Living without indoor plumbing 11/2006-10/2010 in a cabin in the woods of Maine.
I can only imagine what our families were thinking when Marc and I decided to move from Illinois to Maine with all of our belongings – including a turkey & a duck. We moved mid-November in 2006 without any sort of a plan to live through a bitter Maine winter. We did not have firewood. We did not have actual windows. The only thing keeping the heat in and the winter winds out were storm windows. We had a broken wood stove that only kept a fire half-way into the night. We would go to sleep with our winter coats & hats on, and I think I remember the cat and the dog piling under the bedroom blankets.
Things we needed to do to live without electricity or indoor plumbing:
*Water: all water for drinking and washing dishes etc was hauled into the cabin via the blue 5 gallon jugs. The jugs were filled up in a variety of locations – my job, various springs, and the post office. The postmaster of our town (Bremen, ME) authorized us to not only fill up our water jugs, but he also allowed us to fill up our 50 gallon containers for our livestock as needed. The post office was technically one of our ‘neighbors’.
*Showers – We joined the Y in order to have nice showers routinely. The second job where I worked had a shower within the clinic as well. That was a major bonus.
*Washing dishes – We heated water on our stove & washed dishes with as little water as possible. The ‘drain’ consisted of a 5 gallon bucket that collected the wash & rinse water.
*Heat – we heated with wood. As I mentioned above our first stove had a broken grate, and it was so small that it only lasted ½ way through the night. At one point we were both going to be gone during the day, so I brought our cat & dog to the clinic where I worked so they wouldn’t freeze while we were gone. Our second stove for our 2007 winter was a giant cookstove. The nice thing about that stove was that it held a fire for quite a while, and as a bonus we cooked bread etc in the oven portion. This cookstove is similar to the one we had: The Heart of the Home | Homewood Heritage cast iron cooking stove
*Lights – initially we used the gas lights that were on the walls around the cabin. These proved to use too much natural gas. We used headlamps for most of the time. At one point I really wanted to have bright lights in the cabin. We linked up a bunch of power cords to our generator that was kept outside. The electricity that was produced fired up a bunch of shop lights that were hung around the cabin. This seemed like a luxury to me.
*internet – during the time we lived in the cabin we did not have smart phones (2006-2010). If we wanted to get online we would: 1. Fire up the generator 2. Turn on the satellite and 3. Turn on our desktop.
*Food storage. We had a small chest freezer that we essentially used as a refrigerator. I would freeze containers of ice at the clinic where I worked, and I would make sure there was always ice in the freezer. When we investigated having a fridge/freezer that was hooked up to natural gas there wasn’t a way for us to pay over $1,000 for that luxury.
*The toilet – it was a composting toilet. I will spare the details.
*How did we care for our newborn, Ethan, while living in this rustic cabin: we didn’t. As soon as Ethan was born it was blatantly obvious that we were not cut out to live in such a lifestyle with an infant. Once Ethan was 3 months old we moved into an old farmhouse that had electricity etc.
I know that I could never live without running water or electricity now, but I am glad I did so when I was younger. I was forced to be more self-sufficient. I will never take for granted that I can wash myself, my dishes & my clothes with readily available hot water. I appreciate being able to turn a thermostat up for heat and down for air conditioning. I do not think I will ever take basic ‘luxuries’ for granted again.