Surviving Off Off-Grid

[Flagwaver]

Tomorrow, a new, non-fiction book about surviving off grid will be launched on Amazon. It is called Surviving Off Off-Grid. The YouTube video on the following site is inspirational:

http://www.offoffgrid.com/

I am always looking for books written by people who LIVE the lifestyle. This one looks good.

(No, I am not affiliated with the book, the author, or Amazon.)

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Looking forward to a review!

[Flagwaver]

Here is a review from

Granny Miller's Homestead Garden & Pantry


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Survival Off Off-Grid and the The Agrarian Mindset

Posted: 02 Mar 2011 09:21 AM PST

Dear Friends of Granny Miller,

This is a long but important post. I have stayed up well past a normal agrarian bedtime to write it. I hope you will take a few minutes to read it carefully.

Last week I made my weekly post office run and received a copy of Surviving Off Off-Grid: Decolonizing the Industrial Mind. The publisher had offered my wife a free prepublication copy for our review. For the past five days, I have been reading and rereading it. I hope Granny Miller readers will consider reading it as well.


The Author, from the book's Amazon page

I did not want to like this book. The author, Michael Bunker, is a self described “Christian Agrarian Separatist.” From my understanding of Mr Bunker’s beliefs, he believes agrarianism is a Biblical mandate, and that Christian believers should separate from the World around them. I am a Christian, and believe that agrarianism offers an excellent basis for a nation’s political economy. However, I am uncomfortable mixing my faith in Christ crucified with any political, economic or social agenda. From Byzantine “symphony” between church and state, to Cromwell’s Commonwealth, to the 19th Century Anglo Catholic Socialists, Christian vegetarianism, the “Dutch Christian Goat Breeders Society”, and liberation theology, the church has been there and done that. I also live in the graveyard of failed Christian agrarian separatist ventures (Zoarites, Harmonists, etc). Only the Amish/Mennonites have survived, but that is the subject of another essay. My serious objections to Mr. Bunker’s theology are not pertinent to why I think this book is important. Furthermore, Granny Miller is not a theological blog, and I do not debate religion on the Internet. If Mr. Bunker would ever come to Pennsylvania, I invite him to discuss this topic at leisure on my porch over some beer or milk.

As the reader may suspect at this point, I like this book very much. This book is not an apologia for Mr. Bunker’s theology (though it informs him and is found throughout the book). This work is otherwise hard to categorize. It is part history, part cultural criticism, with some biography. It is explicitly not another “how to” book, but the intelligent reader will extract many practical ideas. The best way I can characterize this book, is that it is about mindset. Mindset is what lets the soldier, policeman or armed citizen win a fight. Mindset is the most important difference between the dead and the survivors in any crisis. Mr. Bunker’s thesis is that industrialism and urbanity have “colonized” the human mind in 21st Century America, and he has set out to de-colonize it. This de-colonizing will create a mindset that will allow families to thrive in what may become an increasingly difficult future.

While dealing with the lofty subject of human thought, this book is anything but academic. The style is very readable and conversational. The prepper or survivalist will find some serious tests to determine just how prepared he really is (starting with some discussion about what the word “Survival” really means). A person who has never thought deeply about how our nation devolved into the present mess will hopefully read this as a needed alarm call. The homesteader or small farmer of any level of experience will find keys to better his endeavors by thinking in new ways.

While I am not an advocate of agrarian separatism, I believe Mr. Bunker may be one of the few people who could write this book. His separatism gives him a perspective of distance from the “grid” (which is much more than mere electric power, including debt and wage slavery, and the omnipresent corporate/government alliance).

This book is also refreshing in its practicality. The Internet has spawned some self-proclaimed survival experts who lack any significant real world experience but the ability for noisy self-promotion. There is also a horde of romanticized back to the land resources that make the agrarian life seem like a breeze. Michael Bunker fits neither of these classes. When discussing land, water, light, heat, building, tools, and food, the author speaks from a remarkable personal experience. He understands that the old paths he has chosen lead to inevitable physical discomfort and a heap of hard work. Yet his realism does not deny the pleasures of an agrarian life. As a stockman, I especially appreciate his understanding of land and livestock that counsels how to make the two fit together wherever the reader might live, not just the author’s central Texas home.

He also directly confronts common objections anyone who sets out on a path of greater self-support will encounter. One is the charge that any uses of technology by an off grid agrarian represent hypocrisy. He demolishes the myth that a robust agrarian society means everyone must be a farmer. He also supports a host of “intermediate means” as an integral part of one’s journey, so the reader need not feel compelled to go naked into the wilderness and build a homestead overnight. Yet use of these intermediate means must be accompanied by thought. This part of the book is important for any homesteader who needs to explain to his consumerist friends why he has chosen this life. It also offers encouragement at any stage in the journey to independence.

The reader should be forewarned that the author is very opinionated. This is a consequence of his independency from the said grid. A free man can speak his mind without worrying about what a boss or customer might think. Sadly, America was once full of open speaking farmers like this. Maybe if enough people read this book it will be again. While this book is thought provoking and challenging, it is in no way offensive.

This is not a perfect book. There is some incorrect historical data. The author asserts on page 10 that the Romans “skipped the step” of respect for farm life (that the ancient Greeks had) making a statement that ignores the agrarianism of the early Roman Republic. There are a few others, but they are quibbles that could be corrected by a good editor. The bibliography is also very skimpy for such a wide-ranging work, amounting to only thirteen books (among which are books by two of my favorite Christian gentlemen and kind friends of this blog: James Wesley Rawles, and Herrick Kimball).

Mr. Bunker has made a compelling case about why this book is for everyone, and I agree.


This book deserved serious engagement, and more attention than it will probably get. The author believes in his work enough to make some remarkable offers.

Amazon purchases will be refunded for anyone who gives the book a fair shake by reading at least half of its 351 pages and still feels cheated of any worthwhile material.
A personal message on the book’s website even tries to dissuade those buyers who might not be able to read a contrarian point of view without undue offense.
There will be an essay/story contest forthcoming that includes a prize of one-quarter ounce of gold.
Details about all of this can be found on the book’s dedicated website. Take a minute to watch the very poignant video trailer.

Most important, there will be a book bomb on March 4. If this essay compels you to buy the book, please wait until that day. Your purchase will assist in creating some Internet buzz that this book really needs.

[2682nscovell]

Tomorrow, a new, non-fiction book about surviving off grid will be launched on Amazon. It is called Surviving Off Off-Grid. The YouTube video on the following site is inspirational:

http://www.offoffgrid.com/

I am always looking for books written by people who LIVE the lifestyle. This one looks good.

(No, I am not affiliated with the book, the author, or Amazon.)

The trailer is intense... I felt like painting my face blue and charging down a field with a sword.

[hagbard]

I plan on living off the grid by disconnecting the powerline from one of the many wind turbines around here and connecting it to my house. Finally, those turbines the province of Ontario spent billions on will make sense to me. LOL!

[hagbard]

Maybe I'll get one of these:

http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/product.html

[2682nscovell]

Can someone give an estimated guess on how much it would cost to go completely "off the grid."