Tag: off grid
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🌱 Living Sustainably: Choosing All-Natural, Homemade Products Over Commercial
Happy autumn, friends! I hope this beautiful season finds you enjoying the spoils of harvest and soaking in the colors and scents of nature’s grand finale. The trees are performing their yearly ritual of dazzling transformation—from green to glowing golds, rustic browns, and deep oranges—and I can never get enough. Autumn always sparks my creativity.…
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Midsummer Dreams and Nightmares: Growing Food in a Changing Climate
Realizing dreams and accepting failures while building a food forest Summertime, and the living is indeed easy—especially this year, after our horrendous winter. Beginning in March, the sun’s position realigns with my solar panels, and my generator use plummets. By May, I can turn off the propane heater and use the wood stove for those…
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Grit, Grace, and Renovations: Women Over 50 Are Homesteading Solo
This month’s blog post is coming in under the wire. Spring is always hectic, but this year it has been even more so due to a leaking toilet and a renovation I hadn’t planned on. From the end of April until this very weekend, I have been slowly getting my bathroom back. Although I am…
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Action Absorbs Anxiety
Preparation is the foundation of peace of mind—and every step you take today builds a more resilient tomorrow. Spring as a Fresh Start Thankfully, spring has arrived, bringing a welcome shift after a long, challenging winter. This season always feels like a fresh start to me—not just for the garden, but for all the projects…
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Winter 2025 Just Never Stopped
Surviving an Extreme Winter as a Solo Lady Living Off-Grid (Part 2) I hadn’t planned for this to be a follow-up to my January post, but here we are. Thankfully, I made it to spring! I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see temperatures above freezing and life getting back to normal. I’m…
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Surviving Winter 2025 Off-Grid
No running water. Low on Firewood. Living without fossil fuels is hard. Oh, and how to reset a well pump It’s only January, and it’s already been a tough winter here in upstate New York. Since mid-December, we’ve had relentless snowstorms and frigid temperatures unlike anything I’ve seen in years. I was completely unprepared—and it’s…
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When the Trucks Stop: Becoming A Resilient Citizen
Hello friends! If you read my blog, it’s probably because I either forced you to (thanks, fam) or you are as concerned about our planet as I am. I started this post before the election, but I feel like a lot has changed so I have rewritten it in response. It’s been a difficult and…
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Summer Eco-Prepping Includes a New Manual Push Mower
Happy mid-summer! Is everybody warm enough yet? 2024 is already breaking heat records. Here in upstate New York, the weather has been noticeably wetter these past few years, and we have definitely had many hot days already, but I feel lucky to be in the Northeast comparatively. We are no longer bracing for climate change,…
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Chainsaw Confidence: Tips for Women on Buying, Using, and Maintaining Chainsaws
Chainsaws are powerful handheld tools primarily used for cutting through wood. They can be intimidating if you haven’t used one before. I was very nervous the first time, but with a little guidance and practice, it became a worthwhile skill to have. Since my introduction to the chainsaw when I moved onto my homestead, I…
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15 Truly Essential Essential Oils
Do you remember when you first fell in love with essential oils? Completely acknowledge my age here, but I was in high school and living in England when The Body Shop was the coolest, most awesome shop. I never missed a chance to stop in one. I especially loved the lavender and eucalyptus blend, and…