Off-Grid Mindset #1: When Winter Comes Early
What to do when your plans get buried under a foot of snow
In the city, when something breaks, you call a repair guy.
When you live off-grid, you are the repair guy — whether you know how to repair it or not.
That difference isn’t just about convenience. It’s about mindset. It’s about learning to stop waiting for perfect conditions and start working with what’s in front of you — even when it’s buried under snow.
A Plan Buried in Snow
My goal was simple enough: finish the new bunkhouse before December 1st. I had everything lined up — the beams were in, the subfloor down, and I was ready to move to framing.
Then, on November 11th, I woke up to a foot of snow. The hill leading to the build site was slick, my platform was buried, and my ATV tires might as well have been bald. The truck? Not a chance. One wrong move and I’d be sliding backward into a tree.
At that point, most people would hit pause. Wait for the melt. Push the project to spring.
But when you live off the grid, “waiting for later” can easily turn into “never.”
Two Options
So I had two options:
Admit defeat and wait for spring.
Figure it out — and accept that an already tough job just got a whole lot harder.
I’ve promised schools this bunkhouse would be ready for winter programs. And where I come from, your word matters. So really, there wasn’t a decision to make. The only path forward was the harder one.
I’ll put the tracks on the ATV and see how far I can push it. I don’t know how heavy a load it’ll haul in deep snow, but I’ll find out. I’ll make mistakes. I’ll get stuck. I’ll probably swear a lot. But I won’t quit until I’ve run out of options — and that’s the heart of this lifestyle.
Resilience Isn’t Romantic
People love the idea of off-grid living — until something breaks.
Your indoor boiler fails at midnight.
Your well line freezes solid.
A battery cell dies when it’s -20°C outside.
A chimney fire scares the life out of you.
Or your deck collapses under the weight of an ice slide in February.
All of these have happened here at The Ark. Each one felt like a gut punch in the moment. And each one taught me something that no YouTube tutorial or repair manual ever could.
Resilience isn’t about being fearless or prepared. It’s about learning to stay calm when things fall apart — and trusting yourself to figure it out.
It was slick and "touch-and-go" at the steeper part, but I made it up. There's no way I could haul even the lightest trailer up though. I have a couple beech logs to skid down, but that would probably push me sideways and roll me down the hill... So I'll wait until the tracks are on.
The Off-Grid Equation
Here’s the trade you make when you choose this life:
You give up predictability in exchange for possibility.
You can’t always plan your days around a neat to-do list. Instead, you wake up and adapt to whatever the land or the weather throws your way. Some days it’s beautiful — hauling lumber through a sunrise fog. Other days it’s brutal — frozen tools, wet gloves, and a sense that everything is working against you.
But the funny thing is, over time, you start to crave that uncertainty. It reminds you that you’re capable of more than you thought.
When the Work Gets Harder
There’s a saying I use at my Mad Trapper races: You never know how far you can go until you go as far as you can.
That line applies just as much here. Living off the grid is one long endurance event. Not a sprint — but a constant test of patience, problem-solving, and persistence.
And like any good challenge, it gives you something deeper than comfort: confidence.
The quiet kind that comes from knowing, “Whatever happens, I’ll figure it out.”
The Takeaway
When winter comes early, it’s easy to see it as a setback. But if you shift your perspective, it’s also an invitation — to grow tougher, smarter, and more creative.
Because resilience isn’t built when everything goes right. It’s built when you keep moving forward even after your plans get buried under a foot of snow.
That’s off-grid life.
And that’s exactly why I love it.
