Stephanie and Joel share their 14-year journey of building a home from scrap materials, living off-grid with solar power, and growing much of their own food, from fruits and vegetables to milk, to meat and honey.

They built their house on shared land using materials they had salvaged from the landfill, lumber from a building they had dismantled themselves, and whatever else they could find for free. At first they had no electricity, so they only had candles. Eventually, they got a solar panel and battery to run the lighting, and the systems evolved from there.

They now have a wood stove for heating and cooking in winter, 5 solar panels and 4 lithium batteries for electricity (plus a generator to supplement on cloudy days), a washing machine, a refrigerator and a propane stove for cooking in summer and a thermostat. a controlled propane stove so they don't have to get up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire. For water, they have a quarry on the land from which they draw to fill a tank in their attic. From there, the water is routed by gravity to the kitchen and bathroom. Their drinking water comes from a well located on the property. The toilet is an Airhead urine diversion toilet.

The cabin has a master bedroom in the loft and a downstairs bedroom divided into two sleeping areas for their children. They have an open concept kitchen, dining area and living room, and the bathroom is enclosed by a beautiful bottle wall. There is also a sunroom they recently added to the front of the house to bring in natural light, passive solar heating and for growing food in the winter (using LED grow lights) .

For work, Joel owns a tree service company and Stephanie runs an off-grid Airbnb business. You can check out the impressive off-grid Pickalotta cabin here:
https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/53201098

Thank you for watching!

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STAYING IN TOUCH!
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Website: www.exploringalternatives.ca
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COMMENTS
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CREDITS
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Music and song credits:
All music in this video was composed, performed and recorded by Exploring Alternatives.

Editing credits:
Explore alternatives

Filming credits:
Explore alternatives

Build photos provided by Joel and Stephanie of Chickadilly Farm.

#offgrid #offgridliving #offgridhomestead

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