November 2011 – My wife Laurie and I have been in our off grid home for exactly one year now. We live in the Okanogan Highlands of Eastern Washington State at an elevation of 4200′. We are both in our late fifties. This past year has not been anything like the condo lifestyle we came from. Although our backgrounds have well prepared us for our late life adventure I could still fill a book with brand new experiences.
Most of our friends and relatives seem to think we have lost a marble or two but that’s okay, we moved so far away we won’t see them for a while anyway.
This past year we have experienced building a home and moving 250 miles away, living off grid with all new unfamiliar systems, record rainfalls, sub zero temperatures, a 4.6 magnitude earthquake, and a forest fire. Our property is almost three miles from the nearest paved road and no neighbors. Well, there is one neighbor, sort of, but he doesn’t talk to us. I don’t think he likes having neighbors. What in the world did we get ourselves into?
We love it here. We have a “view to die for.” We are surrounded by National Forests, lakes, pine, fir, tamarack trees, green grass and sagebrush. It is beautiful the year ’round.
So what about Off Grid? Simply put, off grid means that you are responsible for your own power, water, and sewage disposal. In our case we chose solar power with a backup generator, water from a drilled well, water cisterns, and an onsite septic system.
Each of these three off grid requirements has multiple methods to choose from. For power, you could choose to go without. Some people in this area live with only a small generator for electricity. The three main sources for off grid power are solar (AC or DC), wind power, and hydro power.
For water we chose a drilled well as our main water source with a 220V pump. That’s right. Our solar AC power is both 110v (regular household) and 220v for the pump. We also put three 1200 gallon underground water cisterns in, one at the barn and two at the house. We use the barn cistern to water the horses year round and the two cisterns at the house are for the garden in the summer time. That puts a lot less strain on our solar power to pump water. It only takes about 1 inch of rain to fill the cisterns off our metal roofs.
For sewage disposal we chose an onsite septic system which is the most common. We use it for both gray and brown water. Some people separate the two types of water. The brown water goes to the septic system and gray water may be used to water landscaping, trees, plants, and even gardens. Others get by with a gray system and an outhouse, chemical, or compost toilet. There are many options to choose from for all of these systems. Of course your local Health Department will have something to say about it and you may even have to educate them.
So how do you learn about all of these things and where do you start? I will talk about all of them and more in follow-up blogs in a step by step process that we went through but I can give you a hint right now on where to start………. Commitment. Making a commitment is the first step.
Laurie and I made a decision to change the way we live. There may be others who are “greener” or more “sustainable” than we are but ANY change you make that is better for your health and the planet is worth committing to.
Ed and Laurie Essex live off grid in the Okanogan Highlands of Washington State where they operate their website goodideasforlife.com .
We are in the process of purchasing property in OKanogan county, 10 miles out from Oroville. Our biggest concern is the well, because we aren’t sure it produces water presently. water collection is kind of on and off there isn’t it? Except for snowfall, I”m told there isn’t much rain to collect. Do you grow a garden? What successes have you enjoyed? Your house seems to have no shade, which works for most vegitables, but what about herbs? Do the deer visit your property?
We won’t be living at the property full time, so gardening won’t be practical now. I would like to grow wheat if we can though.
Eventualy we’ll need solar power, can you provide some information about the availability of vendors for those products?
Hello Gayle,
Thanks for contacting us. Congratulations on your property purchase.
There are a couple of things you can do about your water output. You can go online to the Washington State Department of Ecology and research a report on your well. It may be there or it may not. We found ours and a few of our neighbors from wells that were drilled in the ninety’s. Those reports will give you your well output as so many gallons per minute. The other thing you might do is find out who drilled the well and they will have that info as well. You can also contact your local well drillers and ask them about water in your area. They’ll know if it dries up or not. For the most part there is plenty of rain in this area to keep a well going year round.
No, our house doesn’t have any shade around it. Read the blog called Forest Fire and you will see why we don’t have trees next to the house.
This whole area is abundant with wildlife of all kinds. Some of the biggest mule deer in the world migrate down from Canada each fall in your area.
We had a successful garden last year even in the short season. We are just now experimenting with our attached insulated raised beds. We are pretty sure we can grow the year ’round. We have had herbs growing in our little mini greenhouse all winter.
There is a Solar company in Okanogan. A solar store in Tonasket and I used a guy from Idaho for mine. You can see his site at http://offgridnut.com. You can get a lot of information and/or quotes from http://backwoodssolar.com.
Have fun with your property!
Ed Essex
Hi, we are planning on moving off-grid in the upcoming year. We are going to build a new home and I was wondering what things are typically overlooked by folks not accustomed to living off grid?
Hi Ellen,
Many things are different, not the least of which would be making a concerted effort to not be wasteful.
My blogs are all about the things that are different from planning to building to living after construction. Just take a look at Building Tips, some of the Lifestyle blogs, all of the Home and Energy Options, and most of the Misc categories and you will find a lot of what you need to prepare for.
Good Luck!
Ed Essex