Our little off-grid life 
I’ve been so emotional lately.
Sometime I wonder… am I doing the right thing? Is this what we deserve? Is this living? Is this freedom?
If you’ve lived off the grid before, you know it’s challenging. It’s very expensive at first. And it requires hard work, constant problem solving and a positive fearless attitude. You may face wild bears (so many for us), mountain lions, bobcats and coyotes. You may face selfish and dangerous humans that think private property is their personal shooting range. And you may face the darkest parts of yourself when everything fails and your are faced without electricity, heat and running water (happened so many times too).
But the mountain is an incredible teacher. I’ve grown so much over the past 2.5 years. I feel prepared for literally anything. And on this mountain I feel more at home than all the other 53 places I’ve lived combined.
But I’m still emotional. I’m a perfectionist and living off grid is never perfect. It’s incredible to give my boys a mountain and another thing to build it up.
But I know we are getting there. And we’ll look back on these pictures amazed at how we choose to live. We’ll cherish the stories. And how these memories shaped our future.
I’ve heard it said that if you do easy things, your life is hard. And when you do hard things, your life will be easy.
Here’s to everyone doing hard things right now. I see you!! Let’s keep going 
COMMENTS:
- Jessica CrowYou are accomplishing what so many of us dream of, but fear. You did and do what takes courage, dedication to your dream and desire to show your kids a life full of wonderment.
- Rachel McCash CroninJessica Crow thank you this means so much to me!
Yes so far my boys are enjoying it all but I have a feeling our time in our current RV needs to adjust—maybe new RV or maybe our house will get finished faster than we think—IDK but I feel a change coming 
- Jessica CrowRachel McCash Cronin one thing is inevitable in life – change. Always worth it in the end as there is always some type of lesson.
- Rachel McCash CroninJessica Crow thank you this means so much to me!
- Kat DavidsonYou guys will look back at this soon in the home of your dreams and it will all be worth it!! You guys are super badass.
- Rachel McCash CroninKat Davidson you seriously are such an inspiration to me and your kind words mean so much!! Can’t wait for all that we are both creating!! I also have a story I have to tell you next time we get together!
- Tamara CalabrettaWow!!
- Rachel McCash CroninTamara Calabretta haha yes!!! It’s a wild adventure and crazy ride we are on out here in the Colorado wild
- Tamara CalabrettaRachel McCash Cronin It looks beautiful!!
- Rachel McCash CroninTamara Calabretta haha yes!!! It’s a wild adventure and crazy ride we are on out here in the Colorado wild
- Prince Rocholy shit story of my life the last two weeks
all of that. I’m not even off grid (i get 15A of power and a shower inside the house, but no running water in my camper). But fuck I’ve dropped thousands in a few weeks
I’ve been without heat about 50% of the time, seeing temps down to -12° outside and 20° inside 
I’ve had to learn so much, esp after discovering there’s not a single professional in my county or Denver willing to come service my furnace. Its almost broken me twice already.But I also feel a tremoundous freedom, self pride, deep rooted joy. The struggle feels more real, more worth it, then the struggle of the suburban American dream. I love this. It just might kill me too I cant wait to come see your setup and hear your story next spring! By then I’ll appreciate every ounce of your struggle to get to where you’re at - Rachel McCash CroninPrince Roc Aw yes we felt that way about our old propane fridge. Literally no one could/would fix it so we ended up replacing it with an electric fridge and it changed our life! I totally get you and know how hard this is—the ups and downs. The victories of winning and the tears of feeling broken. Winter is so hard!! But luckily it’s already December. Just 90 more days until warmer weather again!! We’ve got this!!
- Rachel McCash CroninPrince Roc Aw yes we felt that way about our old propane fridge. Literally no one could/would fix it so we ended up replacing it with an electric fridge and it changed our life! I totally get you and know how hard this is—the ups and downs. The victories of winning and the tears of feeling broken. Winter is so hard!! But luckily it’s already December. Just 90 more days until warmer weather again!! We’ve got this!!
- Tatiana EvansHow is the green house in these weather? Really wanted one but wasn’t sure if it would last through winter
- Rachel McCash CroninTatiana Evans it’s holding up great!! One of the zippers has broken but that happened in the summer—too much wear and tear
- Rachel Maria BallDon’t stop pushing and growing! You are not ever alone. You are an insanely amazing woman with an incredible family and life. Don’t second-guess that part ever.
- Rachel McCash CroninRachel Maria Ball thank you so much!! this means so much to me!
- Rachel McCash CroninRachel Maria Ball thank you so much!!
- Evelyn ElvegaardPowerful inspiring words! Needed this today! Thank you for sharing
- Rachel McCash CroninEvelyn Elvegaard thank you for reading and supporting our journey!
- Rachel McCash CroninEvelyn Elvegaard thank you for reading and supporting our journey!
- Shon Singletonif it wasn’t tough, cronin mountain wouldn’t be empty! everyone would be hacking away at the task you are handling!
- Rachel McCash CroninShon Singleton thank you, this is a good reminder and it’s true! I’ve seen so many talk about going off-grid with how crazy the world is getting. But it definitely isn’t easy. But little by little it will all get done
- Rachel McCash CroninShon Singleton thank you, this is a good reminder and it’s true! I’ve seen so many talk about going off-grid with how crazy the world is getting. But it definitely isn’t easy. But little by little it will all get done
- Caitlyn HowellYou guys are so inspirational
- Rachel McCash CroninCaitlyn Howell haha thank you!! We are doing the best we can and little by little it will all get done
- Rachel McCash CroninCaitlyn Howell haha thank you!! We are doing the best we can and little by little it will all get done
- Brittany RochaI’m on year 4 of off grid living.Some days I want to give up but most days I’m super grateful for it.I can’t wait for us to have a well on our property so things will become easier.It’s really nice seeing someone else perspective on it as well
- Rachel McCash CroninBrittany Rocha same!! We also do not have a well. We have a DIY cistern we built + buried ourselves that we need to refill weekly. It is SO HARD!! We ration water and have learned to live on about 600 gallons a month as a family of 4 with 4 pets and several plants lol
- Brittany RochaRachel McCash Cronin yeah it’s tough on us have a full out animal farm lol 30-40 goats, 6 sheep, chickens, 3 dogs, 2 cats, rabbits, 2 ponies…I think I got everyone and then the 4 of us.We are saving for a well, and I can’t wait for it:
- Mel AllredThis seems to be the same choice we make, when we choose to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Living in the world, but not of it. May God bless all who lose their life so that they might gain it. With His Love
- Autumn HayleySuch a gorgeous mountain you live on!How are you guys staying warm in there? Especially the shipping container?
- Rachel McCash CroninAutumn Hayley the shipping container is just storage so we do not heat that area, aside from our solar batteries—which we built an insulated box with a small space heater. Our RV has a propane heater and we have a 1,000 gallon propane tank which lasts us about a year before we need to have it refilled
- Autumn HayleyRachel McCash Cronin awesome
- Rachel McCash CroninAutumn Hayley the shipping container is just storage so we do not heat that area, aside from our solar batteries—which we built an insulated box with a small space heater. Our RV has a propane heater and we have a 1,000 gallon propane tank which lasts us about a year before we need to have it refilled
- Michael T HooverYou could do an above ground water tank for three seasons out of the year! One with a self collecting cone roof. Can you build the house without the well?
- Rachel McCash CroninMichael T Hoover we can only collect 110 gallons of water here in CO. It’s pretty terrible water laws. We do plan on having a cistern and a well though! But our cistern will be buried and well fed. Unless we run into more well issues and then our cistern will be filled with a water truck.
- Robyn BrownThese will be good lessons for your boys. Self reliance is priceless and not taught in any school.
Reading these comments. WOW! I must say all of you appear to be living nearly like the Old West times. I ask do you have freezers for deep freezing food (I would think that would take a lot of electricity from a generator)? What runs off the generator? Are you using Internet on your mobile phone? I know Todd works (I’m sure the others on this do as well) and then come home and it’s like farm living in a sense?
Read about living out of a camper. I think I could handle that.
Thing is, I admire all of you. I read it’s constant problem solving which is good because it means you are much smarter than people living on the grid! Human beings tend to be lazy in certain aspects of life and doing this is challenging you.
God bless all of you and praying for all of you!
Yes we have an RV freezer–it is not that big but large enough for our family needs. But it has an “off-grid” mode which is amazing and runs on less electricity than mainstream freezers. We actually have a 16,000 watt solar panel system and a 4,000 watt inverter so we get most of our power from the sun! We do have 3 back up generators too. We try not to run them unless our solar system goes down for whatever reason. And yes, the only “internet” we have is in one area of our property and it is from our cell service provider. Anytime we want to make a post, we need to go to that location and even then it takes several minutes to upload, haha. And yes, our work life/home life are very contrasted, especially for Todd. He works with computers all day and then gets to escape into nature at the end–which he loves. And THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your comment made my day! It definitely isn’t always easy, but it is worth it and we are excited for the day when we move into our cabin and out of the RV. I also read your comment to Todd and he says hi!