My latest piece, on living off the grid:
“Hundreds of thousands of people in this country live “off the grid.” If the power fails, food runs short or drought hits, their families won’t be hurt. Their houses have solar panels and electric generators; their shelves are stocked with canned food and seeds. They have wells in their back yard so they’ll never go thirsty. Some are retreating into farms. Others are bringing the countryside into their homes…..”
Some excerpts:
Predicting and panicking won’t help you now.
You have to prepare.
Fortunately, it’s easier and there are fewer people doing it.
Your preparation consists essentially of one thing – becoming more independent……..
Another excerpt:
Reducing water usage is not only thrifty it’s good ecological practice and has a direct impact on energy consumption. A large chunk of energy is spent pumping and heating water.
Start storing things. Use solar panels to store natural energy from the sun. Store water in tanks so you don’t run short in a drought. Store organic seeds. Store computer parts and electronic goods. Store anything you think you need which might go up drastically in price.
A quick recap now:
* Store
* Live healthily
* Grow your own food
* Drive less
* Make your job portable
* Barter
* Exchange services
* Recycle/reuse “Read the rest at Lew Rockwell.
And here’s some advice on something I mention in the piece – square-foot gardening
Re: Getting Off the Grid
From: damaged justice
Sent: Fri 5/22/09 10:28 AM
To: Lila Rajiva
Enjoyed your article in today’s LRC; no quibbles with any of it except
the “eating a largely vegetarian diet” — for most humans, meat is the
best food, and grains are downright poisonous (unless soaked, sprouted
or fermented, and even then their nutritional value is second-rate). I
don’t look forward to a world where Cass Sunstein (or anyone else) has
declared a War On Meat, but if times get tough enough, there are no
limits to what agents of the state will attempt.
A few sites on the subject you might want to explore:
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
http://www.westonaprice.org/
May you enjoy the best of continued health in liberty!
-dj
Ma’am…
From: d.l.spang
Sent: Fri 5/22/09 11:16 AM
To: Lila Rajiva
we’ll build a self-sufficient house somewhere, hone our firearm and gardening skills, and revel in our solar-powered self-sufficiency.
🙂
—
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
Getting Off The Grid
From: h.s.
Sent: Fri 5/22/09 11:27 AM
To: Lila Rajiva
Cc:
Lila,
For some reason, I always seem to enjoy your articles as they seem practical with your language and direction always being tailored specifically for the ordinary person. Love LRC but some of the authors need to lower their nose a tad while others are spot on.
You stress health in your last two articles about self-sufficiency. I have Crohns Disease with no known cause but other than that healthy. I have a wife who is very costly with plenty of medical conditions. My concern is negotiating with the health system for straight cash costs. Currently very secure position with a large company but would like to leave but vulnerable to huge markup on billing by medical establishment.
As charged directly by Care Center or others individuals are raked over the coals, but after my companies group leverage takes effect bills can be somehow lowered 50 – 90% and then payments are disbursed. A $400 bill can magically become a $125 bill which would translate to maybe a $23 obligation for me. Now if I could quit the company and be subject to the $125 bill I could see somehow becoming independent. But, when I’m alone the establishment dumps all the nonpaying people charges on all the individuals who somehow don’t have some form of group leverage.
Do you have any ideas on some group insurance where members would pay their own costs maybe secured by some bond which would then give members the same clout as other large organizations?
Thanks,
H. S.
Urban Anchorites
From: Stephen A. Vaughn.
Sent: Fri 5/22/09 1:11 PM
To: Lila Rajiva
Albuquerque NM is small, but we are large enough to have our own Jeremiah and prophet, the Reverend Don Schrader. He writes passionate articles about survival with minimal impact – and not Out There, but here in Albuquerque.
He may well be a nut. He certainly is a literate one. He is most definitely an honest one. One becomes suspicious of his sanity, because his capacity for filtering his public comments for political correctness is damaged. e.g. “Crap No One Needs” at http://www.alibi.com/index.php?scn=news&story=16188&fullstory=y
I offer a re-print of his correspondence if you are interested in it.
Crap No One Needs
Dear Alibi,
Marching for peace while paying for war is like praying for health while hogging out on junk food! Soldiers risk their bodies and their lives to wage war, but, sadly, most U.S. peace activists do not break their addiction of buying what no one needs in order to live simply below the federal income taxable level to stop baying for war!
As long as you spend like crazy for crap no one needs, you will insist on having an income larger than the taxable level. Your buying addiction keeps you paying year after year from every paycheck for U.S. atrocities all over the world.
Would you pay to have your pet cats and dogs tortured and bombed? Would you pay to cripple, make homeless and murder neighborhood children on your street? The children of Iraq, Lebanon and the West Bank are no less precious, no less human than the children on your street.
Your federal income tax pays to burn babies, to paralyze parents, to blind grandparents …
I refused to be a soldier in 1969 during the Vietnam War. For me, as a conscientious objector to all wars, to pay federal income tax to train other Americans, largely the poor and people of color, to become professional hired killers to murder or command with no conscience would be more evil than being a soldier myself.
Many U.S. progressives spend endless energy and hours analyzing, measuring, protecting and cursing the beast (the U.S. Empire) while they keep on feeding it with their federal income tax dollars and their consumer dollars. Many U.S. progressives are addicted to the loot of this empire while they damn the blood! The loot always is drenched in blood.
I have no right to pay tax to do to other people what I do not want them to do to me.
Nothing in life is more important than refusing to pay federal income tax for war—no matter who is president. The best way to refuse to pay federal income tax for war, with no fines and no threats from the IRS, is to live simply, below the federal income taxable level.
The federal income taxable level for 2006 for a single person under 65 who is not blind is $8,450, for a married couple filing together—$16,900. I lived well all of 2005 on $3,885—less than the taxable level. I have paid no federal income tax for war for 27 years. I pledge never to pay the rest of my life.
Don Schrader
Albuquerque
Water
From: Alan B.
Date: Fri, May 22, 2009 9:59 am
To: Lila Rajiva
Priority: Normal
Hey Lila:
Great article, I like the sustainability of it. Let me share that I have
purchased an Atmospheric Water Generator, AWG and I make and drink my own
water. No government water for three months now. You might want to include
this in your next article or update. It is a Hendrix 750 and I make 7
gallons a day with 10 or less TDS. If a hurricane hits and the city loses
water supply, my family can live off the AWG, and off the grid so to speak.
Enjoyed your article.
Alan
Subject: Off the Grid
From:
Date: Fri, May 22, 2009 9:44 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Dear Ms. Rajiva:
You forgot swiss chard, dandelions, clover and other edibles. I walk my dog a lot
everyday and I know where the fruit trees are–why pay for fruit. Sometimes this
farm market leaves the “bad” produce out on the table overnight and I take it. And
I get Agora’s lifetime subscriptions with Porter Stansberry’s, too, among many
othgers, so I am aware of how empires are made by providing financial advice.
Sincerely,
M. P.
Subject: getting off the grid
From: Jim Brooks
Date: Fri, May 22, 2009 9:28 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
When the time comes that living off the grid becomes necessary, do you think that
people will be able to keep their abilities? If the masses are starving, will
people be able to eat the produce of their own gardens? How will they keep others
from stealing their food? The more desperate the situation in society gets, the
more futile it will be to try to live “off the grid” in a stationary, easily found
location. There will be gangs of roaming thieves who will take everything. To
avoid this, people need to be part of a community of like-minded people who can
collectively defend their survival assets.
Getting Off the Grid
by Lila Rajiva
Great article. I appreciate it. I especially like your health tips….
Earlier, I outlined a simple ten-step program to good health – eating a
largely vegetarian diet and drinking a lot of water; exercising and improving
your posture; breathing correctly; cutting out smoking and heavy drinking;
and cultivating your intellectual, emotional, and spiritual life.
BTW, speaking of water, have you ever perused the watercure2.org website?
Many people healed of asthma, diabetes, arthritis, MS, etc just from lots of
water and some sea salt.
God bless,
Bill
William J. Rutecki
Mechanical Engineer
United States Army Corps of Engineers
Damaged justice –
Thanks for your great input. But I beg to differ. It depends on the meat. Fish, eggs, fowl, ok.
Whole wheats and grains are fine.
Ecologically, consuming large quantities of meat is very resource intensive and drives up land and food prices.
A smart vegetarian diet with moderate supplements of dairy and fish is more than adequate for all our protein needs, with occasional indulgence in meat. It’s simply selfish to devote more food and energy to feeding huge number of animals we plan to slaughter, when people are dying for lack of water and food.
d.l.s.
Good luck with the firepower and the solar power – may they never meet…
H.S.
I’m not aware of any coverage for individuals as good as group coverage for businesses.
Perhaps you could try forming a small corporation to work and seeing if that makes you eligible, but the other taxes and costs may offset your savings. Alternatively, please check this website for my previous article on health, and you’ll find in the comment section, as well as in a post after it, reference to a private clinic which offers medical treatment at much lower prices.
For Crohn’s disease, see what earthclinic.com (.org?) has to say. Ask Ted, at the site.
Good luck.
Stephen Vaughn –
Thanks very much for the letter. I’ll post.
We need more nuts.
Alan G –
Thanks very much for the tip
I’ll post it.
M. P.
I’ll check the weeds. You be sure to check your financial advice.
Jim Brooks –
Thanks for the input.
Community is a good thing. But preparing for gangs preemptively can morph into militia style resistance. May lead to confrontations.
Roving gangs are a minor problem compare to roving governments.
William Rutecki,
Thanks for the great tip. I will be sure to check it out and post it.
Appreciate it.
Lila
Getting Off the Grid
From: “Wilson, Alan”
Date: Fri, May 22, 2009 10:33 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
“Whatever else it can do, the government can’t tax your home-grown
peppers.”
Great article, but please don’t give the tyrants any ideas.
;-)_)
Thanks, Alan Wilson
Alan –
That’s a scary thought.
But perhaps not altogether crazy.
Lila
Subject: Re: Getting Off The Grid
From: Lance Wildwood
Date: Fri, May 22, 2009 11:55 am
To: lilarajiva@mindbodypolitic.com
Greetings!
Your recent column on lewrockewll.com was awesome. May I add an idea that I am
doing? I have converted my garage to a seed-starting room. I live in Coastal,
British Columbia (USDA ZONE 8b) and we must start tomatoes and peppers and such in
late January early Feb. This year I decided to start some extra, Open Pollinate,
heritage plants and do it organically. Since none of the local nurseries offer OP
plants, I sell them at the local Farmers market. I get between $4.00 and $6.00 for
these starts at a cost of my time, I get free pots from landscapers and soil from
the green waste compost heap at our local dump. Add to this the operating cost of
2, 1000W, Metal Halide bulbs and two fans (about $45.00 a month here).
This year I have about 700 tomaotes in total and about 500 peppers. They are
selling like crazy! Not bad for under an hour a day for a few months. Next year
I’m putting in a large greenhouse and am going to do 2000 tomatoes, 2000 peppers and
add celery, leeks, etc.
Anyone with extra space can do this. I’m also starting 1000 ‘goji’ berries (just
google them) which I’ll sell next year for $20.00 a piece. Again, about 1/2 an hour
a days worht of work. Here is a great, though slightly ‘hippie’ article on starting
a small Permaculture nursery.
http://www.permacultureportal.com/article_nursery.html
Keep up the great writing!
Plant or Perish
Lance
“I swear upon the altar of God, eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the
mind of man.”
Thomas Jefferson
Lila:
I enjoyed this column immensely. I have been moving towards sustainability for the last 10 years and am actually moving into town to radically curtail automobile use at the moment. The plan isn’t necessarily to get off the grid for my family, but rather to minimize that which we rely on from government and corporate providers. Our urban homestead will be farmed, both from under our feet (dirt) and above our heads (rainwater and solar). More importantly, by designing and building a right sized house with correct orientation in a walkable neighborhood, we anticipate being able to reduce our energy usage between 50%-75%, and this is on top of 10 years of steady reductions.
In any event, keep up the good work. The more people who hear your message, the better.
Hi Bob –
That’s fantastic.
Feel free to drop by and post and tips you think readers might find useful.
I’ve been moving toward independence for some years, but this society is set up for corporations and government and not for solo individuals so it’s been slow.
Lila
Lila:
Thank you for your kind comments. The tip I would like to share is a simple one:
We generate the most self-sufficiency from the very actions that, on the surface, seem the least significant.
If you decide to ride a bicycle to the bank, before you know it you’ll be riding it everywhere. In the process, you will not only lessen your dependence on oil, you will also improve your health and have fun getting where you’re going.
If you decide to plant a garden, you will not only reduce your dependence on the food supply chain, you will develop new friendships as you come to understand how healthy it is to grow your own food and begin to connect with like-minded individuals.
If you cancel cable TV, you will find yourself bicycling to the library more and watching really cool old movies like Casablanca, reading more books and watching less 24 hour news. In the process your sanity will return.
If you’re building a house, challenge yourself to build in a way that uses less energy to begin with than to add solar and wind capabilities from the start. You will save a lot of money and have the opportunity to research and discover ways of generating additional energy as time goes on.
It doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as you decide to improve your life by making yourself more self-sufficient. Each reader will discover what works best for him or her. Personally, I feel that this is the adventure of my lifetime. As you recently wrote, when you focus on such matters, the macro economy doesn’t really impact you as much.
I am blogging about this at the website address I’ve provided. You’re free to visit and share it if you think it has value.
Thanks again for all you do.
“Community is a good thing. But preparing for gangs preemptively can morph into militia style resistance. May lead to confrontations.
Roving gangs are a minor problem compare to roving governments.”
Depends on the preparation of course. I won’t comment on self-defense as that is an intensely personal decision, but a few passive things one should consider is a set of GMRS/FRS portable radios, an emergency band scanner, and a fire extinguisher on every floor.
Hi –
I see the borders being subject to gang/militia violence, and maybe a few urban areas, but not extensive, no. I know that’s the opinion of Gerald Celente, but unless the state foments it, I don’t see it happening on a large scale.
Unless the tax rebellions become seriously secessionist.
But thanks for the tips..