Surviving Off-Grid
Summer Wind
WELLFLEET - Combining old and new technology, Chuck Cole, his 11-year-old
daughter Soleil Osprey (two days a week) and Deb Giza live simply and "off
the grid" in Paine Hollow in South Wellfleet.
Hand pumps, kerosene lights, a gasoline generator, a small wind generator,
solar panels, a composting toilet, wood stoves and "cool places" provide for
their daily needs the way most of us depend on electricity and oil- or
gas-fired furnaces.
Committed since young adulthood to being kind to the earth, living simply,
and using natural resources gently, Cole, now 56, has lived since 1977 on a
half acre given to him when he was 14 by his grandfather's brother, Charles
Cole. Giza joined him recently and brought along the newest technology, a
pair of 80-watt solar panels.
Chuck explains that he has transferred the lifestyle of boat living to
living on land. "On a boat, you learn how little you really need," he says.
He honed his skills for "living simply on a boat" by fulfilling his own
wish; he built Sunspirit, a wooden 22-foot cat-schooner, and sailed from the
Cape to and around the Caribbean for four years, from 1979 through 1983 with
Ann Freyss, his former wife. Their son, Cedar Oceanus, was born on Tortola,
British Virgin Islands, during that adventure.
He and Giza plan to launch his next sea adventure in 2010 when the 38-foot
Block Island cedar-on locust lap strake cat schooner under construction is
finished. "Living on a boat, you live in less space, with fewer things, and
take advantage of the world around you," he says.
The wind generator, now in a tree in Paine Hollow, will be mounted on the
main mast of the "Big Boat" and will generate power for running lights,
stereo, navigation equipment and perhaps refrigeration. The wind-generated
electricity stored in a battery eliminates the need for a noisy generator.
It serves in the same quiet way in Paine Hollow, hanging in an oak tree,
feeding a battery during high winds and providing 12-volt electricity for
reading and music in the evening. Tools for building boats, at least the
modern power tools that Cole uses, require greater amounts of electricity.
He uses a gasoline generator to power those, but also has traditional hand
chisels and planes.
No refrigerator, no running water
Living simply involves living without refrigeration. Cole explains that one
"lives with cooler, rather than cold or freezing." In a boat, there are cool
areas below the water level. On land, shellfish are stored in bags in nearby
Blackfish Creek. Mayonnaise, butter, eggs and similar items, which don't
really require cold, are kept cool in underground storage. Fresh foods are
purchased as needed. Both at sea and on land, fresh caught seafood, finfish
and shellfish, are a staple.
Meals in Paine Hollow and on the boat are prepared on a propane cook stove
or a wood stove. The cabin in Paine Hollow serves as a kitchen and sitting
area in the winter and on cool days in the spring and fall. An expanded
seasonal covered sitting area outside the cabin is delightful and leads to
the 16-foot sleeping/living/library yurt.
Old-fashioned hand pumps supply water from two wells, hand delivered to
wherever needed by buckets and jugs for washing dishes or one's self or
clothes. A seasonal outdoor sink with its own manual pump, just outside the
cabin/kitchen, is convenient for washing dishes. A seasonal shower is a
delight in warmer weather, using a solar-warmed bag of water. Wood stoves
heat both the cabin and the yurt. Currently, because the trees are bare, the
two solar panels are placed on the ground and supplement the wind generator
in storing electricity in batteries. Plans are, as the trees grow foliage,
to elevate them near the wind generator in the oak tree. Both the wind
generator and the solar panels ultimately will be used on the boat when
launched in 2010.
The garden provides fresh vegetables from spring through fall. Giza has
already planted peas and lettuce and is anxiously waiting for warmer
sprouting weather. The nettle patch is already "greening" in these late
spring days. The compost pile is worked every day.
A family compound
Cole built the yurt in 1974, while still in college. Graduating from UMass
Amherst in 1976, he moved to Wellfleet where his family has owned property
"forever," tracing their lineage back to the Pilgrims. He is the fourth
generation Cole on the property in Paine Hollow, with his half acre
surrounded by extended family including his mother, Betsy, his son, sister,
aunts and uncles, and cousins on family properties encompassing 10 acres.
The 14-foot cabin that came with the land and the yurt are the primary
year-round living areas, joined by an assortment of structures, each with
its own purpose. There's a sauna, a carpentry area, and a smaller, portable
unheated yurt and Soleil's 8-foot tipi are used for demonstrations at other
locations and when traveling.
Living simply also means less demand for a steady income; however, both of
them work, Cole as a freelance sailmaker/wooden boat
builder/carpenter/school teacher; Giza practices massage and bodywork in
Brewster and at Quiet Mind Studio in Wellfleet.
Cole describes their life as a "boat to boat" choice, maintaining a simple
lifestyle on both land and at sea. He talks fondly of his four-year
adventure in the Caribbean; he, Giza and Soleil (indeed, every one of their
extended family and network of friends, most of whom have participated in
some phase of the boat building) look forward to launching the Big Boat next
year when the trio takes off for "who knows where" living "off the grid" at
sea.