Off-Grid Living for Agrarians, Part 2

To Read Part 1, Click Here

I apologize that this series is not better organized. It is more "train of thought" since I am typing stuff as it comes to me. Maybe it will work out anyway.

Many people truly believe (either consciously or subconsciously) that it is enough to know the truth, even if you never act on it or obey it. The Bible teaches that to know the truth and not to act on it and obey it is a curse and is the sign of the damned. In every movement of God where he brings His people into greater holiness and separation, there will always be those who try to ride the fence or tread the middle ground. Jesus rebuked this notion that you could follow Him out of the camp while still remaining in it.

Ok, in our first part we discussed the grid system, its purpose (both spiritual and physical) and the results of being enslaved to the world system. We recognized the need to get out of it, and discussed some ways to begin training ourselves to leave that system for good. It is necessary that we know that not only CAN we make it off the grid, but that most of humanity for 6000 year has lived without any electric grid at all. My grandparents lived a good portion of their lives with no electrical power. Electrical dependency is a new phenomena and it is only the historical ignorance, covetousness, and slavish colonized mind of the worldling that convinces him that it will be difficult or impossible to leave the system.

George Clooney's character in the movie Oh, Brother Where art Thou? said this about the soon to come electrical grid:

"Everything's gonna be put on electricity and run on a paying basis. Out with the old spiritual mumbo jumbo, the superstitions, and the backward ways (editors note: this means Christianity and Agrarianism). We're gonna see a brave new world where they run everybody a wire and hook us all up to a grid. Yes, sir, a veritable age of reason. Like the one they had in France. Not a moment too soon."

Of course we know what the age of reason in France eventually produced... a little thing called The Reign of Terror, which claimed 40,000 victims (almost half by guillotine) in about a year. You see, it was a slippery slide... Prior to the Age of Reason, it was believed that all knowledge could only be gained via the Pope and the "church" alone. Next came the Age of Reason which held that all knowledge could be gained via reason alone. Next came the Age of Enlightenment, which held that all knowledge could be gained by the use of reason AND the five senses. Next came the Age of Revolution, that held that reason and the senses were useless unless they existed at the right end of a gun. Next came the Age of Industry, which said that reason and knowledge were only useful in the pursuit of gain... the gain of money, property, riches, "leisure time", etc. Next came the Age of Information, which holds that all of the benefits of all the brilliant and successful previous ages can be had at 1/2 price if everyone will just log on, sign in, and submit; shop at the same stores, wear the same clothers, watch the same shows, bow to the same false "gods". Coming next, of course, is the Age of Judgment, where all of these ideas and all those who succumbed to them will stand before a righteous God.

I digress again...

Ok, so we want to get off-grid, but how? We have to know what we do want, how we want to live, and that it is certainly possible for us to live that way. We have to look past the giants in the land and trust in God and His promises. Sell everything, eradicate debt, try to use every dollar eliminating the future need of more dollars. Study alternate methods of doing everyday tasks. Realize that you are on a journey, and that "off-grid" is not a destination, but a continuous battle. Your battle can start like ours did. We decided to turn off the lights and use them as little as possible. We bought oil lanterns and began to use them when the sun goes down. Since I am recommending oil lamps, there is a point I need to make here... and it will be helpful to consider in your progress and plans. Hopefully this is a helpful digression:

Any solution that requires that you continue indefinitely to buy something that you cannot make or produce on your own, is only a temporary or stop-gap solution. Ask yourself what would happen if some type of "eschaton" or world changing event happened. How long would you be able to keep doing something you are now doing if the world was never again going to revert back to normal? I was talking about lighting, so let me illustrate...

It is not a permanent or final solution to replace grid electricity with kerosene lanterns - unless you can make, or have an endless supply of, kerosene. Unless you can produce kerosene or some other type of burnable, safe, oil... like Olive Oil maybe, then lanterns may not be your solution. Sure you can store kerosene, but you can't store enough and eventually you will run out. This is doubly important to realize when you know what is going on with our petroleum supplies in this world. You cannot count on having ANY petroleum product in the future. Period. So kerosene lanterns are not a permanent solution. Next, ask yourself what your forefathers did.

First, we should point out how our ancestors handled the lighting issue. When it got dark, most of our forefathers went to bed. Although there were folks in previous generations who wrote, sung, laughed, loved, and lived by candlelight - most folks just went to bed. Candles are an option, if you can make them and you can continue to produce the "stuff" from which they are made. We raise pigs, so we can make tallow and fat candles, but they will be precious and we will not want to burn them all up every night. When it is dark, go to bed.

Second, like I said, candles will work, and are a good permanent solution if you can make them. Solar is a good solution, but not a permanent one. In order for solar power to be good for powering lights at night you must have battery storage, and batteries will not last forever. They will have to be replaced. If you have solar power, think of it as a 1-5 year headstart on making yourself candle rich.

Every aspect of your life has to be looked at from this point of view. It is good to be off-grid and able to live separate from the system - with, say, propane, diesel, kerosene, solar power, etc. That is good and it is miles and miles better than being tied to the world system. But it is the difference between "tied" and "loosely tied". In the long run we can become enslaved to those things just as easily, and if our lifestyle doesn't change, if we don't become more obedient and different from the world, then we will have merely delayed the inevitable. Start thinking about water, food, heat, light, cooling, food production, preservation, and storage. Think of all of these things and come up with a system (a road map) that will get you there. Ask for help. Ask questions. Listen. Learn. Realize that most of the questions we ask ourselves are based and informed by false presuppositions. I had a lady once who asked me how she would curl her hair if she didn't have grid power or if the power ever went out for good. I couldn't even begin to address all of the false presuppositions behind the question. So I didn't answer it. We have to realize that it is not some of the things that we think that are wrong. Virtually everything that we think is wrong.

Ok, back to power and lighting. I use a lot of rechargeable batteries, and I use a lot of solar products to recharge the batteries. This allows me to do most of my work without having to go back and forth to town. In a crisis, most of the things I use batteries for are NOT critical, so I will not be at a loss to live without them. So batteries are a good intermediate solution, and they help us do a lot of things we need to do right now as we move out of the system. I have several very low power LED lamps, reading lights, and flashlights. I try to buy everything to take AA batteries, but some of them take AAA. I buy NiMH (Nickel Metal-Hydride) rechargeable batteries in bulk, and I recharge them several ways. I have several solar rechargers that recharge the batteries directly from the sun. I also have some regular AC plug in rechargers that I can plug into my power system that is run and maintained by solar power. This way I always have batteries that are ready to go. We use AA batteries to power our radios and communication devices too. There are literally dozens of new lighting ideas and sources out there that use low wattage to power them. Check things out and begin to store up and use these things. Remember, especially in the fall, winter, and spring - kerosene lighting is a good intermediate solution as well. As long as this type of energy source is available and affordable we can use them as we come out of the industrial system.

Many years ago we bought some battery-powered 18V power tools when we were building our barn back in Smyer. I had a choice between buying some really nice and expensive ones, or some really cheap ones. I decided to buy the cheap ones (Ryobi) and figured if they got me through that one project, they would have been worth the price. 4 years later we are still using them. The original set came with a drill, flashlight, a hand vacuum, and a circular saw. We bought a second set of batteries a year and a half ago. A year ago while doing the root cellar project I was irritated that the batteries weren't lasting very well and we had so many things going on that I needed to have a set on hand charging so I went to town to buy another set of batteries and a second charger. It was going to cost $59.99 for the batteries and charger, or I could get a whole second set of tools with batteries and charger for $99.00. So I bought the second set. This allowed us to have a second set of tools so we could have more people working at once. This gave us a second flashlight too. I tell you all of this to say that the flashlights in these sets are awesome and work very well. Later I bought a car charger so I can charge the batteries in my truck whenever I go to town. Now they have created dozens of other tools and accessories that will run off of these 18V batteries. We use our Ryobi flashlights every night and every morning since we are up before the sun. We milk the cow by these lights as well.

You also want to buy several (many) of these flashlights they have which don't take batteries. We call them "shake lights" since you have to shake them to charge them up. They are an irritant if you need immediate (and/or silent) light, but they work great after about 30-60 seconds of shaking them. We had some of these for the children, but they inevitably lose them or break them so they end up borrowing the Ryobi lights and I just as inevitably end up using a shake light to go to the outhouse. You can also buy wind up flashlights which are good to keep in store. By the way, in the outhouse we have a light that is powered by rechargeable AA batteries. Harbor Freight and Home Depot sell solar powered night lights that charge during the day and stay on all night. We use these in the root cellar, you could use these just about anywhere you need some light at night.

Lehman's sells parts for olive oil lamps. These are "do it yourself" lamps and candles you can make that run off of olive oil. Basically they are pieces of twisted wire and wicks that you can drop down into any jar or large mouth bottle. We use canning jars and some other glass jars we buy for real cheap at garage sales. Anyway, they burn olive oil or any other type of bulk cooking oil. Olive oil works great, but you may not have an endless supply of it. You can also use these for making fat lamps and using cooking grease or other type of oil. Be careful and don't start a fire. Olive oil will not start a fire and usually other oils and greases will not because the temperature does not get hot enough. It would be good to have a very large supply of these inexpensive parts (wicks and wick holders) for emergencies. Check out Lehman's for a bunch of other lighting ideas from yesteryear.

Also, look into "fat lamps". Fat lamps were what was used before coal oil and other fuel lamps. The old "genie" lamps that people rubbed to get a genie to come out were fat lamps. They run off of rendered tallow from pigs. Perfect for us pig raisers.

I may have mentioned it, but I have a couple of reading lights I bought at a Harbor Freight store in Abilene. I have one mounted over my bed for night reading and one mounted on the front porch over a chair so I can read at night and early in the mornings after milking. Harbor Freight sells dozens of different low/no power lighting items including handcrank spotlights, solar powered lights, floodlights, flashlights, lanterns, etc., LED lights, etc.

We try not to use kerosene lanterns too much except when it is cold outside because they provide a lot of heat, which is great when it is cold, but not so great when it is not. 1 or 2 kerosene lanterns burning all night will keep the edge off in a small cabin or camper. Always, always, always make sure your sleeping quarters are vented if you have any type of flame burning overnight. You will die if you do not.

Well, that is it for lighting. I probably forgot something, so feel free to ask questions on this post if you have any.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

To Read Part 3, Click Here