Getting Caught Off-Grid
Micheal Kline “Reality Check” Audio player below!
In the following player we are discussing the reality of the electric grid going down and a personal story about me being somewhat caught off-guard. I have been on vacation with my family this past week in the North Georgia area with Tropical Storm Alberto coming through. So, like a good little prepper, I packed a small propane stove, my EDC, my camping cook set, and a family size battery powered lantern. However, I was unprepared for the power going out unexpectedly and being off grid sucks. The power going out is different from camping and even preppers are not fully prepared to deal with it mentally. Read more “Getting Caught Off-Grid”
Being rich is a state of mind, mostly. I’ve never had a lot of money, but I’ve enjoyed the riches of others through my culinary career. I have work, good health, love, friends, live among nature, and a spiritual path. To me that’s riches. I’ve never felt poor. 
Off grid living implies that it’s all about no power, but that is the smallest factor to those of us that live this lifestyle. It’s a choice to live simpler, live among nature, consume less, appreciate time, and have quality time. No more tread mill, making due and living within financial means, feeling as free as possible in this hectic world. Now if you have tons of money then off grid may simply mean you substituted solar for electric power and still have the modern world at your fingertips. The reality to off grid living is perseverance, ingenuity, tenacity, and self-motivation as well self-reliance. 
If you’re lucky enough to have a homestead, you’ve no doubt discovered the peace of mind that comes with being more self-sufficient. Providing for your family through homesteading can be extremely rewarding even in normal times. It can be empowering to grow food, raise your own livestock, and provide for the needs of your family without depending completely on outside resources. And the good thing about building your homestead now is that whenever SHTF, you will be that much farther ahead than everyone else. 
If you own land whether it be a quarter acre or one hundred acres, you can create your own homestead. The essence of homesteading is to focus on increasing what you’re able to produce yourself and reducing the number of store-bought things you consume. How you do this, to what extent, and in what order, is totally up to you and will depend on your long-term vision for your homestead. Once you have your land, here’s what to do next to use your homestead efficiently without blowing a hole in your savings account. 
Over the winter and spring, a huge earthworks project was underway here at the farm. Just last week the big excavator was picked up, and now our farm earthworks for the year is complete! The new Homesteady farm now has new roads, 3 times as much pasture as before, beautiful views, and tons of firewood! 
On the farm this week we successfully planted an entire orchard in just a few hours! How did we get so much work done in so little time? With an on-farm workshop! On-farm workshops are a great way to help a farmer get a lot of work done in a timely manner, and a great way for farm dreamers and homesteady types looking to spend some time living the farm life get some real hands on experience. 
