Book Review: Better Off

I'm currently reading a book called "Better Off". It's an intruiging read about a married couple who went completely off-grid for eighteen months in a community of Amish-like people. By off-grid I mean no electricity, no running water, no nothing. They grow their own food and don't use technology at all beyond a horse and whatever you can hitch to a horse. The community has a no car rule.

Now, no, I'm not going to be disappearing into the wilderness anytime soon, but I find it an interesting read. I wonder if I could make it without electricity. No AC, no refridgerator, no computer, no tv. In all honesty I think I could do without AC - I did it in college so I could do it again - but I don't think I could do without the refridgerator or the ceiling fans. I think I could do without a computer or tv for a while, but I think at some point I would miss it. I wonder what we could do with just wind power? Run the fridge and ceiling fans and the computer for a couple hours a day? Just a thought!

I think the hardest part of being off-grid like the people in the book would not being able to run out to Walmart. I think we, myself definately included, are way too dependant on Walmart or grocery stores in general. If the apocalypse happened I know that I would be screwed in a couple of weeks since grocery stores would quickly run out of food and there wouldn't be anyone to bring more. Yes, I have enough food to last for a bit, but it's only a short bit. The people in the book can every sort of fruit and veggies known to man and therefore have tons of food in their basements. They own chickens and pigs and cows and can slaughter them when the need arises. I think they are much better off if something drastic happened to change our way of life.

I think they're lives are extreme, but just think about what they are teaching their children - hard work pays off, community is important, family is important, pull your own weight, responsibility. Those things are nearly impossible to teach kids these days, but here these people are doing just that. It makes me slightly jealous, but then I go google something and I feel better about my technological life :-)