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The vicinity of Taos would be a good place to explore the realities of off-grid living, and just how practical.
Having once been out that way, I wouldn't recommend anyone venture out to Two Peaks without a good reason. If seeking the uncommon one would probably have better luck venturing instead to Tres Orejas. US 64 is departed from the same intersection not far beyond the Gorge Bridge, but one then heads due south on the fairly good dirt road. About halfway between US 64 and NM 567, where one rejoins pavement towards either Carson or Pilar, will be the turnoff to Tres Orejas to one's right. The junction with a far more modest dirt road is still probably marked with a vertical pole of Tibetan prayer flags. Indeed there is an actual stupa with other prayer flags closer to the three peaks of low mountains which are national forest behind the small town. The term town might be a bit grandiose, as it is more an ad hoc community perhaps best cemented together by some (in places) very questionable roads and an obvious desire for something different. Housing can range from modest but seemingly well built and practical houses to perhaps some very old small bus, utilities possibly comprised of a single small propane tank, and maybe a solar panel big enough for a lightbulb or two on a good day. Last I checked the power line along the road simply stopped well short of Tres Orejas.
Not so much at Tres Orejas, but there are Earthship homes scattered throughout the area. Some far and gone in the middle of nowhere, such as on the far side of Tres Orejas, but one of the best acquaintances possibly with the larger congregation at the Greater World Earthship Community, seen east of US 64, beyond the bridge as one heads towards Tres Piedras. There was, and probably still is, a model next the road which is open to the public to view for a nominal fee. If with the means, and a disregard for easy access, there is also a complex of Earthships high on the mountain at the head of the canyon leading to Taos Ski Valley.
These are innovative, often comfortable and energy efficient houses. Many of them are entirely off the grid, relying on solar panels for electricity, with roofs used for water collection into cisterns. Something that would come in useful at Tres Orejas, as any well would have to be very deep there, and the reality can be hauling all water in. One reason that area was, and may still be, a relative bargain for real estate.
What one will discover however, proper home or not, is that living off the grid can entail a lot more than just supplying your own electricity. One can actually grow a banana plant in an Earthship, and people often have plants inside these passive solar homes. But surely far more rare those that actually grow enough of anything to feed themselves exclusively. The reality is to one extent or another most everyone will find themselves driving into Taos a lot. That is a long drive on sometimes challenging roads (think mud in season), which will get no cheaper as the price of petrol continues to increase. True sustainability would lie in providing most every need from scratch, and surely precious few that come close to that.
There are places and museums in Taos which can give a fair idea of how people faired in this regard in the era of Kit Carson and other mountain men who made the area their winter home. A little acquaintance will reveal why, as Taos itself is relatively lush with water and natural meadows. Aside from the population now and expensive real estate, in topography and climate it would provide a better local for living off the land than what most later-day pioneers are forced into, way off in the dry sagebrush.
This aside, it can be an enchanting area, with many in one form or another having found a certain compromise between dream and reality.
Spent the last couple days helping my teen daughter's youth group frame a community center out on the Navajo Nation NW of Cuba, NM.
Talk about "living off the grid," the Navajo's have been doing it for generations.. no electricity, water has to be hauled in for miles, no indoor plumbing etc. It was great meeting these folks and learning more about their way of life and it was great helping them with some of the projects around their community and homes.
The afternoon clouds were awesome, and the volunteer project very worth while.
Makes a person wonder why they don't leave the Rez. and move somewhere with electricity, plumbing, water and good job opportunity's. I've moved all over the U.S. to better myself. The Rez. isn't a prison, you CAN leave.
Makes a person wonder why they don't leave the Rez. and move somewhere with electricity, plumbing, water and good job opportunity's. I've moved all over the U.S. to better myself. The Rez. isn't a prison, you CAN leave.
That's only if you believe that moving around betters oneself.
Plus, what would you do for a living if you spent your whole life on the Rez?
It's discussions like this one that draw me back again and again to this forum!
Aside from the physical challenges of the off grid life, there are mental and emotional choices to be made as well. It is possible to become extremely isolated. I often wonder if that is what people realize that they are choosing.
My Mennonite forebears worked hard but were largely self sufficient within their community, which itself, however, was pretty isolated.
On the distaff side we have explorers who left us diaries of their forays into the wilderness. They could go months and speak to no one.
I spent five years in the Sahel -- water from hand dug wells, no electricity, no phones, no radios. The community was rich with oral history, self sufficient for entertainment, very supportive, but daily life tiptoed along the rim of death. Not something most people would choose.
Isolation is not a choice to be made lightly.
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