MEN Fair 2012 - Off-Grid Living

Off-Grid Living
Presented by Christine Tailer and Greg Cole of Straight Creek Valley Farm

Christine and Greg live on a 63 acre farm in SouthWest Ohio. They live in a 388 square foot home powered by 12 solar panels. The presentation covered various aspects of their life on the farm including renewable energy, living in a small home, gardening, and animal husbandry. I took several things away from this workshop.

The first suggestion that I really liked was, when using renewable energy, to wire the home for both 12v DC and 110v AC. Christine and Greg use DC for all day to day  energy, and only use the AC for things such as the washing machine, computer, and satellite. By doing this they are able to only turn the inverter on when using AC appliances, thus saving electricity since the inverter draws power even when idling.

The second thing that Christine and Greg talked about that might be applicable for Andrea and I is using a meat processor that handles slaughter in addition to butchering. Neither of us think we could handle killing a chicken or rabbit, so raising those animals for meat have not really been considered as options. If we could find a processor, however, who would slaughter the animals it could give us some additional options.

The final thing that was discussed which interested me was some of the techniques used to increase space in their small home. I particularly liked the idea to leave the interior walls and ceiling uncovered, so that the space between studs and rafters could be used for storage. Of course this may not always be practical especially when using alternative building methods and an open floor plan or when the walls and ceilings need to be insulated.

I learned a lot and enjoyed the presentation. Christine and Greg host an open house at their farm each Spring, and I hope to be able to attend the next one.