Living Without Electricity On Our 100 Year Old Farm. (environmental, water, system)

[B'ichela]

I liked the old wallpaper/stensil work in the living room with the fireplace... However, it did not look good AT all on the door! LIke you I am also dreaming of living a non electic lifestile. However, being disabled.... I cannot afford to buy a house. and Connecticut makes Electricity MANDATORY in Connecticut. Does anyone know of a low cost hovel in the New York/Massachussets area tthat is non-electrified?

[Forest Breath]

How can electricty be mandatory? I would absolutely die! They can legally make you get electricty? How odd!

Oh...and the living room was more hideous in person than in the pics. I am SO glad it is all hidden behind the paint. LOL I have not decided what color of trim I will use in the living room yet, so we left the mantle and fire place trim green for now.

[Faworki1947]

what an awesome story ! I just spent the last 4 hours reading the first and then this thread .. I cried and laughed and cried again as the saga unfolded .. may old Miz Hazel find her karma monkey .. I wont even go "there" Forest Breath .. I wish you many blessing to this wonderful jounery as it unfolds and hope we never get a "to be cont... " tag ..
/|\
Faworki

ps; Ok I just subscribed! LOL thank you for sharing this story of the modern-day druidess on a green path ..

[PaulNKS]

Lookin' good!

[piperspal]

Originally Posted by Faworki1947

thank you for sharing this story of the modern-day druidess on a green path ..

What a cool description of FB!
Oh yeah; there's a great byline when the book deal comes thru!

[1967hammer]

Looking good FB! You and Chris are rockin' and rollin'. Kinda reminds me of Lisa & Mike Please keep the pics coming. We love watching the transformation.

[B'ichela]

Originally Posted by Forest Breath

How can electricty be mandatory? I would absolutely die! They can legally make you get electricty? How odd!

Oh...and the living room was more hideous in person than in the pics. I am SO glad it is all hidden behind the paint. LOL I have not decided what color of trim I will use in the living room yet, so we left the mantle and fire place trim green for now.

In 1972, The Conneticut Legislatiure under the pressure of CL&P and UI lobbyists ran a law through that mandated all homes be electrified after 1973 in order to obtain an occupancy permit. Admended to that,in the 1990s,
all homes must have hard-wired smoke alarms that obtain their power from the mains. No one has the legal chutzpuh to argue against it, or seems to want to . Those who tried to live without electricity found thair homes condemmed and/or torn down.

With the State of Conn eating out of their hands. the electric utilities demanded more and more rate hikes from the DPUC. My current electric rate is 19.2 cents per KWH! Being on disabiliy, that eats alot out of my disability, Average electric bill is about $120-140 monthly! Heat and Hot water are included in my rent, My apartment has an Electric stove. (Yuck!) Prefer Gas or wood cooking.

[ThinkinTN]

WOW FB I am so happy for you! I am so glad everything with Hazel is settled and you get to keep that house you all built. Too bad you cant move it in its entirety. You could have two homes and keep what was built with Jimmy. But at least you can still salvage quite a bit!

Wow what a difference on the home! I would never have believed it was the same place. And lol... I am sad... I kinda liked the white with green blotches :X I cant wait to read more on your story. Does the bathroom work if you dump water down it? Or are you going to have to have another outhouse?

[joe moving]

This sort of made me think of something.

Whenever power goes out and we're sitting there in the dark thinking how nice this is. Usually the real concerns are freezing pipes or spoiling food.

I'd love to try something. One day a month - go downstairs and shut the main OFF. Or maybe just one night in the winter when it's not too cold to freeze but cold enough to keep food cold.

[marmac]

--------"I'd love to try something"----

Nothing stopping you