Unit 1 After living in the 24-hour city of Las Vegas, Nevada for nearly ten years, my family and I decided to slow things down. My daughter wanted a horse. My husband wanted property. My son wanted a dirt bike. I wanted our family to be more self-sufficient. None of us felt that this could be accomplished where we were living and we all agreed that a move to the country would be great for everyone. Before long we set about looking for a home in Yucca, Arizona, a very small town of less than 1,000 people. It was while I was scanning listings from our real estate agent that I first learned of it. There was a home for sale there on 40 acres. When I called to inquire about the property, I was informed that there was no electricity available in the area. What? No electricity? I almost dismissed the idea immediately. The property was off the grid. It was not connected whatsoever to any utilities — power, water or sewer. Power was supplied by a wind turbine and solar panels. Water had to be hauled in and stored in two tanks located on the property. Forty acres would give us plenty of room for all of our animals and give my husband and son space to ride their ATVs. Besides, what better way is there to become more self-sustainable? After giving it some thought, we decided to put in an offer and moved in on Thanksgiving Day. When we first moved to the property, we did some remodeling and stayed in our motor home. We were confronted with real challenges at the time. The power kept going out, the main water line to the house broke, the plumbing backed up into the front yard and the generator died. But the setbacks just made us work harder. We slowly got things fixed...
