And we are happy. Anything is possible off grid.
During slow times we work on other projects. In 1998, we
built a root cellar from field stone, a wonderful building
material. It is free for the taking and looks tremendous when
the project is done.
It’s also a great challenge to master a new art. Believe me, it
is an art putting irregular stones together and imagining
what they will look like when you are finished. After the root
cellar, we tackled building our fireplace.
The fireplace turned out beautiful and is the focal point of
our first floor living area. Everyone remarks on how well the
fireplace fits in with our timber frame design.
When we are asked why we live the way we do, one event
always springs to mind: the ice storm of 1998.
Two full days of freezing rain in February put most of
Eastern Ontario, southern Quebec and the northeast United
States in the dark from downed power lines. It virtually
paralyzed the area for over two weeks.
In contrast, our children were ready at the school bus stop
after the storm ended, but the school was closed for 12 days.
We were relatively unaffected.
The hubbub that followed the storm included a gigantic
cleanup effort in the affected areas. Our 90 year old neighbor
flatly refused to be removed from her home by rescue teams,
and moved into an emergency shelter.