Trying to live the hippie lifestyle and "living off the land" sucks.

Talk about a good idea gone bad. Mostly the bad is due to humans. The commune idea also is not normal human.

Let me start with energy, as in water that is healthy. Add in electricity, as in lights after dark that come on with a switch, cooking, and for some heat, at least in the thermostats that control other heat sources. Add in making your own clothes and growing enough food to make it through the winter, and well, our American culture has made a better way. Let me say it another way. There are others who can make electricity, and maintain it through bad weather, that do it better and cheaper than I can. So much for idealism and going back to the land. And when my family gets sick, I appreciate the American medical system in my rural area. It is pretty good, and hats off to my fellow Americans who serve in this business. Thank you.

To make a long story short, my water comes from natural springs pumped by an 1879 design hydraulic RAM. It is good water (as tested by history and the local university), and rural to the max, and working since 1905. What I have paid in to make it all happen does not justify the expense and pain in the tail. Maybe I am getting older, maybe I am getting worn out, maybe I am just being practical and realistic. Even in my rural area, I can hook up to the dirtier “city water”.

An incentive to maintaining an existing running water septic system in the house was provided by a 5 year old daughter years ago. She did not share the same rural fervor I had, and objected to using an indoor 5 gallon "honey" bucket which is a post WWII Japanese idea to me. My Marine experience made me exasperated, since most of the world lives without running water, and certainly without sit-down toilets...and so did I.

I can also make my own electricity using pipes and water power (there is an 800 foot drop on my property.) Do I want to maintain the whole system during bad weather, like ice storms, is the big question. The alternative is to pay the local co-op and TVA, and they do a better job than I can. So good on them. They are thriftier than I can be.

Being a kind of right-wing hippie, I even went through the studied evolution of using solar and wind to pay the energy bills, of course with the most noble and altruistic of intents. It turns out most machines we use, like lights or refrigerators, are designed to work on AC, so going hippie locally was going to require me to buy/convert to DC machines, even light bulbs and water heaters. We’re talking big bucks and sacrifice when clouds and lack of wind mess up the storage batteries I also have to buy, and protect from freezing. The simple math said TVA and the AC rural electric co-op were a better and thriftier deal. That being said, learn your local rules (passed by politicians) about selling your local energy generation back to the public grid when it is to your advantage. I have, and I still say hats off to those Americans who work in providing electricity to all Americans, and in all weathers.

As part of this noble idea were three considerations. The alternative energy sources seemed pretty good and thrifty. My wood stove started to look really good. And finding a woman who would put up with all this was also looking really bad. After all, heating by wood is pretty romantic in the first year, after that it is just work. And being able to go to a grocery store should help in future romantic endeavors, especially during the winter time.