How to Plan Your Off Grid Homestead
With all the uncertainty in the world these days, more and more people are looking for a different kind of life. A peaceful life, a life closer to nature and the way we were likely supposed to live. More and more families are looking for an opportunity to grow their own food, learn food preservation, utilize natural resources already found back in nature, and pass this knowledge along to their children or people who come after them.
Even if you’re not looking to take the plunge into off-grid living at this moment, making small steps to get you closer to your dream life count in the long run. Each baby step we took, each new skill we learned, none of it was ever wasted when you step back and look at our entire journey. Reading and learning more knowledge about these topics goes a long way to helping you make the right choices for you and your family.
Here is a list of some of the most critical things you need to think about in order to plan your homestead or off-grid homestead-
Securing Your Land – Finding the Perfect Property
The most important thing is to focus on what is actually important to you or your family and your personal situation. If off-grid living isn’t something ideal for you, then finding bare land that is way out in the sticks and far from the electric grid isn’t going to meet your needs. In fact, it’s common for people who found out after the fact, how expensive it would be to bring the electric grid to them, and so they have to live off grid by pure necessity. Usually that is not an ideal situation, however, it’s much better to know what you’re getting into BEFORE you actually purchase that piece of land off in the woods.
And to prepare yourself for the work it actually takes to make it something worthwhile.
Off grid living is HARD WORK, we’re not going to lie. It stretches you and grows you in ways that make you stronger (and we love it!), but it’s definitely not for everyone. So making sure you buy the right piece of land to meet your needs is crucial so you don’t end up in a pickle.
- How many acres do you really need or want? Whether you want 1-3 acres or 40-60 acres, the amazing thing about homesteading is that you can do so many of the activities and even have animals without a lot of land.
- Do you need land without agriculture restrictions? If so, make sure all the animals you want are actually allowed (in some counties, pigs aren’t allowed and random laws like that)
- The best pieces of property have a water source (more on that in water systems). It’s not always possible in the location that you need (for work commutes or otherwise), but if you find a property with a river, or underground spring, life will be a little easier
- Here is a great list we found of the best states for off grid living, over at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-and-worst-states-for-living-off-the-grid/
Water Systems – Making Sure You Have a Good Water Source
Most homesteaders foot the bill for a well to be drilled, and that meets all their watering needs as their main water source, which is wonderful! Many have even turned to drilling their own well and saving a ton of money in the process.
In many circumstances, however, wells either aren’t practical or are out of price range for the new homesteader. Our homestead here falls into that category. We are in a community where most of our neighbors’ wells are running dry, and yet the quote for a new well is $65,000. Yes… $65,000 for a well that will most likely run dry in a couple of years! Not a great water source.
What we’ve done instead is to focus our energy (and finances!) on building a rain catchment system, and figuring out a myriad of ways to use much less water than your average household. It’s amazing how little water you really need when you figure out how much you’re actually wasting each month. We’ve even figured out a way to use our, “gray water,” for watering plants and making our land more green. A kind of permaculture system.
There are other options though. People have hand-drilled next to a natural water source like a stream or river, or even near dried-up springs, and then pump the water up to their homestead to help supplement their rain water system. For every property in all it’s uniqueness, there is an equally unique opportunity to be creative with your water!
Breakdown of options for water sources-
- Well professionally drilled – figure out if this makes sense for your area, and if it’s actually cost efficient
- Rain water system – this requires certain types of roofing (metal is best), gutters, and water storage tanks. The great thing about a rain water system is that you can start out small and with relatively inexpensive equipment/tanks, and scale it to whatever size you need eventually.
- Drill near a stream, river, or spring – here is a popular video about an off grid woman drilling their own well in just this way. It’s not always this easy, especially if you have a rocky environment, but you’d be surprised what is possible when you have limited options
- Drill your own well (not near a river/stream/spring) – 60 ft down video the well company couldn’t get their rig down into their property, so they had to be creative – and do a lot of hard work!
Building Your Home
Just like with everything else when you’re creating a homestead from scratch, there are a lot of flexible options when it comes to the house you live in. From a tent, to a camper, tiny cabin, or a 2,000 sqft+ house, it really can be anything you put your mind to… and is usually based on what you or your family needs in your own situation. For a family of 8, a tent probably isn’t what anyone wants, and so on.
Your, “end goal,” or dream cabin home isn’t something you have to have figured out right away for off-grid living. When first starting out, it’s common for people to either live in a camper, tiny home, or a tent while slowly building their house or cabin. It’s a bonus if you’re already mortgage-free (selling your house in the city), and these options often provide that chance.
When you’re mortgage-free, you have the ability to move at your own pace, and build as you go. Don’t be afraid to just get started planning!
Ideas for starting out mortgage-free:
- Tent or Camper (this is usually only temporary)
- Tiny House or Small cabin build (usually families build extensions or more cabins as needed)
- Buying a shed and converting it to a home (super popular right now, but can be expensive)
- Buying a mobile home and building on extensions as needed (this is best if you find a good deal and pay in cash… it’s not a good idea if you have to buy new/used and have a loan as they won’t always allow you to build on to something you don’t own).
- Building your cabin as small or big as you want, while you live at a rental or home you haven’t sold yet – the benefit of this option is that it gives you time, as long as you have the finances to pay rent or your mortgage AND finance a build. Obviously this option takes the most money, unless your house is already paid off and your off grid cabin is your retirement plan.
There’s an option for everyone in every circumstance, the only thing holding you back is mindset!
Solar Power or Alternative Energy Sources –
When you’re doing off-grid living as a family, you absolutely need a good power source. We love our solar package system that we got last year from Signature Solar, a company that provides regular, everyday people like us enough solar power to have energy independence with DIY (do it yourself) equipment/package set-ups. We had a hard time figuring all of it out, like most people who don’t have electrical engineering degrees, figuring out solar energy and how all of it works is a HUGE learning curve. But it IS doable, and so worth it when you don’t have that electricity bill coming in anymore and feel so free and independent. We were extremely motivated, and that helped! The support at Signature Solar always patiently walked us through every problem, and helped us get reliable power for the whole house.
Because they sell DIY products/packages, they are super affordable when comparing prices to the big solar companies out there (the main one closest to us charges around $45,000 for the same amount of energy/power that we got for only about $14,000 – I mean that is just insane)!
So the first step is figuring out how much power you actually need for your personal situation. If you’re a single guy with no wife and kids, you’re obviously going to be able to get away with a very affordable set-up compared to a family of 6 to 8 people who need a bigger fridge, washer/dryer, etc. And the benefit of most solar package systems is that you can almost always scale up when you do need more power in the future. We will do more posts in the future on the differences between the different choices you make with solar – like lead batteries compared to lithium, monocrystaline panels compared to polycrystalline, etc. It sounds daunting but once you figure out the basics it becomes obvious which ones are better for your particular situation.
Here is an amazing website devoted to helping you figure out all your solar needs, from the basic electricity to hot water and cooking using only the sun’s power.
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Alternative Energy Sources
There are options other than just solar power, although the best set-up seems to still incorporate solar power in some way or another, along with the alternative energy sources. Because these are all usually weather dependent or natural resource dependent, it’s good to spread out your energy/power capacity – not putting all your eggs in one basket so to speak. Many people manage to do this with harnessing wind power. If the sun isn’t shining as bright in winter, you may be in a climate with a powerful wind source to help supplement.
As the world gets more and more unstable, it seems the energy systems keep getting more creative! You can find wind turbine systems packaged together with solar power systems, or even create your own through DIY projects. Small, personal wind turbines are one of the most cost-effective alternative energy sources on the market now, and they can be used for other applications such as pumping water for irrigation for farms or ranches.
Another way to source your power is hydroelectricity, which is a form of energy that harnesses the power of water in motion. This again, does best when paired with other forms of alternative energy like solar power, and is very technical – not for the beginner probably, but good to look into if you already have a water source and don’t mind doing a lot of hard work getting your hydroelectric power up and running. I wish our brains were wired this way, but maybe in the future we’ll look into hydroelectric power.
Heating Your Home for Winter
The best case scenario when you’re living on an off grid homestead is to live in an area with mild winters. But of course, that’s not always possible or desirable… the most popular state people dream about moving to statistically is usually Alaska! So figuring out how to heat your home (even for a mild winter state that gets some random and sporadic hard freezes) is crucial. There are a few options – propane fuel, wood burning stove, or solar heating, and each option comes with pros and cons.
For propane, it can be cost efficient but it also requires you to rewire your house running a propane line. The heat is a more moist, warm heat, though, compared to the dry heat of the wood burning stove, so many prefer propane heaters.
For using solar heat, one of the best daytime heaters in winter is a 100% solar powered off grid mini split like this one by Pioneer. The brand Pioneer have a range of 9,000 to 36,000 BTU capacity, and can run the heat pump in -13 degree Fahrenheit. The downside is that these aren’t great for nighttime heating because of limited sun in winter in the daytime to fill your battery bank (plus no sun at night!). Here is a video of an off grid family that uses a similar mini split set up but also alternates to propane heat at night, so that they save their battery system from running it all night long. The bonus of using a mini split system is that it can be year-round to help cool and heat our 1,000sqft cabin.
Our favorite heat system for off grid homesteaders is your basic wood burning stove and oven to cook on. Although it may be a big investment upfront, it is definitely the HEART of the homestead in winter. Plus having that heat source to heat the whole house, and to cook anything on, while also being able to have constant hot water as they usually have a water reservoir on the side, is just amazing.
Old fashioned, but sometimes the old fashioned knew what they were doing!
Waste Management
Speaking of old fashioned, sometimes we’ve wondered how on earth human beings survived on this earth so long with ancient septic waste systems that seemed so primitive to our modern minds, and yet worked much more efficiently than some of the newer alternatives we have today.
From regular undergound/anaerobic systems to aerobic/above ground systems and sand-based systems for environmentally sensitive areas near water sources, this website hands-down has some of the best advice on all the alternatives out there for each situation.
Some municipalities allow for special permissions or zone variances in situations where an aerobic leach field would be suboptimal for your land or animals, you just have to schedule in person and check what kind of alternative options are possible for your own situation.
Our neighborhood’s favorite vacation rental, Bella Green, uses simple composting toilets!
Composting is allowed in some areas, as well as treating with chemicals you can buy online in your approved alternative system. As per Texas Commission on Environmental Quality website they recommend to use a chlorine tablet made from calcium hypochlorite that is certified for wastewater disinfection by EPA. The tablets are very reactive and will kill 99% of the bacteria present in the effluent within 10 minutes. Follow all warning and precaution statements of the chlorine tablet manufacturer to protect yourself and the system equipment. DO NOT USE TABLETS DESIGNED FOR SWIMMING POOL USE AS THESE MAY RELEASE AN EXPLOSIVE GAS CALLED NITROGEN CHLORIDE.
Overall, as overwhelming as it all sounds to get everything up and started, it really isn’t as hard or impossible as it seems.
All it takes is a well-designed plan and the motivation to stick to the goals you make for the future.
And remember! Homesteading whether on or off grid, is like an adventure… it’s the amazing experiences you and your family have along the journey that make it all worthwhile and so wonderful.
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