That was a good recap of lessons learned. By purchasing a generator you are officially back on the grid though, because you can't find diesel fuel in the woods. My friends in rural Pennsylvania in the off grid cabin with the 12 huge batteries have one as well, although it never ran while I was visiting because the sun was shining.

As soon as they took their limit of white tailed deer with crossbows this season, my friends drained the water out of the plumbing and removed any but canned food from the cabin to keep the bears out. I saw a black bear break into a locked dumpster once. In any case it has been a cold winter and they will live in town until springtime. They have mountains of split, seasoned firewood, but when the temperature is well below freezing they'll basically burn through a tree every two days because it is a nice sized cabin.