Living off the Grid

Living off the Grid I was reading a story the other day about a fascinating lady from East Gippsland, Australia. Her name is Jill Redwood. This intriguing woman has been living completely off the grid for over 30 years. No electric company, no cell reception, no television, and completely self-sufficient. This lady lives on only $80 per week and I am totally amazed by her. I was definitely captivated by her story and this is why I had to write about her. This outstanding woman lives in the mountains of Australia about 1 ½ miles from the closest town. Mrs. Redwood says “that humans have done so much damage to the planet, the forest and living things and she did not want to be part of it.” So, she set her homestead up totally off the grid using solar panels for any electric she may need. She has over 60 animals to provide food for her, as well as company. Jill has dairy goats for milk and she makes cheese from that. She also has chickens (otherwise known as chooks in Australia) for eggs and meat. This strong- willed woman raises a massive garden and orchard from which she preserves her bounty for the winter. Ms. Redwood gathers her own wood for her stove which not only heats in the winter but does all the cooking and heating of water. There are 2 ways to get water on her mountain. One is to catch rain water from the roof and the Gippsland River. Redwood has devised a water wheel to draw the water from the river for her. Pumping about 1 liter per minute. Gravity then feeds it to the house, gardens and animal watering troughs. The toilet is a bucket set up in an outhouse. She asks that no one urinate in the bucket as it would fill up to quickly. However, Jill says she puts ashes from her stove on the feces to compress and neutralize odors. Once the bucket has full she will dig a hole and carry the bucket to the hole and dump it and bury the mater. I certainly do not know about you, but this way of life fascinates me and I wish I had the tenacity to be able to live the way this formidable woman does. So, I say kudos to Ms. Jill Redwood.