literally weakens our hearts, so that managers and CEO's can buy even bigger mansions. We squander carbon fuel waiting in drive-through lines at fast food restaurants, while we blissfully poison the delicate atmosphere of our planet, as if the future didn't matter at all. Most vulgar of all is our insatiable hunger for "things." Our careless "thing fetish" is a senseless and callous philosophy.
We have heard all that I am saying before. We've heard it so often that it becomes just another unintelligible noise in the background of our stressed out lives. It needs to MEAN something again.
One way for people to step off this conveyer belt of global, social and personal destruction is to develop the lifestyle of simplicity, low energy use, environmentally sustainable practices, healthy eating habits and hardy exercise that I - and many others - are attempting to put into practice with plans similar to the one I will be proposing in this blog.
I have to be honest with the reader and myself by stating that YES, such an adventure as off grid living and becoming self-sustainable does take a investment of money, time, and most significantly of all perhaps, intention. The $10,000 I will be trying to raise is not a small challenge, and the willingness to live alone, do all the work myself, experience set-backs and disappointments along the way is daunting to the point of serious intimidation. That is why I think most people avoid doing it.
Nevertheless, I believe it is realistic for me to do this in my own life. I also think that the more people see others doing similar things, the more they will see these things as realistic in THEIR OWN lives. What is considered "alternative" now, will very likely become the norm in 20 years.
So, I thank you for being interested enough to read this introduction and to follow along with the new adventure I have set for myself.
Very honestly I simply see no other option in my life. I will not go back to sacrificing my health and sanity working for big business, nor for a minimum wage "service industry" job that - even at full-time capacity - can't cover living at poverty level let alone save for the future. I can no longer philosophically justify spending my life paying back banks for all the required cars, houses, toys and broken philosophies demanded of me by a waning culture; one that has lost all perspective and has shown very little will to regain any kind of balance.
I will succeed in my own way, or I will die trying. That is what will bring me happiness--the effort; the intention, where literally killing myself to meet the expectations of blinded and ignorant people who do not question the broken system has already cost me so much up to this point.
Please stay tuned for more updates, plans and other interesting aspects to this blog, and please consider making a contribution to it. Every penny helps me bring these ideas and practical actions to the attention of more people.
Thanks for reading!
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