Off-grid ranching

 This post is intended to introduce a new category of posts to my blog documenting in greater detail how I live while I'm at the ranch.  This mode of living, which most closely resembles what is currently called "off-grid living," was not planned.  Rather, our opting for an off-grid ranch emerged out of converging circumstances.  The high price of land near urban areas and the desire to save money led us to purchase property in a remote area several hours drive from our home in northern Virginia.  This great distance between ranch and home made a daily commute between the locations impractical and this, in turn, required us to establish a temporary structure (i.e. the camper trailer) in which I could sleep at night while I was at the ranch.  Later, as we began to build the ranch, the need for a small amount of electricity became apparent and, because the cost of solar panels was cheaper than paying for a power line to be extended to our remote location, we ended up purchasing a small solar electric system.  These initial choices then led to more off-grid solutions until we had built up a our own little off-grid settlement. 
An outhouse my father made for us last summer.  Prior to the outhouse my "bathroom" consisted of a roll of toilet paper and a shovel.  I usually didn't mind the shovel method, but the outhouse does make things a lot easier in pouring rain at night. 

The off-grid lifestyle became even further established about a year-and-a-half ago, when I decided to resign from my job and pursue bison ranching full-time. At that time my wife Jess had suggested to me that I consider renting a small home nearby to make life easier while I was working at the ranch during the hot summer months.  However, after several years of working on an "off-grid" ranch, I found that I preferred the challenge of living off-grid to the easier of option of renting some place nearby.  It has taken me over thirty years of my life to realize it, but I enjoy a challenge (within limits) and, as much as I lament setbacks, it is the process of overcoming obstacles that makes life bearable for me.

Although this is officially my first off-grid living post, several of my previous posts can be counted as such and have now been given the Blogger label "off-grid living."  This label and all other labels can be found by scrolling to the very bottom of this blog page under "View posts by topic."

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