Off on Our Own: Living Off-Grid in Comfortable Independence: One Couple's 37-year Journey to Redefine the Necessities of Everyday Life

Ted and Kathy Carns live in the picturesque Laurel Highlands region of western Pennsylvania. They have most of the usual modern conveniences: fridge, freezer, washer, computer, cell phone, hot tub, vacuum, hair dryer, flat screen TV with surround sound...and they do it all without plugging into the power grid. Their house is wood-heated, their fuel is non-petrol; they grow their own food, put up their harvest, make their own wine, and drop fresh canned peaches into the solar-powered blender for the morning smoothies... It's a simple life that works: zero waste, total recycling, and no “unnecessary necessities.” Others have done this, but the Carns' are doing it in such a dramatic, inventive way that people flock to their astonishing Stone Camp home to learn Ted's secrets. More than a dozen universities and colleges in the Tri-State/Mid-Atlantic area bring professors and students to Stone Camp every year to observe first-hand the remarkable lifestyle of Ted and Kathy Carns.

Off...On Our Own is Ted's manual for living off-grid, told with Mark Twainesque humor and irreverence: how he created the various systems that power the Stone Camp (includes a how-to chapter)...and what he thinks about oil, self-reliance, waste, nature and reducing one's carbon footprint to walk more gently on the earth. The book is illustrated throughout with more than 60 black and white photos.

Ted Carns is a true American original...a self-taught techie who approaches every environmental challenge with a rare kind of creative inventiveness. He and his social worker wife Kathy live in their one-of-a-kind home on 50+ acres of land, run entirely by alternative fuels and power systems: alcohol, methane, solar/wind electric, wood gasification, biodiesel...all manufactured on site, except for biodiesel. Ted has become an almost mythic figure to the thousands of people who have made the pilgrimage to Stone Camp.