Thank you for such a breath of fresh air!
I am new to this site. My wife and I live of 5 ag-friendly acres and are looking to become more self sufficient. We are in the process of adding PV Solar, already on a well and septic, and realize that with some honest effort we could easily sustain ourselves without the need for high priced energy, runs to the grocery store, and so many of the other 'necessities' that the media jams down our throats every day. We're not wannabe hippies - we simply don't want to be reliant on power companies and advertisers to live our lives.
To date, most of the web-sights that I came across focus more on the how's and why's we are going to end up in this terrible 'TEOTWAWKI'scenario(sorry for using this in my first post, please don't vote me off the forum! ;)), and not on the down-to-earth practical information of being and adult Boy Scout - Prepared! How can we become more prepared? That is why I am here.
We live in a rural area that does have the power go out for days at a time - usually from a storm, but CA is also now known it's rolling black outs, earthquakes, etc. I've often used the old joke that California has four seasons: flood, mud, fire, and earthquake.
In the short time that I have been reading through your forums I have learned a great deal without any hype and hysteria. I've learned that we are on the right track and have quickly picked up many common sense approaches to achieving our goals...so again, Thank You! I hope to learn much more in the time to come.
Dennis
_________________________
While I have long believed that I will never get old, I have come to the realization that sooner or later there will be more people younger than me.