We
are a family of seven living on a farm in Southwest Missouri.
Our children range in age from 3 to 16. One of the major reasons
that we moved out to a farm was for the purpose of establishing
our ministry - the Commonwealth Missionary Alliance. The goal
of the Commonwealth Missionary Alliance is to help people learn
to do as many practical things in life as they can when they
either have no assistance - or when they choose to do it themselves.
Among
those "things" - and specifically speaking - teaching
people how to produce their own power, either through solar
power, wind power or with a generator.
When
we moved to this farm, there was nothing but fields and woods.
It was never our intention - from day one - to hook up to the
electric company for power. We needed instant power - and we
needed a lot of it. Our first purchase was a diesel generator.
The diesel generator supplied all of the power needed to do
all of the building that we had been planning.
The
house is now powered by 32 Trojan
T-105 golf cart batteries. Everything in the house is run
off of the power that we make. There are no power lines on the
farm.
After
several years of dependence on the generator, we added solar
panels to our system. The solar panels have decreased our generator
running time by 75%.
We
have everything in the house that others have. We have every
major appliance, televisions, computers and electric garage
door openers. The shop is also a fully functional wood shop
with large tablesaws, planers, routers, miter saws, jointers
and dust collection.
When
we started, we had no experience whatsoever. We simply had
a dream and a goal. We built the 5,000 square foot house, the
2,500 square foot shop, did the wiring, the plumbing, and the
heating WITHOUT ANY PRIOR EXPERIENCE.
It
has come to our attention since we started doing talk shows,
that there are many people out there who have become skeptical
of "Alternative Energy" because of the number of charlatans
and profiteers out there. We are not discussing something that
doesn't exist or is in the production stage. WE ARE "OFF-THE-GRID"
RIGHT NOW. There are no top secret, "can't say because
of the CIA" things going on here. SOLAR WORKS. GENERATORS
WORK. BATTERIES WORK. WINDMILLS WORK. We use all of these things
to produce our own electricity. It works and we show you how
we are doing it.
Also,
we have received many emails from people saying that they too
want to be "off-the-grid" but they were told by the
"experts" that they would have to spend many tens
of thousands of dollars to do it. THIS IS BALONEY! It does not
take tens of thousands of dollars to get "off-the-grid."
Our DVD shows you how we ARE LIVING "OFF-THE-GRID"
right now - everyday. It is more affordable than you may think.
Just
yesterday (1-20-2006) a friend of mine told me that a "system
designer" told him he would need to spend $60,000.00 on
a solar system to be "off-the-grid." We live in the
same area as this fellow. I am telling you that after living
this way for 6 years now - AND I STILL DO NOT CLAIM TO BE AN
"EXPERT" - I COULD NOT FIND A WAY TO SPEND THAT MUCH
MONEY TO "GET OFF THE GRID."
We
spent $4,200.00 on our 8 solar panels. If I had 8 more panels,
I would be running my generator very little. If I had 16 more
panels - WE WOULD HAVE TOO MUCH ELECTRICITY. Twenty-four
solar panels like ours would cost ONLY $12,000.00!!!!!!!!
As
I said, I do not claim to be an "expert." BUT, I am
doing what I am saying - so that certainly should stand for
something. By the way....do you see solar panels for sale on
this website? Do you see any other components for sale on this
website? We are not "in a business" here.
The
DVD shows what we are doing here and how we are living "off-the-grid."
ANYONE is welcome to come here and see for themselves.
2006
WINTER UPDATE: Last
winter, it cost us $65.00 to heat the 5,000 square foot house.
So far this winter, it has cost only $5.00 and about one-quarter
of a gallon of fuel so far. As shown in the DVD, in winters
past we bought slab wood from the local sawmill for $5 per bundle.
We used 13 bundles last winter. This year, my boys are bigger
and stronger, so we have been cleaning up fallen trees in the
woods around the house and we have only purchased one bundle
of slabs. I don't expect to buy anymore slabs this year. Admittedly,
the slabs are easier than gathering wood from the forest. But
the time spent with the boys and the outdoors makes gathering
wood from the forest more appealing - at least for me it does.
I
commented to my wife last night after spending an hour in the
woods cutting and gathering wood - what an awesome feeling to
know that I spent an hour in the woods with Joshua and Taylor
(my 6 year old daughter loves to gather her own twigs and sticks
to throw in the furnace) and by simply cleaning up the fallen
or dead trees, we have all the heat in the house that we could
ever use. It's a great feeling. I wish that everyone could experience
it.
This morning 2-18-06, we
woke to 6 inches of snow and 9 degrees for the temperature.
The house was still very warm and toasty. My morning went like
this. We had a birthday party planned for our oldest son this
morning at the skating rink in town. I bundled up, went outside
and hopped on the 4 wheeler to make the quarter mile drive down
to the road to see if the road had been cleared yet. I knew
it wouldn't be, but I went to see anyway. It wasn't, so I went
back to the house and we called everyone to tell them we would
have to postpone the party. The cold winter weather is a strain
on our batteries, so I went in to the generator room and fired
up the generator. I ran the generator ON FREE FUEL for about
3 hours this morning. Combined with the power from the generator
and our solar panels, the batteries were completely charged.
HEAT FOR FREE - ELECTRICITY FOR FREE. The best thing about it,
it didn't cost us $80,000 to do it!!! I checked the furnace.
There was still PLENTY OF WOOD IN IT FROM YESTERDAY, so I
only added one log. I won't add any wood ALL DAY. Just before
we go to bed tonight, I'll probably throw a couple of logs on,
then not even think about it again until tomorrow. This
morning, as I always do, I went in to check my emails.
My
heart goes out to the many people who contact me telling me
that the "professionals" told them it would cost $60,000
or $80,000 to get "off-the-grid." After living this
way for as long as we have, I STILL SAY THAT THERE IS NO WAY
THAT I COULD SPEND THAT MUCH MONEY ON AN ELECTRIC SYSTEM! IT
IS IMPOSSIBLE. If you are even thinking about "getting-off-the-grid"
PLEASE, PLEASE get the DVD so that you can see exactly what
we have been doing here for years. IT WORKS - IT WORKS - IT
WORKS!!! And it doesn't cost $60,000 or $80,000 to do it!