The coming collapse....

How we start our morning-
in spite of glitches!

It has happened!  Well, at least it has happened in this "little shouse on the prairie".  When I got up this morning, I went to the kitchen and filled my electric tea kettle with fresh water so that I could brew our morning pot of tea.  I pushed the button, if fired up and then suddenly turned itself off.  As the tea kettle shut down, the refrigerator shuddered to a stop and then, from the bathroom, came the screaming of the inverter, indicating that it, too, was shutting down due to low battery voltage.  It's just another day "liven' the dream"!

Typically in the summer, we never have to worry about not having enough power.  The sun shines high overhead, the panels convert the UV into power and we have an endless stream of energy to run our little shouse.  This year has been a little different.  While the majority of United States bakes in an unrelenting hothouse, we are experiencing cooler than normal weather with numerous cloudy, blustery days.  Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, since I would take the opportunity to run the generator on cloudy days and get caught up on laundry.  But, as one quickly learns when they are off-grid, there is no such thing as normal.  As I have mentioned before, we need a new carburetor on our generator, but, like so many other things in life, it gets put on hold when it is not giving us trouble.  Our generator has been put on hold long enough that it is starting to rebel.  I am able to run the generator long enough to pump water once or twice a day, but not long enough to do laundry and subsequently charge our batteries.

Our poor generator!

Our tired battery bank

Truthfully, if the was only one breakdown in our off-grid system, we could probably absorb it with little inconvenience, but, the reality is, when you are off-grid, there is never  just one glitch - they come in batches.  Not only is our generator complaining, our battery bank is tired.  Rather than storing all of that wonderful sun when the weather is good, our battery bank is storing only enough to last about a day, which means one day of bad weather puts us at the mercy of our generator.  And so, this vicious cycle leads us to this morning's failures.  We have experienced the collapse.

Luckily, having lived off-grid for over ten years, this is nothing new.  Really, it's nothing more than a minor inconvenience.  Today, I will haul out the James Washer and my wash tubs, and get started on that laundry that is piling up (which will work out quite well, as I will take a lot of pictures and do a product review on the James!).  We will revert back to conservation mode and only use the electricity that is absolutely essential.  Out will come the kerosene lamps and the children will be thrilled with our "non-electric" adventure.

The truth of the matter is this couldn't have come at a better time.  It is easy to become complacent when everything is humming along with no complications.  This was our wake-up call.  Now is the time to get everything in good working order, while we still can.  Now is the time to get a back-up generator and a new carburetor for the generator we have.  Now is the time to recycle the thousands of pounds of batteries in our shed and buy a reliable battery bank.  We have been given a little nudge.  Now is the time to heed the call so we won't be left in the dark when we experience a true collapse.

Instead of complaining about yet another hitch in our git-along, I am going to embrace the challenge.  I am going to use this time to learn, refine and prepare.  If and when a real collapse descends upon us, I am going to meet it head-on and be grateful for all of the hitches in our git-alongs that got us here.

Off-grid Kids

I forget sometimes that we don't live an ordinary, suburban lifestyle.  Having lived off the grid for over ten years, I don't always remember that our normal isn't everyones normal.  When we moved into our  shouse with no electricity, running water or flushing toilets, Maid Elizabeth was 11 years old.  Master Hand Grenade was 4 and Miss Calamity 1.  Princess Dragon Snack and Master Calvin were nothing more than longed for dreams.  There was a distinct period of adjustment for this formerly suburban family, but we dug in and made the best of our chosen situation.  The first winter in our Shouse was wonderfully quiet.  With no electric refrigerator humming, no radios or televisions providing background noise and no computer demanding attention, our evenings were filled with family dinners, reading books aloud (by lamp light) snuggling under heavy blankets and sipping hot cocoa.  Truthfully, once we got past the withdrawals from the modern world, we were content, peaceful and productive.  Of all the children, only Maid Elizabeth remembered another life, but being 11, she viewed our new life as one huge adventure.  Master Hand Grenade and Miss Calamity grew up with the soothing hiss of the Coleman lanterns, thinking everyone lived this way.  They realized very early that they were never to leave the water running, because we would run out and have to start the generator.  They learned to wash their faces, hands and feet before they went to bed so they didn't get their sheets dirty.  Maid Elizabeth became my right hand, facing ferocious weather while digging a milk cow out of a mud hole, braving sub-zero temperatures to help me jump-start a fussy diesel generator and baking cookies, pies, cakes and everything else you can imagine in a wood cookstove to serve to our continual stream of guests.

Eleven years later, we are still off-grid, however our circumstances are much changed.  No longer do we enjoy the soothing sound of Coleman lanterns, but our shouse is lit by efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.  Our silent propane refrigerator has been replaced by a noisy electric model.  Ipods, television and computers have invaded our once quiet household.  From time to time, I actually forget that we are not "normal".  Solar panels, a reliable generator and a huge battery bank lull me into a false sense of normalcy....and then, my kids go a-visting.

While spending the night with our very dear friends, Princess Dragon Snack and Miss Calamity were preparing to take a bath.  After the water had been turned on, allowing the tub to fill, Princess Dragon Snack turned to the friend they were staying with and asked, "why isn't your generator on?  How do you get water?".  At this point, Miss Calamity and her friend tried to explain that they had power so they didn't need a generator.  Still not quite understanding, Princess Dragon Snack pressed on.  "Yes, but where does your water come from?".  Again, the girls tried to explain.  They told her about power poles and how that brings power to a persons home and how that power runs the pump that brings in the water.  Although she didn't fully understand, Princess Dragon Snack accepted their answer, took her bath and wondered at the miracle of power lines.

The next day, I picked Miss Calamity and Princess Dragon Snack up at our friends house, and the first thing Princess Dragon Snack said was "Mom - did you know they don't have a generator?!  They get their water from the power-light poles!".  It was an amazing concept to our off-grid kid.  For weeks after, every time we went to town Princess Dragon Snack would say "Look - they have power-light poles!  They don't have a generator!".

What our children consider normal is very different from what the rest of the world would consider normal.  Our three year old knows when the choke needs to be adjusted on the generator and how to turn it off "all by his lonesome".  Our six year old wonders where everybody else's solar panels are.  Our 12 year old climbs on the roof to wipe snow off the panels in the winter.  Our 15 year old knows how to change the oil, service and maintain about three different types of generators.  Our 22 year old could run an entire household with nothing more than a wood cookstove, some stored foods and a Coleman lantern.  These are not your typical, suburban kids.  These are true, died-in-the-wool off-grid kids.

Simple Survival

Having lived off the grid for over ten years, running the gamut from completely non-electric to a fairly technical hybrid solar system, I have come to understand the complexities of real survivability in an extended grid-down situation.

The more complex our off-grid system has become, the more convinced I am that the simpler your system, the more viable it will be long term.  I have also realized that the more components that make up your system, the more fragile and prone to failure it is.  If any one system ceases to function, or function properly, it will affect the entire system.  Our photovoltaic system is a perfect example.  Our solar panels work wonderfully, however, the first day we installed our charge controller, it malfunctioned.  We installed a new charge controller, which worked perfectly, but about a year later, one of our two inverters quit functioning properly.  Without both inverters, we were no longer able to produce 220 volts, making pumping water from our well impossible, without a generator.  We have had generators fail, batteries lose cells and wind turbines fall out of the sky.  Our system is incredibly vulnerable.  If any one component fails, our entire system fails.  If you look to the power grid to provide your household electrical needs, your vulnerability is increased tenfold.  Our system, however primitive, has only five components capable of failing.  The power grid has hundreds.

Ultimately, you can spends thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars on alternative energy, and you will still be quite vulnerable to complete system failure.  Looking to our forefathers for inspiration will yield a much more sustainable lifestyle that will provide our families with not just the ability to survive for the long term, but the tools and knowledge to flourish.  When considering a grid-down lifestyle, you may want to consider old fashioned alternatives versus high-tech options.  Here are some things that Sir Knight and I have discussed:

1.  Water:  Gravity fed is always optimal, of course, but when that is unavailable, low tech options are best.  Hand pumps for your well, water filters for ground water and water catchment systems are low tech, practical options.  When you rely on two inverters (like we do), if one fails, you are out of luck.  If you rely on your generator (like we do), running out of fuel or having your generator break down will really ruin your day.

2.  Food Storage:  Root cellars are great!  They are practical, time tested, reliable methods of storing food for the long term.  Keeping canned goods in a root cellar will increase their shelf life and your root crops will last all winter in their most nutritious state.  You can keep many foods fresh longer in a root cellar.  They require no power and very little maintenance.  Everyone should have one!

3.  Food Storage II:  An ice house would be an incredible, wonderful luxury.  With a little pre-planning, it is very attainable.  Milk, butter and other dairy products will keep well, even in the heat of summer, in a well insulated ice house.  Your lemonade and iced tea would actually have ice in it.  Ice cream wouldn't be an unheard of treat.

4.  Food Storage III:  Creating a "winter refrigerator" is a convenient, do-able idea.  Sir Knight plans on cutting holes in the back of our well insulated refrigerator and plumbing it to the outside, so that, when it is cool in the winter, we have the ability to open the holes in the back of the refrigerator and let the outside air cool our food.  Low tech and non-electric, it is a wonderful food storage option for the cooler winter months.

5.  Hot Water:  Plumbing a hot water tank into your wood cookstove provides free domestic hot water.  It too, is low tech, using only plumbing, not gas or electricity, just natural convection.

6.  Waste Management:  Everyone, and I mean everyone, should have an outhouse!  Very few folks will be able to keep up with a water supply capable of running a toilet.  An outhouse is a very sanitary method for dealing with the call of nature.  It would be by far less expense to build the Taj Mahal of outhouses than it would be to have an alternative energy system capable of running basic plumbing.

7.  Lighting:  Having a number of high quality kerosene lanterns and a supply of fuel, having candles and knowing how to make them, or utilizing a very simple 12 volt solar system (not requiring inverters) are preferable to a solar system like ours, that requires inverters, huge battery banks and charge controllers.

All said and done, we have learned a huge amount in our off-grid adventure.  One of the most valuable lessons has been "the simpler, the better".  We will keep our off-grid system, however, we will make a concerted effort to simplify.  Sir Knight is collecting all of the cables necessary to rewire our system to bypass the charge controller and inverters, if need be.  We are planning our root cellar and ice house.  An outhouse is on the books.  We have been stocking up on wick, fuel and spare parts for our kerosene lamps and lanterns.  Redundancy is good, but simple is better.

Essential Preparedness Tools of the Trade Part V - Attitude in Adversity

The generator pulled my chain this morning - again.  It's a great little beast, however, it does have some carburetor issues that need to be addressed.  Sometimes our generator purrs like a kitten and sometimes, no matter what I do, I can't keep the thing running.  Today, was one of those days.

My great desire is to be a woman with a quiet and gentle spirit.  I long to meet adversity face to face, smile gracefully, and do the next thing.  The reality of me is something different.  I get frustrated and irritated and start murmuring.  I think "no one else has to mess with their stupid generator" or "if only we would have taken care of this when we should have, this wouldn't have happened".  I become discontent and my focus becomes "poor me", making me ineffective in taking care of the business at hand.

As I sat stewing about my current problem, I started thinking about the life that we have been preparing for.  We have been stocking up on food, communications equipment, weapons and ammunition.  We have been cultivating skills to serve us in a grid down situation.  We have been canning, shooting and deepening our faith.  But, have we been molding our attitudes to deal with adversity?  Do we meet adversity with quiet faith and a can-do attitude, or do we moan and complain and say "it's not fair"!  Do we stomp our feet and throw a fit or do we stare adversity down and come out victorious?

Today, I decided to quit stomping my feet like a spoiled child.  A broken generator and living 10 years off the grid have taught me that adversity is a way of life.  Much more important than the adversity that comes my way is how I handle that adversity - that is the real test.  

It occurred to me that one of our greatest assets for a preparedness lifestyle is our attitude.  We can all have a great attitude when everything is going well and life runs smoothly - but the rubber meets the road when the difficult things happen.  We can choose to make our life easier or more difficult when adversity comes our way.  We can choose to throw a temper tantrum or we can choose to make the best out of whatever life throws at us.

Later this morning, after I had talked to God about my attitude, I tackled the generator again.  I filled it with fuel, leveled it out and pushed the power button.  You know what?  It purred like a kitten!  

My love/hate relationship with generators

I love our generator.  I hate our generator.  No, I am not bi-polar, I just have a love/hate relationship with these mechanical beasts.

Years ago, when we jumped off the cliff and went off-grid, we had a 5kw generator that we had bought at Costco prior to Y2K.  It didn't even live through the construction of our shouse.  Luckily, it was still under warranty so we took it back and were refunded our money.  We decided to buy what we thought would be a workhorse - literally.  It was a Workhorse China Diesel 10kw.  Our thoughts were that it was big enough to run our whole house plus charge our forklift batteries.  It was an interesting adventure right off the bat.  It didn't come with much of a manual and the booklet that did come with it had been translated (poorly) from Chinese - word for word.  After Sir Knight and my Dad filled all of the fluids, checked the belts and hoses and fired it up, it ran great - until they decided to shut it down.  Nowhere were there directions on shutting it off!  Nothing!  Both my husband and my father are mechanically inclined and neither one of them could figure it out.  Finally, after exhausting all other avenues, they unhooked the fuel lines and let it run out of diesel.  That, of course, wasn't the best option, because diesels don't like to be run dry, but, it was the only option at the time.

Eventually, after much fiddling, we had the china diesel up and running.  It had a Murphy Switch that was supposed to shut the generator down in case of low oil or high temperature, but it didn't work, so we just kept a close eye on the gages.

The china diesel kept us running for about two years.  It ran our well pump, our washing machine, our few lights and charged our batteries.  It leaked like a sieve and was fussy, at best, but it kept us chugging along.  After two years, it developed an oil leak in the main seal.  China diesels are designed to be worked on, but apparently not by Americans.  The access points are inaccessible, the components nearly impossible to find and if you do find a part and replace it, it will NEVER work correctly again.  The electrical panel shook so hard that it broke soldered wires off.  Sir Knight removed it, rewired it and mounted it to a wall.  He was never able to completely fix the leak in the main seal so for six months we put oil in it every time we started it.  Finally, one oil leak too many, and it threw a rod.  I think I was actually thankful.  No more putting up with that leaky, noisy, fussy contraption!

Our next generator adventure came in the form of a 1969 10kw Hercules Military Diesel.  It was military - it should hold up to anything, right?  We bought it from a dealer in Montana, and right away, Sir Knight had his suspicions.  He changed the oil before we cranked it up and noticed little silver specs.  We called the dealer that we had bought it from and he said to run it and see how it did.  It lasted about 3 months.  The silver specs in oil meant that the engine was shot.  It threw a rod.  I was doing laundry and heard it go.  I thought "no woman should know what an engine sounds like when it throws a rod", but I did.  When Sir Knight got home that evening, I delivered the cheery news.  We called the dealer and he arranged to send us another one and pick the dead one up.

On a cold, rainy, swampy day in late fall, our second 10kw Hercules generator rolled up our driveway on a delivery truck.  I was so excited.  We had been without power for almost two months and I had been hauling water and doing laundry by hand.  We had reverted back to Coleman lanterns and I was feeling positively pioneerish.  As the delivery driver was loading the new generator on his pallet jack we were chatting about how wonderful the new generator was going to be.  He slid the pallet with the generator onto the jack, mentioned that he hated that jack because it didn't have any brakes, and proceeded to drop the generator, jack and all, off the back of his truck.  I almost cried.  My beautiful new generator, was in a million pieces on the cold, wet ground.

Another call to the dealer yielded yet one more machine (he must have bought a lot of them at an auction).  This one was delivered with no mishaps and at least didn't have metal in the oil.  Sir Knight got it up and running and we were in business.  This generator even had a cold weather kit, so it started much easier in the cold weather.   The generator ran well, most of the time, but like any mechanical tool, it had it's moments.  It was with this third military generator that I became a diesel mechanic.  Not really, of course, but I can trouble shoot a diesel engine or an alternator with the best of them!  Finally, this generator too, succumbed to the fate of all generators that call this place home.  It died.  I was a little gleeful at it's funeral.  In fact, I even asked Sir Knight if I could put a couple of rounds through it with my shotgun.  He wouldn't let me.

We were once again generator-less, which meant power-less.  This time, my folks came to our rescue.  They loaned us their little Honda 5kw generator.  I loved that generator.  No, really.  It always ran.  Always.  It wasn't enough to power everything, but it worked it's little heart out.  I couldn't do laundry and run the industrial power charger at the same time, but I didn't care.  At least it ran.

We ran it to death.  Really, we did.  It lost it's muffler.  Sir Knight bolted it back on.  It fell off again.  We propped it up.  Finally we used a come-along to hold the muffler onto the engine.  Poor thing looked like a redneck generator.  Well, I guess it was.  It was the little generator that could.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.  It always did.  And then, it gave up the ghost.  It was quiet about dying - no loud moaning or throwing rods through it's engine.  One day, it just wouldn't start.  I know I can't, I know I can't, I know I can't.  Mom and Dad didn't want it back.  Go figure.

An Onan Emerald caught our eye.  By this time, we had 2150 watts of solar, so we weren't quite so dependant on our generator.  The little Onan was a 5kw, but it had a huge generator head.  We thought we would give it a try.  It started right up, after not having been run in over two years, but it had a few pops and hiccups here and there.  We ran it for a while, loved the power that it generated and decided this might be the one.  Then it died.  Not really, it was just old and needed a little TLC.  In the meantime, our dear friends let us use their Honda 5kw.  I know, probably not a good idea, since they know what happened to the one my folks "loaned" us.  But they love us, and let us use it anyway.  It has been a good little beast, a little fussy, but dependable.

Sir Knight has been working on "Emerald".  He adjusted her points (she was way out of wack) and cleaned her carburetor and she is purring like a kitten.  He wants to give her all new fuel lines and a new battery - I think he's in love.

This weekend, we are going to see "Emerald's" competition.  It is another Onan Emerald, but it is a stationary unit rather than a portable.  Our goals is to have a stationary and a back-up.  The rule of threes.  Solar panels, generator and back-up generator.  We'll see how the new emerald looks.

I have a love/hate relationship with generators.  I love them when they work. I hate them when it is 10 below zero with a 15 mile an hour wind and I am trying to beat the starter into the right spot so it will start. I love them when the whole area is out of power and we don't even know it. I hate them when they force me to be a diesel mechanic just so I can have a glass of water or flush the toilet. I love them when they purr. 

Ah, it's just livin' the dream!