If anyone here is interested in self sufficiency, you may want to check out Off the Grid with Les Stroud. Stroud produced the 90-minute special documenting his family's journey to building an off-the-grid home. The show, chronicled the process of buying property and refiting an old farm house with solar and wind power, a raincatcher and well, as well as the adjustments the Stroud family had to make to adapt to this style of living.I just finished viewing it, and it was quite informative as well as entertaining.

Did you watch it on-line or commercial TV?
I'd be very interested in seeing it. What source do I look for?

Yes me too would like to view it.

Lee

"Off the Grid with Les Stroud" was a pretty good show, but by the end I wanted to see more...

I felt that Les had left one of the most important parts of the show out, which is how things were going now, a year later. The show stopped right as the off-grid home came together and the major projects were finished.

I would liked to have seen an update on some of the issues left hanging such as whether the Strouds indeed put up the extra set of solar panels for more power, how the composting toilet was working, whether the children were able to cope with the change and so on.

Granted, the show was brought to me by a friend who got it from another person who had recorded it from OLN (Outdoor Life Network in Canada) and there may have been a few moments missing here and there. It was obvious that whomever taped it originally paused the recording for commercials and missed a few cues to restart. Some of the bumpers were missing, and a couple of times the show would start up in the middle of someone talking.

OLN is a good place to start looking for the show, but I'm guessing it'll make an appearance on American TV at some point or another. Actually I just assumed that he taped it off of OLN... The corner bug was a clue though.

From Les Stroud Online:
"To all our U.S.A. friends, a lot of you have been asking when "Off The Grid with Les Stroud" will be airing in the United States, well we are working on it and be assured that we will let you know as soon as it is available....The DVD will be released very soon!"

I also would like to have seen some project costs...

I'm learning that difficult and costly part of going off grid is the city rules/regulations/laws. Its much easier to go off grid if your living way out from cizilization but much harder anywhere near jobs, so you end up having to drive many miles and hours to work which kind of cancels out any savings.
I'm at least switching my gear over, all my radios, battery chargers, etc are going 12v powered from a battery charged by solar. Think of it like a UPS you would buy for your computers.

I would've liked to see more too. A tour of the finished property would have been nice. As well as showing more of the trail that he made his son. Maybe on the new dvd, Les will include some extra footage that didn't make the final cut. I saw the same bootleg version of the OLN show as you did...BTW.

HAHAHA...
That thing must be making the rounds.

I enjoyed it but wish they would have showed more specifics about each project and how they worked.

Good info though, and fun to watch.

Les Stroud interview on this subject:
http://www.off-grid.net/index.php?p=638

It would be nice if they followed it up with a good book with details of the how-to.

Sue