Off The Grid And Loving It

Saute banana slices in butter and cinnamon  Make porridge/oats as normal adding some more ground cinnamon and raisins  Top oats with sauteed bananas and top with cream and enjoy 

Living miles away from fabric shops and not wanting to spend dollars to make fabric then recycling is a neat way to make your own.   do it yourself fabric is unique and a cool way to recycle a favourite item.  Believe it or not this weaving is done with torn strips of hubby's night shirt, frayed and ready to toss out when inspiration hit - guess he's still searching for it  ...  looks mighty like denim and gave a very strong and interesting texture fabric for a bag. 

Quick Pic today with a simple and effective climbing frame for the garden this one is made from tea tree but could be any branches of the right size 

site of the river in Puniu rural NZ on a fishing trip  Fishing Hut overlooking the Puniu river  Everything you need for a fishing weekend - great site for setting up off grid  Campfire 

  Believe in synchonicty ?   off the grid living  ? Mmmmmnnnn ....... Life has a habit of whacking you on the nose when you don't pay attention....   Until quite recently, I was going along minding my own business and following my own path and decided it might be a great idea  to enrol in a horticultural course.  This is not a new thing.  We have grown our own food for decades.  I scuttled along to this course expecting to find out  "a wee bit more" about how to"do it better" when WHAM ! It was like when something hits you at a million miles an hour in a split second of time.  We were watching our tutor/teacher/life-pointer-in the-right directionist was slicing up an apple to illustrate how the earth has only 1/32nds worth of usable space to grow all the food for everyone on earth.    Google "The Earth as an Apple" to see what I mean   It got worse -  it turns out that we only have the equivalent of the  ski...

Off the grid living  ? Is it for the birds ? How would you get on if you had to generate enough energy/power to run the "must haves" in your life ? Would you be able to sustain yourself for even a week ? How important is  the whole energy thing anyway ?  And why should we even bother ? Do you know how easy it is to  build your own off grid living gear  ? You can save a stack of money by DIY It can be quite simple with the right instructions and done using tools you probably already  have at home. Build Your own -  off grid living guides here Building it yourself is far more cost effective  than purchasing the ready made renewable systems Live the good life  wherever you choose when you  live off the grid and stop being reliant on the national grid. But how do you begin to generate your own electricity ? From scratch, without any know how  ? Like Zilch, nada ...... Like eating an elephant - one bite...

  Grow plants for free by trimming off the tops and popping them in a container with a bit of water,  keep topped up and you will have a continual supply of fresh greens to hand.  When they get a bit bigger put them in a pot or straight into the garden and they will grow for you to harvest.  Add a bit of compost, a touch of fertilizer and your kitchen top garden will keep on going.   The plants above are beetroot, carrot, celery and chinese cabbage - try them all out and see how well they grow for you.  

  Really misty morning over the paddocks - not that the stock mind - they just carry on as usual no matter what the weather and food always takes precedence over looking :)

 Hay garden at the end of Summer Old drawers recycled into  lettuce beds The more sheltered area of the garden Herbs, potted plants and things ready to be planted out - broadleaf plant at the back is Arrowroot Hen "camping out" at the end of the garden

Wild and tangled vine that caught our attention Ever gone past something a few times and not seen the potential ? Suddenly spotted it in a different way ?  suddenly it wasn't just an artistic photograph just waiting to happen, suddenly it wasn't just a vine to trim but potential weaving material - know what I mean ? this has almost woven itself - how hard can it be ? Now I am no weaver - in fact the weaver in the family has taken a definite disinterest in my many hints !  How hard can it be ?  The vine has practically woven itself - all I need to do is to trim if off and loop it together - surely ?  Artistic, twining vine just begging to be made into something  Well apparently, it is not quite so easy as I thought it would be - after looping it this way and that my weaver disinterested party is now pretty interested to see how a non basket weaver will attack this wee problem and exactly how the finished product will look.  I can see him ...

These are the much cooler shorn sheep wondering what else is going to happen ! We went over to a fellow weavers to find out how to warp up a loom (properly !) and spotted two beautiful fleeces in the garage - mmmnnn ...... after a tour of the weavings inside her house and looking at  several Rya rugs she had made we could hardly wait to make  our own and the fleece was practically calling out to us.   We decided to use the fleece in the grease - that means without washing  and it is beautiful to use.  so far we have made a car seat head rest each and a cushion for a friend and one of the car seat head rests hasn't quite made it outside as it is on an office chair.  In fact I am using it right now as I type this :) Ecstatic to get this lot ! Fleece - we can hardly wait to get into this lot - going to be a mat, a car seat headrest and cushion  Airing in the sun and planning to weave this lot in rya, knotted weaving in the grease...

Want to  get Unlimited FREE Amounts of Energy whenever you want?   Want to reduce up to 100% of your energy bills ?  Anyone heard of Nikola Tesla ?      Tesla was a genius who invented the basis of the electricity we use today.  It was in 1934 that he announced that electric power is everywhere and in unlimited quantities and you simply did not need coal, gas or oil to power up machinery.  This was shocking enough to come out with in the 1930's but he didn't do himself any favors with the big guns of the multi million dollar electric companies who probably saw him as practically growing horns and they were out to silence him and his ideas.  Reckon you would like to know the secret too of saving all those dollars you give to the electric companies   ?   Grab your chance to get off the grid and get free electricity that's transportable, easy to use and cheap .  Its easy to set up, not massive costs to install and be...

Got a few links for you today that are too good not to share ! Camping Wind Turbine Link:   http://www.instructables.com/id/Camping-Wind-Turbine/ Build your own Yurt  link  http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-yourself-a-portable-home---a-mongolian-yurt/ Solar Funnel cooker  http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-Foil-Glue-The-Solar-Funnel-Cooker/ Portable GerTee  - Tent home  http://www.instructables.com/id/GerTee-Portable-tent-home-made-of-recycled-materia/ DIY 7 strand rope from plastic bags  http://www.instructables.com/id/Useful-Rope-or-Cord-from-Plastic-Shopping-Bags/

We have Italian friends who made their own fresh pasta and came over to show us how we could make our own pasta in our own home.  We now make if often and as we have a lot of fresh eggs have been making a lot to dry and store for later so we have a good standby for a fast delicious meal. The Recipe: One and a half cups of flour (sifted finely) Make a well in the middle and add two large eggs (free range if possible) My friend uses his hands but I used a fork to gradually add the flour to the eggs and (if required only) add a small amount of water as my friend says maybe "the depth of 2 fingers in a glass!" I only needed to use a very small amount. Knead the dough until it is smooth and cover and let it rest for at least half an hour, but an hour is better. Clear a table or bench so you have lots of room and firmly attach your pasta cutter.  Make sure you have a lot of clear space as I discovered when I covered everything in sight with flour and pasta including the c...