I'm trying to collect techniques to live off the grid. I believe that because I live in a big city it will impossible to live 100% off the grid. But still I would like to do as much as possible to live with less dependence on big companies.
What is your favorite method?
You know, when I read the title, I pictured you as some hippy conspiracy theory nut, living off the grid, so the Alien Government won't find you. ;-)
http://www.livingoffgrid.orgI'm trying to collect techniques to live off the grid. I believe that because I live in a big city it will impossible to live 100% off the grid. But still I would like to do as much as possible to live with less dependence on big companies.
What is your favorite method?
How big are we talking? Or more specifically, how dense? Do you have yard or roof access? Do you own your home? Those are important constraints on what's feasible—if you don't own your building, you probably can't install solar panels, and if you have no outdoor space, there's only so much gardening you can do in window pots.
With a yard, you can raise chickens or bees (you can also stick beehives on a roof). These are legal in many major cities; many other cities will look the other way as long as your critters don't disturb your neighbors. And while there's probably a limit to how much honey and eggs you need, if you have enough surplus, both can be sold or traded.
Remember though that the soil in many urban areas is likely to be contaminated with lead and other chemicals, so if you're planning on any urban farming (including raising animals), get your soil tested!
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You know, when I read the title, I pictured you as some hippy conspiracy theory nut, living off the grid, so the Alien Government won't find you. ;-)
YOU NEED TO GET OFF THE GRID THEY WILL FIND YOU NOW!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not the only one who thinks so David Icke does as well. He and I know the truth. Don't take the shots, try and avoid cameras, they are watching us!!!!!!!
Damn! I knew they were here already!!!
puts on fire retardant tinfoil suit
http://www.livingoffgrid.orgI'm trying to collect techniques to live off the grid. I believe that because I live in a big city it will impossible to live 100% off the grid. But still I would like to do as much as possible to live with less dependence on big companies.
What is your favorite method?
Living off the grid, huh? Well, I live in brooklyn, but there are a few ways...
1. Ditch cable. This is basic, but it's one big thing you can do. Despite the switch to digital tv, any old school dial can get at least channels FOX, PIX and some public access. Or ditch TV entirely and go for radio. Or learn how to play a musical instrument yourself. Or read the paper, although that also props up another industry.
2. Get a cell phone. Sorry, but you really do need one- just go with the same company as the one that manages the land lines in your area to minimize that particular footprint. Still, go retro and use one that you put money on via a card or a dial up service. If you want to go completely retro, just buy cards. With cash. Which brings us to...
3. No bank account. Horribly inconvient, but there are several check cashing places that result in a smaller paper trail if you use a different one each time. Just realize they will be taking a little bit out of your check when they cash it. Or you can request to be paid in cash, if possible.
4. No car. In Brooklyn, this is relatively easy. My preferred method is to go by bike, but there are always trains and buses. And if you need to get out of town, use the various no-questions-asked-cash-only bus lines in Manhattan that are primarily run by chinese folks.
5. Internet cafe only. Got this one from one of my favorite(and paranoid) RPG's, Hunter The Reckoning. Free e-mail accounts are a dime a dozen, and most internet cafes have better deals when it comes to service than they did a few years ago.
6. Rooftop garden/farm. If you own your own home or have access to the roof of your building, consider converting it to a garden. You'll have to be careful of weight restrictions(dirt is heavy), but if you keep it small scale, you'll have enough to feed yourself and eat cheap for a month or two(if its yourself) or a week or two(if you're feeding your family). Stay away from high yield stuff actually(beans, rice, berries etc)- unless you're going to sell your excess, you'll never harvest it all by yourself. Stick with stuff that you can grow, pluck one or two off for a meal, and then return to later on and/or store the rest(pumpkins, tomatoes, squash, some types of melon, etc). Get ready to eat a lot of the same thing, unfortunately. Also, be sure to rotate your crops for both the seasons and the soil.
7. No electricity. Wash your dishes by hand. Use candles or ambient lighting from outside whenever possible. Use laundromats instead of your own machine. Go to bed comparitively early(no later than 10 PM) to get used to the fact that you're primarily a solar creature now. Need to write something? Pen(not pencil, which smudges too easily) and paper(and make sure that your storage areas for such things are off the floor to avoid making a nest for mice and other vermin, and away from light so it doesn't get faded. I'd say make your own ink, but that might be going a little TOO far. Read books and magazines, not pdf's, obviously.
8. No guns. Stupid, right? But there are extensive records of who buys what at gun stores, and some companies make money off of that information(heard this from a paranoid friend of mine, so I don't know for sure). Also, ammo usually isn't cheap. Learn how to make your own bow and arrow, spear, or some other melee weapon. If all else fails, learn martial arts, particularly a style that has an option for something close-handed.
9. No bottled water. In Brooklyn, this is easy to do. Drink straight from the tap, or get a water filter, which is, again, not as expensive as it used to be. If you're outside of the city, see about setting up a still of some kind.
10. Cook your own food. This seems obvious(and it also goes with #6), but once again, I live in Brooklyn so it may not be as easy as it is for me, particularly if you want to avoid relying on big businesses. Learn how to make dough and bake your own bread. Check out local farms and see if you can buy a couple of eggs and some milk(as well as fruits and veggies if you really don't want to or can't do #6). If you're a hunter, you probably already know how to skin and prepare game for storage and eating. If not and you are fortunate to live near a body of water, see if you can fish. With those covered, you have the basic food groups and should be okay for a while.
Is your goal independence from large corporations or anonymity? If it's the former, I would make some slightly different recommendations:
3. No bank account: Try a credit union instead—it's owned by its members, so your money stays in the community, and interest rates are often better.
5. Internet cafe only: Or cheaper yet, use free public library internet!
Minor tweaks:
2. Get a cell phone:Get a family plan with responsible friends.
6. Rooftop garden/farm: Learn to preserve food, too! And consider, when planting, both what foods are always going to be radically cheaper and easier to just buy (grains, rice, etc. vs. berries or herbs), and what foods taste much better when really fresh (tomatoes, berries, peas).
And don't forget to harvest public food sources! Difficult in Brooklyn, but shockingly easy in Seattle, where city parks and even traffic roundabouts are planted with fruit trees, and you can scavenge for fruit, greens, and even seafood at larger parks.
7. Wash your dishes by hand: The money you save by washing dishes by hand you'll pay out in increased water usage. So I'd keep the dishwasher unless you're trying to completely avoid buying electricity.
Is your goal independence from large corporations or anonymity? If it's the former, I would make some slightly different recommendations:
Heh, yeah... I admit I kinda went in a survivalist direction a bit. Still, you have some excellent points...
3. No bank account: Try a credit union instead—it's owned by its members, so your money stays in the community, and interest rates are often better.
Someone I love very much gave me this advice YEARS ago and I'm still kicking myself for not following it.
5. Internet cafe only: Or cheaper yet, use free public library internet!
A great idea, but depending on where you live an internet cafe might be more accessible(and cleaner).
Minor tweaks:
2. Get a cell phone:Get a family plan with responsible friends.
Just be sure to check out the plan before you sign- they've gotten shiftier now that we all really do need cell phones.
6. Rooftop garden/farm: Learn to preserve food, too! And consider, when planting, both what foods are always going to be radically cheaper and easier to just buy (grains, rice, etc. vs. berries or herbs), and what foods taste much better when really fresh (tomatoes, berries, peas).
Yeah, I should have mentioned the preserving part instead of just implying it. Also, when it comes to learning how to cook and such, pies and fruit breads are your best bet when it comes to using the last of a fruit or veggie that is on it's last legs in terms of freshness.
And don't forget to harvest public food sources! Difficult in Brooklyn, but shockingly easy in Seattle, where city parks and even traffic roundabouts are planted with fruit trees, and you can scavenge for fruit, greens, and even seafood at larger parks.
I did NOT know that about Seattle- that's hot. Just be careful if you happen to be near someone's squat or if you actually aren't on public property(happens a lot more often in Seattle than Brooklyn, I'm sure). And invest in a book that goes over healthy vs. not-so-healthy berries, just because birds are eating it doesn't mean we can(as I discovered as a child).
7. Wash your dishes by hand: The money you save by washing dishes by hand you'll pay out in increased water usage. So I'd keep the dishwasher unless you're trying to completely avoid buying electricity.
A great overlooked point, but one that may vary wildly depending on where you live and how you do it- in Panama we used to soak everything in a bucket or half a sink before cleaning it, which reduced the water usage considerably. Also, depending on your culture, you could just eat off of edible plates.
http://www.livingoffgrid.orgI'm trying to collect techniques to live off the grid. I believe that because I live in a big city it will impossible to live 100% off the grid. But still I would like to do as much as possible to live with less dependence on big companies.
What is your favorite method?
Living off the grid, huh? Well, I live in brooklyn, but there are a few ways...
There are a great many ways around the firearms issues, but if you want to have a fire arm legally in NYC then I suggest you research the many many laws very very carefully.
#1 Golden Rule: Don't use Facebook
#2 Golden Rule: Don't use Google.
:P
There are a great many ways around the firearms issues, but if you want to have a fire arm legally in NYC then I suggest you research the many many laws very very carefully.
http://www.livingoffgrid.orgI'm trying to collect techniques to live off the grid. I believe that because I live in a big city it will impossible to live 100% off the grid. But still I would like to do as much as possible to live with less dependence on big companies.
What is your favorite method?
Living off the grid, huh? Well, I live in brooklyn, but there are a few ways...
Oh no, my friend was referring to the copious amounts of easily tracable paperwork surrounding owning a gun in general, not necessarily breaking the law. I'm rather anti-gun actually, and I enjoy strict laws for my area, although I would not necessarily force them upon others who live in other states.
#1 Golden Rule: Don't use Facebook
THEY'LL NEVER FIND ME!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Oh no, my friend was referring to the copious amounts of easily tracable paperwork surrounding owning a gun in general, not necessarily breaking the law. I'm rather anti-gun actually, and I enjoy strict laws for my area, although I would not necessarily force them upon others who live in other states.There are a great many ways around the firearms issues, but if you want to have a fire arm legally in NYC then I suggest you research the many many laws very very carefully.
http://www.livingoffgrid.orgI'm trying to collect techniques to live off the grid. I believe that because I live in a big city it will impossible to live 100% off the grid. But still I would like to do as much as possible to live with less dependence on big companies.
What is your favorite method?
Living off the grid, huh? Well, I live in brooklyn, but there are a few ways...
Federal law doesn't mandate documenting private transfers of non class 3 weapons, so there are plenty of legal and paperless ways to transfer firearms. State and local laws are far more numerous and complicated.
Federal law doesn't mandate documenting private transfers of non class 3 weapons, so there are plenty of legal and paperless ways to transfer firearms. State and local laws are far more numerous and complicated.Oh no, my friend was referring to the copious amounts of easily tracable paperwork surrounding owning a gun in general, not necessarily breaking the law. I'm rather anti-gun actually, and I enjoy strict laws for my area, although I would not necessarily force them upon others who live in other states.There are a great many ways around the firearms issues, but if you want to have a fire arm legally in NYC then I suggest you research the many many laws very very carefully.
http://www.livingoffgrid.orgI'm trying to collect techniques to live off the grid. I believe that because I live in a big city it will impossible to live 100% off the grid. But still I would like to do as much as possible to live with less dependence on big companies.
What is your favorite method?
Living off the grid, huh? Well, I live in brooklyn, but there are a few ways...
Intriguing. I did not know this. I also briefly forgot who I was talking to, so I put more stock in your word than my rather paranoid friend.
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http://www.livingoffgrid.orgI'm trying to collect techniques to live off the grid. I believe that because I live in a big city it will impossible to live 100% off the grid. But still I would like to do as much as possible to live with less dependence on big companies.
What is your favorite method?
1. Exercise Bikes fitted with Alternators to charge the House Batteries while you and the Family watch TV.
2. Grow your own Firewood and cook with it (hard/nigh impossible in cities) Coffee Bush/Mimosa Pigra (Thorns on this one) are good thicketing Tree Species. Ideal for Firewood Harvesting.3. Wood Fire Stove. Reduces the amount of electricity you spend on Food production.
4. Salvage old Car Batterys and sell them for scrap - get new Rechargable Car Batteries for your Personal/household Power Supply.
5. If you have the flu...eat a hot chilli, some ginger and garlic. It will save you the expense of medicines. I was getting the flu once a year until I started on chilli, Ginger, and Garlic. Now killer Influenza gives me a week long headache but goes away.
Living off the grid, huh? Well, I live in brooklyn, but there are a few ways...
1. Ditch cable. This is basic, but it's one big thing you can do. Despite the switch to digital tv, any old school dial can get at least channels FOX, PIX and some public access. Or ditch TV entirely and go for radio. Or learn how to play a musical instrument yourself. Or read the paper, although that also props up another industry.
2. Get a cell phone. Sorry, but you really do need one- just go with the same company as the one that manages the land lines in your area to minimize that particular footprint. Still, go retro and use one that you put money on via a card or a dial up service. If you want to go completely retro, just buy cards. With cash. Which brings us to...
3. No bank account. Horribly inconvient, but there are several check cashing places that result in a smaller paper trail if you use a different one each time. Just realize they will be taking a little bit out of your check when they cash it. Or you can request to be paid in cash, if possible.
4. No car. In Brooklyn, this is relatively easy. My preferred method is to go by bike, but there are always trains and buses. And if you need to get out of town, use the various no-questions-asked-cash-only bus lines in Manhattan that are primarily run by chinese folks.
5. Internet cafe only. Got this one from one of my favorite(and paranoid) RPG's, Hunter The Reckoning. Free e-mail accounts are a dime a dozen, and most internet cafes have better deals when it comes to service than they did a few years ago.
6. Rooftop garden/farm....
Excellent list of suggestions. I'm going to use these as appropriate.
I'm really want to learn about hydroponics, and green houses; it would be great to be able to survive without a grocery store. But I know very little about the subject at this moment.
4. Salvage old Car Batterys and sell them for scrap - get new Rechargable Car Batteries for your Personal/household Power Supply.
Excellent list. I'll have to see how I can work this stuff in. #4 worries me however, I don't really want old car batteries around as they are toxic...
Ok. Here is a question.
I was standing in queue at a store (I know), and started talking about trying to grow food using Hydroponics. Well, this guy tells me to be careful because the equipment and lights generate a lot of heat, and law enforcement offices sometimes send out helicopters (black I assume) with heat detection equipment to specifically find houses that are TOO hot. He said this 'heat signal' is an indication of drugs being "created", so if I get into Hydroponics food production I should expect a visit from the police.
Has anyone heard of this before?
Artificial Intelligence in Games, what is your motive for getting of the grid, and how far off it do you want to get?
If your intent is to reduce your reliance money and purchased good, what you'll need to do is fairly different to dropping out of the paper trail.
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Has anyone heard of this before?
Detroit, for one example, is filled with abandoned homes and businesses that local entrepeneurs use as 'growhouses.' A couple hundred pot plants are raised under lights, and a computer with an internet connection and some webcams sits in the house. If the police raid the house (having detected the heat from the grow lights in an aerial pass or from the ground with a truck or car mounted sensor), the internet connection is cut, and they give it up for lost, as it's cheaper than having a person stay with the crop.
Once they can see that it's ready for harvest, via the webcams, they move in and clear it out in a single night. The entire process is automated, so that they only need to risk people getting caught at the very beginning, during setup, and at the very end, during harvest.
[I'm not actually clear about the watering. Apparently that's automated somehow too...]
So yeah, houses that appear 'too hot' will get scoped out by the police as possible growhouses, depending on where you live.
In Oklahoma, there were fallow fields from failed farms all over the place, usually overgrown with some six foot local 'jimson grass' or something, and the pot farmers would drive out into the center of those fields and cut down an acre swath, plant their pot, and leave it to grow, completely invisible from any surrounding roads, since the wild grass around it was so much taller. Police planes would spot these little green squares in the middle of big brown fields, and send in the locals. Same basic process. The owner of the property would generally have no clue about this activity, since those fields had been abandoned for years, and the police would get to seize product, but rarely ever the actual growers.
Apparently, there's a cooking process involved in the manufacture of meth as well (and I'm guessing it's not real safe, considering how many trailer homes explode during the making of it each year), so that might be yet another reason why a 'too hot' house might get a visit from the police, but it seems less likely to me that that sort of periodic heating would be as noticeable, since many houses have periodic 'cooking' going on of more legal stuff, like cookies or roast chicken...
I would imagine that more diffuse heat throughout entire rooms, and more constant heat over the course of a day, or multiple days, would be the sorts of signs that would lead to warrants being served.
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4. Salvage old Car Batterys and sell them for scrap - get new Rechargable Car Batteries for your Personal/household Power Supply.Excellent list. I'll have to see how I can work this stuff in. #4 worries me however, I don't really want old car batteries around as they are toxic...
Drain them through a tub of charcoal (bin the charcoal after) and dry out the car batteries before delivering them to the recycler. There is a degree of toxicity but it is low (as low as walking down a street full of cars in a traffic jam).
5. Make Charcoal - you do this by chopping up firewood and putting it in a metal bin with a metal lid taking time to light a fire at the bottom of the bin.
NP?
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Living off the grid, huh? Well, I live in brooklyn, but there are a few ways...
1. Ditch cable. This is basic, but it's one big thing you can do. Despite the switch to digital tv, any old school dial can get at least channels FOX, PIX and some public access. Or ditch TV entirely and go for radio. Or learn how to play a musical instrument yourself. Or read the paper, although that also props up another industry.
2. Get a cell phone. Sorry, but you really do need one- just go with the same company as the one that manages the land lines in your area to minimize that particular footprint. Still, go retro and use one that you put money on via a card or a dial up service. If you want to go completely retro, just buy cards. With cash. Which brings us to...
3. No bank account. Horribly inconvient, but there are several check cashing places that result in a smaller paper trail if you use a different one each time. Just realize they will be taking a little bit out of your check when they cash it. Or you can request to be paid in cash, if possible.
4. No car. In Brooklyn, this is relatively easy. My preferred method is to go by bike, but there are always trains and buses. And if you need to get out of town, use the various no-questions-asked-cash-only bus lines in Manhattan that are primarily run by chinese folks.
5. Internet cafe only. Got this one from one of my favorite(and paranoid) RPG's, Hunter The Reckoning. Free e-mail accounts are a dime a dozen, and most internet cafes have better deals when it comes to service than they did a few years ago.
6. Rooftop garden/farm....
Excellent list of suggestions. I'm going to use these as appropriate.
I'm really want to learn about hydroponics, and green houses; it would be great to be able to survive without a grocery store. But I know very little about the subject at this moment.
As long as you are not growing pot...I suggest making Charcoal, getting broken Pottery or clay gravel, and some sandy loam and mixing it in a bin and using large 6& 1/2" Pipe (the pink sewer pipe) and one of those assemble your own Shelf unit with the metal frames and cut a 90 degree canal in them and resin/screw on the end caps. You can sit them in the frame in Pairs on each shelf level and fill them with the growing mix.
Try low priority Herbs first -Basil, Ginger, Garlic.A Clear plastic/mylar canopy to encase it all. Maybe some shade cloth.
This is a low cost beginning.