More from Victoria Miller on living off-grid

We recently had a little chat with Victoria Miller, one of the speakers at this year's conference, about the realities of living off the grid.

What exactly does living off the grid mean for you? Do you have electricity?

Living "off the grid" means that we don't have electricity, at least not full-time, since we're not hooked up to the local power grid. We do have a generator, but we use it only when we're doing laundry; at the same time we plug in all our rechargeable things so they're charging while the generator is running. We are almost finished installing our solar electric system, at which point we'll be able to run the washing machine without using the generator.

Currently, just about everything in the house runs on propane: the hot water heater, a gas stove/oven, gas refrigerator/freezer, and gas lamps on the walls. We heat the house with two woodstoves about 8 months of the year. We have no TV, and the only Internet we have is dial-up; we never had high-speed Internet even when we were in Seattle, though, so it isn't a big deal.

Why do you live off-grid?

Well, my husband David's grandparents bought the property back in 1936. It's two miles up the hill from the Dungeness Fish Hatchery, and the hatchery is where the electrical service ends. We weren't actually looking deliberately to live off the grid, our property just happens to be off the grid. Still, even if we could afford to connect to the grid, we would choose not to. We like not having utility bills, and have found that life without full-time electricity is actually quite rewarding.

Do you prefer living off-grid, or do you miss having unlimited power at your disposal?

There are times when I wish I could just plug something in like everyone else, but that doesn't happen too often because I'm pretty used to things as they are. And once our solar system is fully functional, I WILL be plugging those things in. It's surprising, really, what you find you can do without quite easily, once you get used to the idea. And unlimited power always comes at a cost, both in power bills and increased dependence.

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If you have ever dreamed of living off-grid, don't miss this opportunity to hear from someone who is doing it! Victoria Miller, author of Pure Poultry: Living Well with Heritage Chickens, Turkeys and Ducks, will be presenting four sessions at this year's conference. She will talk about water bath canning, pressure canning, raising poultry, and living off the grid. Vicki became a canning whiz specifically because they live off the grid and don't have a big freezer for preserving the harvest.

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