by Liz Hansen
Note: Liz and Eric are hosting our August 1st Light Upon Light summer celebration and look forward to sharing their home and hospitality with guests. Click here for more information.
First of all, let me clear the air. “Transition” is a misleading word for the title. It was more like jumping head first into a pond of unknown depth. At least that's what it felt like for me, who grew up in the suburbs and had spent the previous seven years living in Columbus. How did I get here, to this off-the-grid home?
Like many good stories, it started with falling in love. At the 2006 Light Upon Light event I met Eric, who had just begun building an off-the-grid home near Mt. Vernon. At that point the house was little more than a foundation and a few block walls of various heights. Eric and I were married in June 2007 at the house, in progress. In July 2007 I sold my house in the University District, and we moved into our home, complete with walls and a roof, but no power. Technically, counting the small portable generator and car battery, we did have power, occasionally.
With our new home still in progress, every aspect of our daily lives was turned upside down. Our house had none of the following: stove, oven, washer, dryer, microwave, refrigerator, light switches that did anything, hot water, a shower, or radio. What we did have was a sun oven, a propane grill with side burner, a camping cooler, indoor plumbing which consisted of one sink and a conventional flush toilet, the laundromat and access to parents' washing machines, a flock of three chickens, cell phones, a small laptop with cellular internet (I was still working my IT job, telecommuting from the back porch), and the generator to charge our electronics, tools, and the single car battery at the same time. We also had patience and flexibility (usually) while figuring out our new home. ("What's for dinner now that the sun oven blew over, and our beans and rice are all over the front yard?"). Both Eric and I were committed to making our new lifestyle work and were enjoying the adventure, so we avoided any frantic calls to the power company begging them to run power lines to our house.
After about eight months of living with little power, we hooked up three solar panels and four golf cart batteries, and our lifestyle changed again. Within a month's time we had light switches and electrical outlets that worked, a high efficiency refrigerator, and a front loading washing machine, all running off energy from the three solar panels. Each addition made our home feel both more luxurious and comfortable.
At this point our house has most of the features of a “conventional” house, but the underlying systems are quite different. We are still working out the hot water system, which in the spring, summer and fall will be solar heated and in the winter will be heated by our wood stove. We cook quite differently than most folks, using the wood stove, sun oven, and grill for all of our cooking.
I'm really glad that our “transition” didn't involve transitioning so much as just jumping in! I believe that by having our lifestyle change quickly and completely we were able to adapt to our new way of living as the norm.
