I’m blaming grid noise. How else would I have missed it?
The first letter is large and bright orange. The rest of the letters are all disproportionally big, somewhat crooked, and uniquely colored.
Together, they cheer “LeTS Go ooF Grid” from the clean white back side of scrap paper magnetically fixed to our modern icebox.
My eyes were inches from this sign for days before it caught my attention. My complete attention.
I stood staring in quiet, fatherly pride before finally asking Mrs. Schaap which of our young artists had created this Warholian masterpiece.
Our youngest son, Seneca, she told me. The same child who sat at dinner many nights this month asking, “Daddy, did you do anything off-grid today?”
Sitting across from Seneca each dinner is Hadassah, our eldest daughter. The two must be in cahoots.
Because it was not long before I noticed Seneca’s kitchen exhibit when I discovered the kitten-themed calendar on Hadassah’s bedroom wall has a subtheme this month. Literally.
Penciled in by the careful hand of a 9-year-old, under the name of the current month and two furry cat babies, are the words “Off Grid.”
Don’t tell Dass, but seeing what she wrote made me want to grant her half of all the kittens in God’s kingdom (she didn’t ask, so she had to settle for a hug from her pleased papa).
Winning the heart and mind of a child is a priceless gift. Especially when you want them to buy into an off-grid future while presently surrounded by a very on-grid culture.
None of our March Off Grid accomplishments would mean anything without our children understanding what we’re trying to do.
“I want to give them the choice we never had,” I’ve long told my wife, referring to how the 9-to-5 grind was the only option we ever knew growing up.
Our family is still nowhere near as detached from the grid as we would like to be. But we learned a lot this month. We know a little bit more about who we are.
We know we have a long “oof-grid” journey ahead of us.
We know we need to focus a little more on Seneca’s spelling lessons.
We know a good sense of humor is a very valuable asset when marching off grid.
But most importantly, we know our family marches together.
What if there was an off-grid way to heat your home with less fuel (like 80-90% less wood)?
There is, and it’s called the Rocket Mass Heater. In this design, the fire burns sideways, the smoke doesn’t come back up, and the heater stays warm for hours. As a result, it uses 80-90% LESS wood, while producing very little smoke and less CO2 than natural gas or electric heat. Better yet, folks have built these heaters for less than $20!