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Have you done any searches in Socorro or Catron counties? I have traveled the back roads in those areas and have seen off the grid places. If you take 169 from us 60 just west of Magdelena and head toward the Alamo navajo res. I remember seeing a bunch of ranch style homesteads out there. Take the forest roads on the right.
We put a well in on our land about 15 years ago. If I remember right it was around 4k for what we had done. Prices have changed quite a bit since then.
Alot of the Alamo tribal members actually live off the grid for various reasons. I suspect they aren't trying to live that way on purpose though I could be wrong.
It seems to me that "off the grid" means substituting inconvenience and hard work for cash or credit. As much as the little bit of remaining kid in me would like to kiss the world goodbye the rest of me has become, or likely will become, much more dependent on "town" services like access to medical care and grocery stores. Thus living in a small old Adobe in a small or smallish town is far more likely than escaping civilization off the grid.
We will likely be wintering over during the winter of 2013 to 2014. We plan on driving down and renting a place to stay. I will probably buy a small motorcycle for local FTA. I have been checking real estate sites for likely places. I am still concentrating on Socorro and "suburbs".
I would really miss running water and hot showers, in house cloths washing, food refrigeration, reading lights, and some form of electronic computer and entertainment. These require electricity in substantial quantity and acceptable quality.
I figure it would take about 10 grand to install a small diesel engine powered co-generation (heat and electricity) plant capable of providing the necessary heat, hot water and electricity. This could be supplemented by simple solar heat collection and wood and/or coal fueled stoves.
If I were forty years younger and had my own income I would do this in a second. Such a place would be ideal for a solitary writer or artist but, although I am working on becoming a writer, I still have the forty years. Thus living in town is an acceptable compromise.
After I retire to NM I will be investigating building or just installing the diesel based co-gen systems I mentioned earlier and in other posts. I do not have enough information on the potential market to commit to this now.
I would really miss running water and hot showers, in house cloths washing, food refrigeration, reading lights, and some form of electronic computer and entertainment. These require electricity in substantial quantity and acceptable quality.
I figure it would take about 10 grand to install a small diesel engine powered co-generation (heat and electricity) plant capable of providing the necessary heat, hot water and electricity. This could be supplemented by simple solar heat collection and wood and/or coal fueled stoves.
If I were forty years younger and had my own income I would do this in a second. Such a place would be ideal for a solitary writer or artist but, although I am working on becoming a writer, I still have the forty years. Thus living in town is an acceptable compromise.
After I retire to NM I will be investigating building or just installing the diesel based co-gen systems I mentioned earlier and in other posts. I do not have enough information on the potential market to commit to this now.
Why would you burn diesel instead of using solar where the energy source is clean and free?
Being off the grid means exactly what is says, not using grid utilities for your basic needs such as septic, water supply and energy. It also might imply growing your own food, however, I am not sure if there are people in the United States that grow ALL of their food and meat.
In the modern (U.S.) sense of the phrase, you are not sacrificing any modern "conveniences" by being off the grid - the only thing you are doing is being energy independent. As for growing your own food and meat, yes it is much more work than driving to the grocery store and buying it all, obviously.
Quite a few "self sufficiency" folks end up growig food that costs much more to grow than to buy it. However, the upside is that you know exactly what went into its production, more or less (cannot guarantee what's in the rain)
There are some of us who do want to be fully off grid, live in the middle of nowhere, have no electricity and have no need for a car (instead ride my horse) and live as much as possibly close to the way people live in the 1800s.
There are some of us who do want to be fully off grid, live in the middle of nowhere, have no electricity and have no need for a car (instead ride my horse) and live as much as possibly close to the way people live in the 1800s.
But why would you choose to do this in the desert southwest???
Living somewhere that already has good sources of water, soil, fuel, game and livable weather most of the year would seem to be the natural choice. There are plenty of places where the latter can be found - assuming there is property available for use and not already privately owned or otherwise regulated.
For someone serious about living remotely in the desert, there are people who post regularly about conditions in the desert area to the east of El Paso. You can find a lot of discussion on this long thread by skipping to the end pages for discussions about the Cornudas, TX area:
If you go off the grid commit to it forever because nothing is more trashy than a bunch of abandoned, squalid, hovels crapping up our beautiful New Mexican landscapes .
If you go off the grid commit to it forever because nothing is more trashy than a bunch of abandoned, squalid, hovels crapping up our beautiful New Mexican landscapes .
Kthx
You mean like the "city" of Santa Fe or the town of Taos and the mega-mansions 4000+ sqft big on 40+ acres with fences? Or the new mega-riches developments popping up in the middle of nowhere in towns like Mountainair where you get this faux adobes that cost an arm and a leg and look ridiculous? Puhlease...
Looks like there is some up North and a few pockets in the deep south. Midwest also.
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