I visited friends in an off the grid cabin in north central Pennsylvania a couple of months ago. They have a solar array with 12 huge batteries, and they obsessively watch the power meter. They need the electricy for lighting, their electronics, and the pump that pulls water from their well and others that provide water to the sinks, shower, and toilet. We had to wait for the sun to come up to flush the commode. Their refrigerator, kitchen stove, and water heater are all propane powered. They have wood heat, and 40 acres of forest to supply the heaters from, but it means constantly cutting, splitting, and stacking dead fall. Every meal we ate involved venison since the white tailed deer are plentiful. There are bears around.

My friends have lived in the cabin for a couple of years and know all of the neighbors on adjoining land and beyond, so there is always someone they can call. There are nice retirees, old time residents who farm, hunting clubs, and scary heavily armed wack jobs. They have the Amish men do a lot of the work on the proberty, but they have to pick them up since they don't drive. My friends are always driving their trucks, and that is something that turned me off to living in the country many years ago.