Off Grid Living:

In 2007, our family embarked on what would become a life long journey to become self sufficient.

We quickly found out what the term "Green Washing" meant and decided to set some rules to live by:

1. Where possible, we use "real" products - straw, mud, clay, wood - as little products as possible that contain Urea-Formaldehyde (OSB, plywood, particle board, mdf) - Most housing products today contain high amounts of toxins. To find out more click
here.

2. Where possible, we recycle, reclaim or repurpose building supplies (reclaimed doors, windows, hardware, wood) We would rather spend more money fixing or restoring products. Not only do they add character and a story to our home, but we save them from uncertain demise in a land fill.

3. Where possible we DO NOT use plastics of any sort (In construction, storage, packaging, etc.) When making decisions about everything we do, we weigh the pros and cons...and where possible, we choose products that contain the least chemicals, and come from renewable sources.

4. We choose to try to live our lives in ways that do not bring harm others - whether that is in our backyard, or someone elses backyard across the globe.

These are the four rules we live our life around when it comes to being enviromentally conscious. There are a multitude of ways to live ecologically, these are the main points we chose for our family to start from.

To date we now have our straw bale home built and finished. We collect close to 50% of our water from roof top collection systems and our drinking water is purified "on-site" without the use of chemicals. Our entire acreage is powered 100% with solar and wind technology. 75% of our heating needs are done with renewable wood heat. Currently, we are working on constructing the first phase of our straw built studio space.

For a history on our construction check out our old
blog spot - Leaving the Grid

For a video tour of our house, check out our YouTube Channel

To see how we make a living off grid, check out our Riverstone Naturals Skin Care - Online Store
Living Off Grid
Riverstone Studios
Kelly & Audrey Taylor-Faye

Lots 3 & 4 - Craik Eco-Village