Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Monday, January 11, 2016

Read a book? Ha!

I woke up to the downpour of rain yesterday morning, which as you saw in yesterday's post, quickly turned to snow.  I for once, was glad to see it. 

It was my excuse to hunker in for the entire day and do something I do not normally have the time to do - read a book. 

Our 16 year-old was up making us all omelets for breakfast, which started our day out great - potatoes, bacon, green peppers, etc.  Mmmm.



I picked this book from my large stack of gifted books this past Christmas.  By evening, I was still reading it, and eventually finished the entire book.

I have mixed feelings over this book.  I write, so I tend to over analyze.  I don't want to spoil it, but the woman does not live a continued "off the grid" life in this entire book.  She lives that way for about 10 years, and must move due the land owner selling the land.  It's a very interesting book on how she relied on other people's junk to make her rented home livable - no running water, no electric, no toilet etc.  

In many ways, parts of her way of life reminded me of many of my blog world friend's.  I had to laugh when she got fed up with trespassers and went in search of a shot gun to upgrade from a small pistol.  Yes, this woman had guts and didn't back down for even drug makers trying to shoot her in her home.  

I'll be honest, I think I would have a very difficult time going back to living "on the grid" after all those years off.  It starts to cost a great deal of money to live "on" verses "off."  Your water and sewer will form a bill, your electric, the cost of a computer, the internet, appliances (and they do break down and need replaced), and so forth.  

Have I talked Hubby into going completely "off the grid?"  Nope.  Not yet.

I looked at my fitbit and told him that I can't read a book all in one day anymore.  He laughed.  I told him shockingly, my steps amounted to just over 2,000 yesterday.  Ha ha ha!  It was a well worth break from busyness.

4 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Glad you reviewed this book. I've been trying to get it from our inter-library loan system ever since you first mentioned it. I think I still want to read it. It will be interesting to compare her experiences to the years we lived totally off-grid . . . at the beginning without much of any alternative system and then progressing up to a workable battery/generator system.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, I can send you my copy. I plan on passing it forward anyway. She had her kids help her dig an outhouse after using a bucket for a while. She was very creative. I would have love to cook on a stove she had too (her indoor or outdoor one).

Susan said...

I'd like to be next in line, Mama Pea! This has been on my to-read list, too. I think you need to be very creative to live off grid. It would be quite a challenge to start at my age, but I would be willing to give it a try. However, I think the dogs would balk at the lack of a freezer to store their raw food...

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Susan, I agree on the dogs. I'd need 50 acres or more so they could run free and catch rabbits and squirrels, while I'm gardening.