Page 16 - OffGrid East Coast Special Edition 2016

before
After
ftf..ttfftftttttfttttttttfttfffffftffffJourney to self-sufficiency:
She converted “cabin in woods” to year-round autonomous home By Wendy Keats
When people learn I live off-grid, one of the first questions they ask me (after “how much does it cost”) is why I did
it. That answer is easy. I wanted to go back to a simpler way of life in which I’m doing whatever I can to reduce
my carbon footprint and leave a sustainable earth for my grandchildren. It’s never been about the money for me, although I happily admit I do not mind not having gotten a power bill in over a decade!
Riverside property
I’d owned this 6-acre property on the Petitcodiac River since 1995 and spent every spare minute here, fixing up the shack that came with it and trying to negotiate with the forest for a lawn free of trees and stumps.
Every spring weekend, I’d lug supplies, tools, and water down the kilometer-long muddy road and every winter weekend the process would be repeated with snowshoes and a toboggan. But never once did I walk down that road that I didn’t feel the weight of the world lifting from my shoulders. My breathing deepened and my eyes opened
to the wonder and beauty of the nature around me. Every minute I spent in the little cabin in the woods was a gift and I never felt so peaceful.
One fall day in 2004, I was trudging down that road with my head hung, wishing I didn’t have to leave, when I suddenly asked myself what the heck I was waiting for. Was I going to slave away in the city just to be too old or sick to retire out
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