Frugal and Energy Efficient Living

cbayer

(146,218 posts)

18. We are coming very close to that. The biggest challenge is the farming aspect.

Sun Sep 30, 2012, 01:30 PM

Sep 2012

I grow tomatoes and basil. I could easily make sprouts and do make my own bread and (occasionally) cheese, but those need ingredients I can't grow.

I'm not a big fan of fish, but there is sure a plentiful supply and I would certainly eat it if there were few other options. There are also ways to harvest and use kelp and algae.

We have a friend who has built a floating garden that is attached to his boat. The problem comes when it is time to move somewhere, as he can't sail with it attached.

So, the answer is yes. We live most of the time by making our own energy and we take care of our waste (plastic is the primary problem for disposal). We make most of our own electricity, but we do use some diesel for both the engine and the generator, but could use less (or none at all) if we added more solar and wind.

We can go a couple of months without really tapping into the *system* for anything other than groceries.

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The Joys of Simple Living: Water [View all] cbayer Sep 2012 OP

Fascinating to contemplate the difficulties just for water. Curmudgeoness Sep 2012 #1

Sounds like you learned early and well. cbayer Sep 2012 #2

You are right about how fast it goes down a drain. Curmudgeoness Sep 2012 #8

Lol at the yell. I have had many a guest be the recipient at that. cbayer Sep 2012 #9

That pool water is "stale". LOL. Curmudgeoness Sep 2012 #11

He was just going to run it into the street where it would go down the sewers. cbayer Sep 2012 #19

The problem with the wonderful faucet is what we do with it. Starboard Tack Sep 2012 #3

This country has always been blessed Curmudgeoness Sep 2012 #10

Great question Starboard Tack Sep 2012 #12

The house of Saud abumbyanyothername Sep 2012 #13

End how? Starboard Tack Sep 2012 #21

Even the Saudis can run out of oil abumbyanyothername Sep 2012 #25

OK I thought maybe they were starting to go solar, which I guess they are. Starboard Tack Sep 2012 #29

thank you for this fizzgig Sep 2012 #4

Before living on a boat, you may want to charter one for a week or two (if you haven't already). cbayer Sep 2012 #5

it's his go-to dream when he's feeling unhappy with where we are fizzgig Sep 2012 #6

I hear you. A lot of people see it as completely idyllic, and cbayer Sep 2012 #7

yeah, where we are is not conducive to such living arrangements fizzgig Sep 2012 #14

Do you think it would be possible? abumbyanyothername Sep 2012 #15

Not exactly sure what you are asking, but, yes, it is quite possible to design cbayer Sep 2012 #16

My question is really abumbyanyothername Sep 2012 #17

We are coming very close to that. The biggest challenge is the farming aspect. cbayer Sep 2012 #18

Yes and no. lumberjack_jeff Sep 2012 #20

We charge primarily by solar and hardly ever plug into shore power. cbayer Sep 2012 #22

Most of my boating is in Puget Sound lumberjack_jeff Sep 2012 #23

Yes, it would be a lot harder for you to get 3 miles out, and there may be an cbayer Sep 2012 #24

WA DOE is trying to get Puget Sound designated as a no discharge zone. lumberjack_jeff Sep 2012 #26

I figure it would take us months to put out what a whale probably puts out in a day. cbayer Sep 2012 #27

Composting toilets are becoming more popular on boats, RVs and other off grid housing Starboard Tack Sep 2012 #28

The composting toilet is interesting lumberjack_jeff Sep 2012 #30