My Financial Recovery

Off The Grid Show With Les Stroud

Posted on: June 2, 2009 by Matt 1 Comment

More Off Grid

Originally uploaded by mikeysklar

Over the weekend I discovered that I have a new favorite television network: Planet Green. I had seen a couple of clips from shows on the network but had not sat and watched for an extended period of time until Sunday afternoon.  My girlfriend had hurt her back so we were having a mellow afternoon and she told me about a show called Off the Grid she had seen the night before after I had fallen asleep.  She said it was pretty cool and that I would have really liked it.

The show is a documentary starring Les Stroud (also known as Survivorman) and his family as they purchase 150 acres of Canadian wilderness and move off the grid.  I was just amazed at the lifestyle the family chose and really just could not stop thinking about how cool their plan was.

The best part – they went green on a budget! Obstacles like not being able to drill through bed rock due to cost constraints were real and they faced the challenges like a regular family.   Once completed the family produced their own power and water which left them both living green and free of utility bills.

I personally dream of a day when I can go somewhat off the grid with my family in our own home. I do not think we will be using any self composting toilets but I am open to the idea of a gravity feed from collected rain water (provided my better half agrees).  However – I do not want to go totally off the grid at this time. While I strongly believe in trying to live a greener lifestyle I also think that we may be able to give back additional power generated if we were to produce our own energy via solar or wind power.  From the setup that Les Stroud and his family had it appeared that once their batteries were charged the system just stopped producing energy.  I figure that if the system is producing energy anyway and we have the ability to be wired in then why not give some of it back to the power company? I have also heard that the power companies will also reimburse you for the power provided back but my goal would be more in line with providing a little bit of green power back more than making money.  Anyway – at this point it is more or less just a wishful dream of mine but I hope someday that it will be a reality.  I suppose when the time comes then my girlfriend and I will talk it out and make decisions based on what we can and can not do.

In the mean time – while digging around on the show a little bit I found it over on YouTube.  Here is an embedded clip of the show for anyone that wants a preview. For the rest of the episode just head on over to YouTube and search “Off the Grid Les Stroud”.