Hello everyone. And welcome back to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is episode number eight, which is titled Our Off-Grid Sustainable Family.

Now, I just wanted to start this episode by telling you a story about how I actually built my first log cabin when I was 10 years old. Now I know that sounds incredible, but it is actually completely true.

I grew up in Southeastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia, and I had two working farms in the family and I used to commonly spend summers on one of those family farms. I learned all about raising animals for food planting and garden, hunting, fishing, and even foraging for food. My father taught me from a very early age about being out in nature and appreciating the natural world for what it was.

That is something that has always stuck with me, even as an adult. It was not long before I decided what I wanted to do was to live in the mountains and to build my log cabin. But I was 10 years old. I had no knowledge, no experience, and of course no money.

So I started reading about how to build log cabins, the type of wood to use, how to notch the logs and fit them together in order to, to build a stable structure, I even studied fireplace design and how to build a chimney that would draw smoke properly. So with a little trial and error, I managed  to construct a fireplace out of mud and gravel. Believe it or not. And would keep a fire that would draw smoke properly.

So now after my little period of experimentation, with this knowledge in hand, I decided to practice my skills and build my first lag cabin. So here I was 10 years old, armed with only a large pile of sticks and, a pocket knife. And of course my homemade fireplace and I decided to start construction. 

So I first peeled the logs, so to speak, and then I cut them to length and meticulously notch them in order to fit tightly around my little fireplace.

I completed my cabin construction complete with windows, roof beams, a door, a fireplace and even a roof made of grass. That was  of course, for an added effect. Well now most of you may think  that's somewhat of a silly story and maybe it is. But that is not the end of the story because 25 years later, I purchased 46 acres in the mountains of Colorado and repeated  the same type of construction.

But this time I, of course, was working with real logs and a chainsaw. And of course, numerous framing tools. I harvested the timber from the property and I built a true log cabin. And in my mind, this was the accomplishment of a lifelong dream. Now, if this sounds incredible, then I would encourage you to go to my blog, which is offgridlivignews.com

And I have a post that shows you exactly how I built the log cabin. But that was in 1996. And most of the time, since that time I have lived off the grid. Oh, there are two cabins on the property, as well as a barn for raising chickens and turkeys, a wood shed and a 600 square foot greenhouse. And not only that, Annette who has been with me for almost 15 years also lives there with me, with her son.

And that is the topic of this episode. Our off-grid sustainable family. Now, I really wanted to do an episode like this because I of course talk a lot about living off the grid and sustainability, but I also wanted to make this a little more personal. I essentially wanted to prove to my listeners that this is the real deal for me.

This is truly how I live and what I do. 

So with all that said, I want to introduce Annette.  Now, Annette we have been together for almost 15 years, right? Yes. But we have not always lived on the property together. At first, there was only a small log cabin. And Eric, of course at the time was  really young when we first met.

So what I want to do is perhaps talk about how we came to live here and how things progressed into our living here as a family and having a sustainable lifestyle.  Annette,  What did you think after we had been together for a little while and you first came up to the cabin? Well, I loved it. I loved coming up here because I've always wanted to live somewhere in nature

I didn't always like living around people for various reasons. So this was perfect and something that I had always wanted to do myself. So it was great at the time there. Of course there was no electricity, no running water or anything. It was just a small log cabin. Right. So how did you feel about that

I actually loved the log cabin. Um, that was something that I really enjoyed about property, but more than that, it was the fact that we had no neighbors and there was wildlife everywhere. Okay. So, you know, in the end there are a lot of people and we're not, and I'm not talking about just women, a lot of people in general, who just would not want to live like this

So. Let's talk for a minute about the limitations of this property. What about the road? Tell me a little bit about the road. Well, the road is a little bit narrow and steep. Um, I don't have a problem with it because I've always loved going out into the mountains and four-wheeling, so it's not a problem for me, but it would be a problem for some peopleSo how many times do we actually have people wander up to the property to see us even in dry condition? Not very often, but we do have a few friends, right? We do. We have a few loyal friends that will come up regularly. But, you know, as we're recording this podcast episode, it's right in the middle of the January and the road is fairly icy  and it requires four wheel drive and chains.

So that produces a little bit of a challenge, as far as wintertime access. 

And Oh, tell me how often is it you actually have to walk or snowshoe up the road? Um, not very often if we're home to plow the road, But last winter, I was hiking up the road quite frequently because we were gone for a couple of months.

So that's a challenge. Yes, folks. There are times when, you know, we love that homestead, but we of course will leave sometimes for a couple months, especially in the winter because there are other things and other interests that we have. And we'll talk a little bit more about that later. But it's, I mean, you know, besides the road in the wintertime access, um, what about our water situation?

Let's talk a little bit about that. Well, of course, with the road being what it is a  well drilling truck can not make it up and could not. So with those limitations in mind, we had to get creative and we actually have to haul water up our  road, but I actually enjoy the water much more than I would drinking city water because we filter our own wate

So what she's talking about there folks is that we have a gravity fed  filtration system. Where, um, we actually produced purified drinking water for less than 3 cents a gallon. And we're talking about, of course, just plain raw stream water that goes into this filtration system. So one important thing to remember folks about our water system is  we are producing purified water without the addition of any chemicals, which actually means a lot to us as far as sustainability goes. And now what about in that?

 What about our availability of electricity? How do we deal with that? Well, Um, it was cost prohibitive to have electricity wired up here because we're so rural, um, the traditional way

So Patrick actually took course and learned how to install solar electricity. And that is what we run our entire household off of. 

And are there ever times that we actually run out of electricity, so to speak. Yes. But why is that? Mostly because we live modernly and have access to the internet that uses a lot of electricity.

Um, you know, we have animals that require heat, so the chickens require heated waters. And sometimes if it's too cloudy for too long, we'll  lose electricity. 

But we do have backup systems, right? Yes, we do. So it's not like where, you know, living like cave people or anything, right? No, not at all. We still have amenities and so forth, but in, in the middle of the winter, especially January, when the days are really short, we really do have to pay attention to how much electricity we use in, you know, I get in the habit of checking the weather.

Watching cloud formations and believe it or not looking at how the sun tracks through the sky. And this is just a way of life for us, because we want to be off the grid and managing our resources as much as possible. 

And you know, it is of course not perfect, but neither is living in the city. So the. You know, the interesting fact and the truth is I bought this property in 1996 and we have no neighbors so to speak

Well, I should say no human neighbors, but we do have to deal with wildlife right now. Correct. So we actually see more wild critters then people. Yes. So what did we have circling around our property in the last couple of weeks? Oh, in the last couple of weeks, we've had a mountain lion. We've had couple coyotes that we saw just this morning, in fact, and in the summertime, we, of course we see moose elk, occasionally we'll see big horn sheep.

And for years we actually had a fox that we saw on a regular basis for  probably six or seven years, maybe. Yes. And then I think she actually found a little mate in decided to run off on her own, but we, we do have wildlife encounters on a regular basis. And sometimes going out at night, you just simply have to use caution.

But in my opinion, most people have to do that in the city. So moving on to a little bit of a, of a different topic, um, there was a time when it also had a house in South Carolina. And for one reason or another things having to do with family and so forth, we actually went there for a while and then Annette came down with her son, Eri

But you were still in college at the time, right? Correct. So you transferred to the university of South Carolina for some time. But very soon after you graduated, what happened? I actually got offered a job out of university and a Caribbean Island called Saint Kitts, um, and its neighboring Island Nevis.

And so anyway, you took the job and in what were you doing? I was actually teaching anesthesia to veterinary students at the veterinary school. So,  that was a great experience for two years. Cause we had always talked about living outside of the country and now we had an opportunity to make money and do that.

Oh yeah. And that turned out to be quite a great adventure for all of us. 

But anyway, we can talk about more about that later, but prior to that, We had already started construction on  the new cabin. I think that was about a year or two prior. Is that, is that right? Am I remembering that correctly?

Yes. So  the purpose of that new cabin was so that we could all live there together. Um, so anyway, you got offered the job in St. Kitts and we went there or you guys went there initially. And I, of course,  had to sell the house or put the house in South Carolina on the market because for one reason or another, we were all kind of sick of being there in the first place.

So I put the house on the market and it actually sold before you guys even finished the drive across country, back to Colorado,  which was fantastic. Of course, you went to St. Kitts on this fabulous job to teach anesthesia with a veterinary school. And then I went back to Colorado to finish the cabin.So I was in Colorado, I think, for about six months and I came down for a visit and I decided to take a little bit of a sabbatical. And I remember you kept trying to convince me to go to the Veterinary school, right? Yes. And why did I not want to go? You just didn't want to have to have a full time job with someone again, but.

They were pushing and pushing and pushing. So, yeah, so I eventually went on campus, met the Dean, of course, and within an hour got offered a job. And I ended up coming back to the States and getting my work permit straightened out.

And then I was in St. Kitts for about eight or nine months. But once my contract job was over in St. Kitts. I then returned to Colorado. 

And as Annette had mentioned earlier, I actually took an extensive class in solar design and installation. And that was when the solar was installed. And for the first time we actually had electricity, a 500 gallon water, cistern, and hot running water. And now we were finally at the point where life was really starting to improve.

So then now you returned from St. Kitts. What, what year was that? 2017. It was the summer of 2017. Okay. So no, Eric is no longer in public school and because we lived remotely, then he, of course had to, to still of course stay in school. So how did we solve that challenge? Right. So in St. Kitts, he was in private school.

But returning to the States and to our off-grid property, um, schooling was a challenge. So we decided to homeschool him. He does online homeschool, which in the time of COVID he was a step ahead. Because he already knew how to do school like that. So now of course, with the full electricity, we had satellite internet installed and although that's has its own challenges, but for the most part, we're able to solve those problems

And now he is in school on a regular basis, despite us living in the middle of nowhere. Correct. Here we are living off the grid. Basically in the middle of the forest where we have more encounters with wildlife than we do people yet we are talking more and more about the living sustainably. So,  speaking of living sustainably, we of course live at high elevation and the winters are really long.

And you remember when you first started talking to me about having a greenhouse? Yes. So at the time. What was it that you wanted? Just a little greenhouse, small, something that I can extend the growing season for plants so that we can start growing more of our own. And what was it that we built? Um, excavated a huge area for the current earth sheltered greenhouse that we have, but we also, but we ended up with what about 600 square feet of growing space?

Correct. That is at 10,000 feet elevation. And I think total cost for the greenhouse was maybe five or $6,000. And that included the cost of excavation. And yet greenhouses of this size, I have seen online for probably around $15,000. And then of course they're the chickens and the turkeys. So we built a barn for raising them and it is what we call the chicken fortress.

And why is that? Well, because even though they're free range chickens, they need to be protected from predation, which we have encountered and have lost mass amounts of animals. So they now have a fenced in area that's also fenced on the top. Their barn is secured at night, so they're closed in and safe from any predators.

Um, you know, they're, they're pretty safe from everything. So yeah, folks, if you could really see photographs of the chicken barn, it's more like the Fort Knox of chicken barns for various reasons. And yes, we had some hard lessons to learn. About raising animals and things for food at this elevation and living remotely, of course, and having to deal with it.

So here we are years into our sustainable living project. We now have electricity, easy, hot showers. We raised turkeys and chickens have a 600 square foot greenhouse. We still have no neighbors, of course. And we travel and move out of the country and we kind of sort of do what we want, but the end result of that.

And yet  what is it that people look at us sometimes and think? Well, you guys must be rich, right? But what do people not realize? They don't realize that this has taken a lot of planning years and years of working full time, just to design this lifestyle that we want. And every, all the construction was paid for in cash, right.

There was never any mortgage except for the land. Correct. And consequently, that brings us close to a point of being completely debt free. And that is why we are both essentially self-employed and we can more or less within reason do what we want. Great. So let's talk for a minute about some of the other things that we'd like to do.

And of course we are both actually scuba diving instructors, but that was actually Annette's  idea years ago, right? Yes. You were trying to get me to go scuba diving. And I was like, no, no, no, I don't want to do that. And you kept pushing and pushing, right. I've always wanted to do it. Um, it took a trip to Hawaii and snorkeling to reinforce it.

Um, it's another way that I can support being sustainable and taking care of the things that I care about. No, I think it was what, five or six years into our scuba diving career. So to speak that we actually became certified instructors. Yes. 

Since we've been doing this now for several years, we're now starting to take ourselves in a little bit of a different direction. So one of the things for me of course, was to publish this podcast because I wanted to just start doing something different. But Annette, can you talk for a minute about our retreats and what we're starting to do there? Yes. Um, we are going to start doing off grid wellness retreats, which include part of my yoga business and mindfulness training.

But to me, they're not separate things. Part of yoga is being connected to everything around you. Part of shamanism is being connected to everything around you and what better place to do that than where we live. Exactly. Because 20 plus years into having this property, we still have no neighbors and we have friends come up and they're always amazed at how quiet and peaceful it is here.

And, you know, and I realized a few years ago that I could live like this on my property all the time, but if I really wanted to make an impact, it was trying to share that experience with other people and teach people the skills of sustainability in mindfulness and how each person really can improve their lifestyle.

So, what we really want to do is to start doing this on a full-time basis. Right? Right. So you're talking about teachers, people, the skills of sustainability off-grid living, engage them in yoga and mindfulness training and retreats and progress this business into full-time. Okay. Folks in closing, we're just coming to the end of this episode.

Annette. Do you have any further comments for our audience? Well, I started my yoga business, which is Ascent Yoga with the idea that everything's connected. I didn't want a brick and mortar business, typical yoga studio. I wanted wellness training without the walls and with connection to the earth.

Which is what this is all about to begin with. Exactly. And that's kind of how we live, right? Correct. We have a sustainable lifestyle and yes, the cabins they're small, but they are sufficient for our needs. And we spend a tremendous amount of time outdoors. And that is sort of our sustainable and wellness activities without the walls as Annette so adeptly put it. 

So Okay. Folks, that's it for today. I hope you have enjoyed this episode. The whole purpose of this episode was of course to bring in Annette  and for us to have a discussion about how we live. And what it is that we do. I really wanted you to know most of our story and know how this is truly the real deal.

And this is how we live every day. Well, I hope you have enjoyed this episode. And again, if you want a transcript, then go to the blog post that's associated with this episode. So to do that, you can go to off-grid living news.com and click on the podcast link and scroll down and look for episode eight.

And please folks, don't forget. If you have enjoyed this material, then please subscribe to my blog offgridliivingnews.com as well as my podcast Adventures in Sustainable Living. Well, that's it for now folks. This is your host Patrick signing off, have a fantastic week and remember, always live sustainable.