Sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways. Merely days after we learned that our family was chosen for an off-grid television show (we’re filming the pilot!) I picked up the Wall Street Journal and this caught my eye.
I am so intrigued by this lifestyle and the many reasons people choose to live off the power grid: to be more self-sufficient, to be more eco-friendly, to be more independent from the government, etc. My fascination grows as the days go by quickly and we face the unknown. Luckily, we’re about to find out what it’s really like. I can’t wait.
P.s. — Read the Wall Street Journal article here.
* I wish I could say more about the show, but we are about to sign off on the nondisclosure paperwork, so I have to leave it at that… after all is said and done I hope to receive permission to blog about our experiences doing the show. Sorry to leave you hanging!
Oh wow, you guys were selected for an off the grid show?! How awesome! I can’t wait to hear more about it.
Oh congratulations! I can’t wait to find more about it living vicariously through your experience! looking forward to all you have to tell about it – when does it start?
I’m so excited for your family! Can’t wait to hear more about it!
Enjoy the adventure!
Congratulations! This is so exciting.
How EXCITING!!! Yay, so happy for you guys!!
wow, this is fascinating on many levels.
i think that we could all live more simply, and perhaps we could learn more about it by watching shows like the one you’ll be participating in. then again, in my personal experience, living more simply doesn’t involve a tv. or wifi nternet at home.
my grandparents have always gardened and been fairly self-reliant on the vegetation/plant front (while buying animal products, as well as sugar and salt for making preserves, etc). i’ve always remembered with my fondness running wild on their plot of land, picking green onions to have with a slice of rye bread as a snack, and going off into the woods adjacent to the house to pick wild mushrooms. it’s totally beautiful and romantic, and there’s a lot of hard work behind the idyllic memory. one of the costs of being able to get there was having to drive, of course, which is not really off-the-grid unless you run your own refinery or biodiesel production facility…
anyways. i think that having multi-million dollar homes in costa rica is not for everyone. in the show, will you be relocating, or staying in your own home and living by candle light? 🙂 will all transportation be human-powered?
i’m looking forward to seeing more of this! good luck! 🙂
Veronika, your recollections of your childhood sound so wonderful! And yes, the irony of the show on off-grid does not get lost on us — when/if it airs, we will not be able to watch it unless we go to a friend’s house, as we haven’t owned a TV for 10 years!
And yes, I found the article funny, if interesting. Multi-million dollar off-grid homes seem counter-intuitive to me. I find the part of me that likes the idea of an off-grid home is NOT the part of me that relishes indulgence and pampering and huge amounts of space. But I suppose if you are completely off-grid, living miles and miles away from anyone, you can do as you please!
yes, your comment just made me go back to the article and ctrl-F “food”. it’s funny that although he mentions “making his own food” at one point, the articles doesn’t elaborate further. food production is one of the first things that comes to *my* mind when i think “off-grid” (and i’m guessing yours too, given your posts), but it seems like the article glazes over it and really just aims to glorify the solar-panels that adorn these mansions in their exotic locations. i imagine that “making own food” for the demographic in the article equates to having on-site staff of indigenous hunters/gatherers, rather than actually being self-sufficient in isolation. then again, i’m making assumptions that may be unfounded…
in my honest, totally biased opinion, the large houses in the jungle are not the example of off-grid sustainability, regardless of their eco-building features. many studies have shown that living in dense urban environments is more environmentally responsible – because people tend to have a smaller footprint in smaller living space, smaller heating bills due to shared walls, shorter work commute/more utilization of public transport, shorter trips to grocery stores, and larger use of public spaces and common resources like parks, museums, and community centers. and they tend to correlate with overall reduced population growth.
i just realized that i totally went off on a tangent about the article here. not related to your project, necessarily, but who knows… maybe you’ll be roughing it off-grid in a rustic-luxe cabin in some picturesque location? 🙂