Reply #21: Solar is a possibility; we have a friend who has solar at his cabin. [View All]

[politicat]

He, like us, runs entirely on laptops, so that makes it more functional. I've got an article I wrote about spending time at his cabin if you're interested. It's a neat thing he's got. Lucky guy, his family's been here forever, so they've got some great land up in the mountains. The only downside, he says, is winter, when the panels get covered for a couple days with snow, and the batteries run down.

We're also locked into a mortgage and haven't been able to sell our house; our HOA does not allow solar panels or a methane farm (which is another off-grid power source if you're able to keep animals.). Going off grid in an urban/suburban area is really difficult.

The 50s version is very good; I have a tattered, crumbling copy of it myself. The older one has some of the older recipes that are dying out.

I dry most of my excess produce since I live in a low humidity climate with hot days, but I remember canning... all summer long, it seemed.