How to Get Your Apartment Off the Grid
The typical solar PV power installation requires access to a private roof and a big budget. However, wouldn’t it be possible to get around these obstacles by installing small solar panels on window sills and balconies, connected to a low-voltage direct current (DC) distribution network? To put this theory to the test, I decided to power Low-tech Magazine’s home office in Spain with solar energy, and write my articles off the grid.
This setup would be great to combine with these recycled solar panel designs!
How to start growing food for free
Growing your own food is a great way to become more independent from capitalist infrastructure, but if you’re spending hundreds of dollars just to get started it can almost feel counterproductive. There are plenty of great tutorials for making your own pots, garden boxes, rainwater collectors, composters, etc. from reclaimed materials, which can bring the cost down significantly, but the cost of the plants alone can really start to add up if bought from a nursery or garden store.
So I’ve compiled a few ideas for getting your garden started for free. If you know of any other tricks, please feel free to add them in reblogs!
From food
- Set aside the seeds from your produce bought from the grocery store. Just make sure the brand you’re buying from doesn’t contain terminator genes first. Organic or non-GMO is preferred.
- Almost all dry beans can simply be planted in the ground and will most often sprout. They’re easy to grow in warmer climates and very hardy.
- You can grow many potato plants from a single potato with eyes. Cut the potato into chunks with each chunk having an eye sprout, and place the chunks in the ground.
- Numerous varieties of onions, brassica oleracea vegetables, and celery can be regrown from the base, after re-sprouting the plant in a dish of water for days.
- Many root vegetables can be regrown from their leafy tops (which are also edible and tasty in salad). Carrots, radishes, beets, rutabagas, and more can be regrown from tops.
- Pineapples can be regrown from their tops, if you live in the right climate or have a greenhouse/cold frame.
- If you can, shop at your local farmer’s market and support local farmers, instead of big-name grocery stores!
From the wild
- Look up edible plants that grow wild in your area and how to replant them. You can take seeds from any plant, obviously, but some can also be regrown from cuttings, suckers, scraps, etc.
- Transplanting is also an option, but not preferable since it removes a plant from the environment.
- Native plants are guaranteed to be a good fit for your environment, so this is a great lesser-care option.
From neighbors
- Of course, the same methods that work for food/wild plants (planting seeds, growing from scraps or cuttings, etc) will also work for food and plants from friends’ gardens. If you know anyone already into gardening, ask them to help you get started! If you see someone gardening in your neighborhood, say hi!
- Many fruit trees can be cloned from cuttings. Cut off a branch at a 45-degree angle, then soak the cut end in water for ~5 minutes before applying rooting hormone and placing it into potting soil. Caring for the clone and other specifics can vary by species, so do a quick search beforehand.
- Grafting fruit trees is a millenia-old technique, wherein a cutting from a fruit tree is inserted into a hardier rootstock tree and bonded with a special wax. The tissues intermingle to form a single tree. Look online for tutorials, and be sure to take the proper precautions.
- Organize a seed swap or seed bank in your area.
- Found or join a chapter of Food Not Lawns, or a similar organization.
Stolen
- Seed packets are small and easy to slip into your pocket when nobody is looking.
- Some places (especially hardware stores) keep a lot of their gardening supplies outside, making it easy to liberate a few plants and even some soil or mulch. Wait at least 2 hours after close to make sure no employees are staying late, always mask up in case of cameras, and try to leave things relatively tidy (everything pulled to the front of the shelf) so there’s no suspicion in the morning.
- Never steal from locally owned nurseries, farms, or your working-class neighbors!
(Thanks so much to @theradicalgardener for helping me with this list!)
For free soil, there’s the regular route of starting a compost heap, but with the amount of food/garden waste produced by a single household it might not be enough so here’s some more tips for free soil:
- Find a local riding stables or petting farm. Nearly all will let you have free manure. Try and get the best rotted stuff you can.
- Clean out your gutters- those rotted leaves are a great soil booster!
- Don’t just sweep up leaves from your garden- sweep up the ones that fall on the street/verges too (but not if you live somewhere with heavy traffic).
- Ask your neighbours if they need garden help and boost your compost heap with their grass clippings and leaves.
- Research your local council. They may have a municipal compost program with free or very cheap compost available.
