Tag Archives: Shit Hits the Fan

Living-Off-Grid.com Magazine Unveils New State-by-State Buyer’s Guide Detailing Where the Best Places Are to Buy an Off Grid Property in the United States

In addition, Living-Off-Grid.com also offers a “Guide to Off Grid Living” that provides over 100 chapters of information on producing solar power, rainwater collection, growing gardens, raising livestock and everything a family needs to build a self sustaining homestead

Living-Off-Grid.com – Rustic Log Cabin in the Mountain Forest’s Fall Foliage

Austin, Texas (May 26, 2020) – Living Off Grid Magazine announced today that it is now offering a State-by-State Directory of the Best Off Grid Properties for Sale in the United States as well as a Free Guide to Off Grid Living that details what is takes to start living off the grid for every state in United States.

The State-by-State Off Grid Land for Sale Directory and Guide to Off Grid Living were created to meet the pent up demand from city dwellers who are now actively seeking to buy rural ranch or farmland properties, then build an off the grid homestead due to these recent events:

California PG&E utility shutting off electricity to more than 2 million customers without warning and threatening to do so on a regular basis in the fture; and
News stories airing on the Coronavirus and COVID19 by ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and other TV News networks that provoked panic buying in grocery stores that first stripped grocery stores of toilet paper and cleaning supplies and then quickly followed suit with stories on meat processing plants closing across America, which led to panic buying of beef, chicken and pork; and
And, last but not least, ruthless Democrat state governors issuing mandatory police state quarantines ordering all Americans to cease going to work and not allowing people to earn a paycheck causing the loss of more than 20.5 million jobs throughout the United States.

These events have caused many quick thinking Americans to start shopping for the “best places” in United States to buy an “off grid” or “rural” piece of property so they could head for the hills to start setting up self-sustaining homesteads that would survive even if utility companies started shutting off critical services such as electricity, natural gas and water services and grocery stores were suddenly sold out of meat, vegetables and other food supply items.

Offgrid homesteads can replace on-grid electiricty with solar / wind power, and on-grid water with rainwater collection and grocery store food with homegrown gardens and live stock so that there is no need to be dependent on civilization to make ends meet.

“Regardless of whose fault it was for causing the COVID 19 pandemic, Americans are now frantically searching for 10 to 100 acre parcels of off grid raw land where they can distance themselves faraway from police state governments that are now threating to go door-to-door enforcing mandatory COVID19 testing and forcing citizens to inject unproven vaccinations, which may kill more people than the actual Coronavirus itself,” said Robert Hoskins, Living-Off-Grid.com’s Editor. “We’ve seen our Facebook (FB) Off Grid Homes Discussion Group’s membership numbers increase significantly. In the past 3 months, we have seen growth rates of more than 60% rising from from 2,800 members in March 2020 to 4,624 members in May 2020. Our actual increases were 15% in March, 22% in April, and another 25% forecast by the end of May.”

Facebook Off Grid Living: Prepping to Live Off the Grid Growth Stats 2020

“Our website’s Guide to Off Grid Living traffic also saw significant growth. For the entire year in 2019, we attracted around 2,690 readers that generated 5,230 page views.”

“Looking at the numbers for the first 5 months of 2020, our circulation has increased from 2,690 to 17,973 readers who have generated approximately 36,331 page views, up 6,930%. If this trend continues the magazine will have more than 41,000 readers generating 87,000 page views by then end of 2020.”

Living Off Grid Magazines’ Guide to Off Grid Living Website Annual Stats

“As a result of the massive pent up the demand for ‘Off Grid’ information we’ve even been getting calls from TV reality series program directors asking us to help them put together reality TV show treatments and story ideas for them to begin producing new off grid reality TV shows,” Hoskins added.

“After surveying more than 6,640 off-grid FB group members, we’ve found that our members would be most interested in helping TV producers and program directors putting together an Off Grid version of PC Magazine, but with editorial targeting off grid homesteaders, which would include Off Grid Product Roundups, Off Grid Buyer’s Guides and Off Grid Equipment Bakeoffs to help off-gridders make educated purchase decisions for big ticket items such as rainwater collection cisterns, aquaponic garden setups, high-end wood-burning stoves and solar power arrays that can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000.”

In addition, members stated that the off grid industry lacks an organized supply chain of value-added resellers and distributors or rural area buying cooperatives where off grid customers can see live demonstrations of working products and take education courses to help them make better purchase decisions.

Many feel that establishing off grid buying cooperatives would be a great way to generate economic development in very poor rural areas and counties where jobs are extremely difficult to find and where off grid communities are beginning to see rapid growth and expansion. Buying cooperatives are the perfect way to generate loans and grants requests for the USDA, which can be the driving force in rural economic development.

Specialized training classes are esssential for helping educate a local workforce installers, dirt movers, septic system installers, home builders, rainwater collection and solar installation experts that newcomers can turn to for expert installation of off grid products and services that every rural homestead will need. This process will generate a workforce of installers that can start news businessses that will would create good paying jobs as well as provide lots of installation companies that compete for new land owners business. Competition for these new products and services helps drive prices down and makes it very affordable to build new off grid homesteads.

About Living Off Grid Magazine

Living-Off-Grid.com provides a magazine with circulation of ~18,000+ readers and two Facebook Discussion Groups with ~ 6,640 members and business pages that allow people to follow, like and share information about what it takes to start a living-off-the-grid lifestyle anywhere in the United States.

Click on the links below to learn more:

Living Off Grid Magazine => http://living-off-grid.com/

State-by-State “Off Grid Land for Sale” Directory => https://livingoffgrid.home.blog/blog/

Facebook Discussion Groups:

Guide to Off Grid Homes => https://www.facebook.com/groups/OffGridHomes/
Guide to Off Grid Living => https://www.facebook.com/GuidetoOffGridLiving/

Facebook Business Pages:

Living Off Grid in Arizona => https://www.facebook.com/groups/nazlog/
Living Off Grid in California => https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaOffGridLiving/
Living Off Grid in New Mexico => https://www.facebook.com/NewMexicoOffGridLiving/
Living Off Grid in New York => https://www.facebook.com/NewYorkOffGridLiving/
Living Off Grid in Texas => https://www.facebook.com/TexasOffGridLiving/

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Contact:
Robert Hoskins
Living-Off-Grid.com
512-627-6622

Off Grid, Grid-Tied or Hybrid Solar Power Array – Which Option Is Best for Your Rural Shed, Cabin or Home in Massachusetts?

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Which Solar Power Option Is Best for Your Rural Shed, Cabin or Home in Massachusetts? Off Grid, Grid-Tied or a Hybrid Solar Power Array?

Off Grid, Grid-Tied or Hybrid Solar Power Array - Which Option Is Best for Your Rural Shed, Cabin or Home in Massachusetts

Off Grid, Grid-Tied or Hybrid Solar Power – Which Option Is Best for Your Rural Shed, Cabin or Home in Massachusetts

Woburn, Massachusetts – As energy rates spike and frustrations with local utility companies continue to increase, a growing number of homeowners here in Massachusetts are seeking out ways to become more energy independent. Boston Solar often gets asked if it is possible to go completely off-grid with solar in Massachusetts for remote cabins and off grid properties.

Boston Solar says that installing solar is one of the best investments off-gridders can make for greater energy independence, and consulting with customers on what the best options are for families that are trying to decide exactly how much energy usage they need to offset for 24×7 operation.

For example, will homesteaders reduce their reliance on the power grid significantly by installing a grid-tied solar PV system, or will they want to cut ties to the local utility completely by installing an off-grid system? Or, will you opt for an in-between, hybrid option? We’ll explain what each of these systems means and help you choose which solar system is right for your home.

Which Solar Power Array Configuration is the Best?

One of the most important decisions you will need to make when you invest in residential solar is whether to install a grid-tied, off-grid, or hybrid system and understand what each of these mean. Here is a brief look at the benefits of each option, and what the implications are for your solar panel installation.

Grid-Tied Solar Power Array

Grid-tied solar systems are designed to provide a large percentage of your electricity needs while still allowing you to draw from the power grid as needed. During the day when the sun is shining, your grid-tied system supplies free and clean power for your home. Then, at night, you draw any electricity you need from the power grid.

Grid-tied systems are a popular option here in Massachusetts because they have a lower upfront cost but still offset a significant portion of a household’s electrical needs. Plus, if your solar system generates more electricity than you need during the day, you have the option to “sell” that electricity back to your local utility for credit if your utility participates in net metering.

Off Grid Solar Power Array

If you want to completely cut ties with your local utility company, you must install an off-grid system. Off-grid solar systems have more solar panels, plus a backup generator and enough battery storage to provide 100% of a household’s electricity needs.

Off-grid solar is typically only for properties that do not have access to the utility grid. If you are someone who heavily values energy independence and therefore want to minimize your reliance on the grid but not fully ready to go completely off-grid, you may want to consider a hybrid system.

Hybrid Solar Power Array

If you are looking for something like a hybrid of grid-tied and off-grid solar, you might consider a grid-tied system with a solar battery. This option is similar to an off-grid system in that it features battery storage, but it is not large enough to provide 100% of your electricity needs.

With this option, you can enjoy the greater energy independence that solar-plus-storage offers, without installing quite as large or expensive of a system on your property. Keep in mind, however, that solar batteries are still relatively expensive compared to solar panels.

Want to speak to an off grid solar expert? Call Boston Solar at 617-841-8484.

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@OffGridLiving3

Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns that sell off grid, remote cabin, solar, rainwater harvesting, bushcraft, outdoor adventure, camping, backpacking, tactical prepper gear, tools, products and services that target rural and off grid properties.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with marketing managers, PR contacts and social media specialists as well as websites, portals and ecommerce center that want to launch successful marketing campaigns to an off grid, prepper, and bushcraft target audience that like to prepare for when Shit-Hits-the-Fan situations (SHTF).

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding PR” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to developing donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns to help raise money to introduce innovative new products and services to the marketplace.

Batteries vs. Blackouts – 1,100 Homes Powered Through Vermont Outage With Storage

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Utility Green Mountain Power’s pilot programs paid off with
clean, distributed backup power amid a statewide outage

Living Off Grid – Batteries vs. Blackouts – 1,100 Homes Powered Through Vermont Outage With Storage

Home batteries proved their resilience value during Vermont’s Halloween blackout.

Vermont – A major rain and wind storm struck the state at the close of October, knocking out power to some 115,000 customers. Among those affected, 1,100 homes managed to keep the lights on thanks to pilot programs specifically designed to promote resilient backup power with energy storage. The battery backup service lasted nine hours on average, but the longest instance stretched to 82 hours.

The event offers a timely data point for other jurisdictions mulling the use of home batteries for resilience. Northern California community power purchasers yesterday requested proposals for home batteries to keep customers powered during the region’s fire-season safety shutoffs. Such a model remains cutting-edge, but Vermont utility Green Mountain Power has shown it can be done effectively.

A couple of years ago, Green Mountain Power launched a Grid Transformation Pilot that allowed homeowners to pay a monthly fee to host a utility-owned and controlled Tesla Powerwall battery. The residents could use it for backup in an outage, and the utility could dispatch the capacity to manage peak demand at other times.

The program previously generated more headlines by saving hundreds of thousands of dollars during annual system peak events than for fulfilling the backup function. In 2018, GMP’s network of batteries reduced consumption during the ISO New England peak hour, saving about $600,000 on capacity fees. This year, a larger number of batteries, totaling 10 megawatts of capacity, responded to a late July peak, saving nearly $900,000 from a single hour of operation.

“We think about our need to deliver reliability constantly,” said Josh Castonguay, the utility’s chief innovation officer. “This has provided us with an amazing tool that can deliver reliability and also pay for itself.”

Those successes made for favorable economics for the utility system as a whole. But the Powerwalls hadn’t had a major opportunity to chance to demonstrate the backup benefit that was promised.

That changed on Halloween.

“We had near-100 mph gusts on top of some of the ridge lines,” Castonguay said. “We had damage across the entire state.”

The 1,100 homes that islanded from the grid accounted for the largest home-battery backup event in the utility’s territory so far, he added.

One reason for that: The utility keeps adding more batteries.

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How to Make Money with Franchises Targeting Off Grid Doomsday Preppers that Are Stocking Up on Supplies

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Some Top Franchises that Target Preppers that Sell
Supplies Needed to Survive in Case Shit Hits the Fan (SHTF)

Living Off Grid – How to Make Money with an Off Grid Franchises Targeting Doomsday Preppers

What Are Doomsday Preppers?

Denver, Colorado – If you’re not a regular viewer on the Reality Television circuit, you may not know about the television show that’s on the National Geographic Channel called Doomsday Preppers. In its third season, Doomsday Preppers is a television show about preppers and survivalists that are preparing just in case Shit Hits the Fan (SHTF). Here’s how the show is described on the National Geographic website:

“Doomsday Preppers explores the lives of otherwise ordinary Americans who are preparing for the end of the world as we know it. Unique in their beliefs, motivations, and strategies, preppers will go to whatever lengths they can to make sure they are prepared for any of life’s uncertainties.”

Drama aside, being prepared is a way of life for a growing number of people. Some Americans simply want to be prepared for the aftermath of a natural disaster like Hurricane Sandy or Katrina. Those events disrupted lives and businesses for weeks, months, in some cases years.

Did you know that there are meetings taking place for preppers all over the United States? Most are likely kept within close circles of family and friends, but some meetings are public. On the Meetup.com website I found many Meetups on topics such as preparedness, prepping, disaster, survival and similar terms. Go ahead and try searching. You may be surprised.

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of websites, blogs, podcasts and YouTube channels on the topic of prepping and survival. Some have large audiences.

Prepper Franchise Opportunities with Mainstream Appeal

Let’s look at franchise opportunities that may take advantage of the prepping trend, yet also have crossover appeal to a mainstream market. There’s also quite a bit of overlap in products when it comes to hikers, campers and hunters. Keep that in mind as part of the potential target market.

I emphasize the crossover appeal when it comes to a prepper franchise, because the potential market will be larger.

Also, unless you are living the prepper lifestyle yourself, you may find it hard to break into a niche market like preppers.

Metal Supermarkets

The Anderson shelter was a popular mini-bomb shelter that was distributed to citizens in the UK during WW2. It’s a well-known fact that The Anderson shelters performed well under blast and ground shock. That’s because they were made with curved and straight galvanized corrugated steel panels – 14 of them actually.

Those wanting to reinforce a basement or building with galvanized corrugated steel panels might turn to a place like the local Metal Supermarkets franchise that makes it easy to buy reinforcing materials.

Batteries Plus

In the event of a natural disaster or something more, it’s a safe bet that electricity will be disrupted, too. It’s a good thing batteries were invented. Long-lasting batteries will be crucial to our comfort, even to our survival.

Just-A-Buck

Preppers are able to stock up on lots of items at the local Just-A-Buck store.

Everything in the store costs a dollar. I purchased toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, razors, candles, lighters, flashlights, and hand-warmers. I also bought dozens of non-perishable food items like crackers, soup, nuts and candy bars, to name just a few.

Just search Google and you will find many articles and YouTube videos on the topic of prepping at a dollar store, such as this one at Apartment Prepper.

Dollar stores are great places to get lots of supplies for not a lot of money. It’s really about volume when one is focused on preparing for a time when stores may no longer be stocked. It has to be.

Gro-O

Most off gridders are going to have to grow some of their own food. Did you know that there’s a franchise that specializes in designing and setting up organic fruit and vegetable raised planter gardens?

Gro-O is the name of the franchise, and they’re big on education. You can attend a garden party at one of their locations where you learn how to set up your organic garden.

Once you’re done learning how to grow your own food in an organic garden, you can go to the Gro-O website and purchase a few GroEasy Redwood Planters. These raised planter boxes are portable and easy to assemble. Bonus: No hardware or tools are needed.

The Beef Jerky Outlet

Beef jerky is one of those food items that has been around since before refrigeration. And it is a food of choice for many preppers and survivalists, as well as campers, hikers and others who spend time outdoors. From YummyJerky.com:

“Generally speaking, commercially produced, vacuum-packed beef jerky has a shelf life of at least one year without refrigeration. Under ideal storage conditions, some varieties of beef jerky can last for two years or more.”

That’s why I paid a visit to The Beef Jerky Outlet, a young franchisor that specializes in tasty, high-quality beef jerky. Whether your local area could sustain a retail outlet specializing mainly in one niche product like beef jerky (and related items) is something to investigate.

These are a handful of the more mainstream franchises available that have overlap with the prepper market. Do more research at the link below or put Google searches to work!

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Elon Musk Says He has the Solar Solution for California’s Fire-Related Blackouts Starting at only $15,000

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Order Tesla Solar + Powerwall battery for 24/7 clean power and no
blackouts!, Musk tweeted, adding a link to the solar section of Tesla’s website

Living Off Grid – Elon Musk Says He has the Solar Solution for California’s Fire-Related Blackouts Starting at only $15,000

SAN FRANCISCO — As California faces massive wildfires and extensive power failures, Elon Musk has taken to Twitter with his latest cause: equipping residents here with solar panels and giant batteries to power their homes.

In a series of tweets last week, the Tesla chief executive made a simple case to affected state residents: buy his solar and battery setup to ride out the next disruption. Power shut-offs from the local utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, will only become more prevalent over the next decade. And solar-equipped homes are more efficient and better valued on the housing market. He even offered a $1,000 discount to those affected by days of power failures caused by wildfires.

“Order Tesla Solar + Powerwall battery for 24/7 clean power & no blackouts!” Musk tweeted, adding a link to the solar section of Tesla’s website.

What Electric Power Outages Mean for Solar’s Potential in California to Solve the PG&E Electricity Blackouts

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Recent blackouts in California have millions of people looking for ways to keep the power resulting in a huge spike in interest in another technology – solar panels and home batteries

Living Off Grid – What Electric Power Outages Mean For Solar’s Potential in California

Solar Power to Solve Northern California Wildfire Electricity Blackout Crisis

The recent blackouts in California have millions of people looking for ways to keep the power on. Some bought portable generators, but there was a huge spike in interest in another technology – solar panels and home batteries. Lauren Sommer of member station KQED reports.

Interview of Anne Hoskins by Lauren Sommer, KQED

LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE: Power is out at every house on this block in the Berkeley Hills. You could tell ’cause all the cars are parked outside the garages ’cause the garage doors won’t open, except for one.

HOWARD MATIS: Well, it works.

SOMMER: Hi, there.

MATIS: Hi.

SOMMER: I’m Lauren.

MATIS: Hi, Lauren.

SOMMER: The lights were on at Howard Matis’s house during the last PG&E outage. His fridge…

MATIS: Which you can see – fully powered and cold.

SOMMER: That’s because inside his garage…

MATIS: OK. We can go up here.

SOMMER: …Are two Tesla Powerwall batteries, about four feet tall, mounted on the wall.

MATIS: The whole house – everything – everything is powered by these two batteries.

SOMMER: The solar panels on his roof keep them charged. Solar alone won’t usually work during an outage because it’s still connected to the grid. But batteries let you wire a house to be its own little island, a 24-hour microgrid. Matis bought this system because he expects California’s fire problem to get worse.

MATIS: I lived through one disaster, and so I know what a wildfire is like.

SOMMER: Matis lost his home in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire. Some of his neighbors died trying to escape. People there are more fire-aware now. The power lines are buried underground. But they’re not immune from PG&E’s blackouts. Matis is still frustrated with the utility.

MATIS: I’ve talked to PG&E in the past, and I realized they didn’t know what they’re talking about.

SOMMER: Folks from the utility beg to differ. But other companies see an opportunity in that resentment.

ANNE HOSKINS: We’ve had a very big uptick in – I guess we would call them leads.

SOMMER: Anne Hoskins is chief policy officer at Sunrun. It sells solar and battery systems.

HOSKINS: We have a better way than relying on this, you know, over-a-century-old system.

SOMMER: Hoskins says the batteries aren’t just for emergencies. Homeowners can use them every day to store solar power, unlike portable gas generators.

HOSKINS: They’re loud. They’re dirty. And that also contributes to the problem, in our view, that we’re facing, which is climate change.

SOMMER: But batteries are pricey. A Powerwall costs more than $6,000, plus installation. Hoskins says state rebates and federal tax credits can knock thousands off that price, and Tesla is offering a discount for Californians affected by the blackouts. Still, there’s the potential for wealthier homeowners to buy their way out of these blackouts, leaving everyone else feeling the brunt.

HOSKINS: How can we build a system so that all those investments that people are making can bring a benefit to the grid as a whole?

SOMMER: Hoskins says that’s possible. You can have a bunch of solar and batteries in people’s homes that can feed into the local grid and supply everyone. It’s called a virtual power plant. Sunrun is planning one in West Oakland, where 500 low-income households will get solar and batteries. The idea is that making power locally means you don’t need as many big transmission lines to bring it in from far away.

Read more of Lauren Sommer, KQED report => https://buff.ly/2NM45Xk

#California #OffGridLiving #LivingOffGrid #ElonMusk #PowerWall #Solar #Panels #Batteries #PGE #Wildfire #Blackouts #Discounts

How to Build a Better Fish Trap in SHTF Survival Situations

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Off Grid Living – How to Build a Better Fish Trap
in When Shit Hits the Fan (SHTF) Survival Situations

Click on the photo to see more pictures:

Off Grid Living – How to Build a Better Fish Trap in SHTF Survival Situations

Building a Better Fish Trap in SHTF Survival Situations

Kentucky – How to Build a Better Fish Trap in a Shit Hits the Fan SHTF Survival Situations. No fishing pole required. Build a dammed up pool with rocks. Chase fish into the open mouth and then pile rocks closer and closer until escape is impossible!

Want to Learn More? Join our Off Grid Discussion Group on Facebook!

To learn more and discuss off grid topics, please join our free Facebook group at:
Off Grid Living: Prepping to Live Off the Grid
Or, read more topics in our “Guide to Off Grid Living” at:
https://LivingOffGrid.Home.Blog/Guide-to-Off-Grid-Living/

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#Fish #FishTrap #Fishing #Grid #News #Ponds #Rivers #ShitHitstheFan #SHTF #Streams #Survival #OffGridLiving #LivingOffGrid

Off Grid Living – Learning How to Live Off the Grid

Beginner's Guide to the Top Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Living Off the Grid

Tag Archives: Shit Hits the Fan

Living-Off-Grid.com Magazine Unveils New State-by-State Buyer’s Guide Detailing Where the Best Places Are to Buy an Off Grid Property in the United States