Off the Grid on St. Mark with a Touch of Civilization
As you’ve learned by now, the folks on St. Mark do quite fine living off the grid. They have no electricity, no cell reception, and only a few rich folks have cars. Oh yeah, there’s a Jeep fitted out to be the island’s fire engine. I thought you’d be interested in a couple of aspects of how people successfully cope with no electricity: lighting and refrigeration. For both, I speak from experience from living in the countryside of St. Thomas in the same conditions.
Lighting is simple – candles, lanterns, or lamps suffice to see your way around, and even for reading books. Below are typical examples. On the left is a lamp with a reservoir for fluid and on the right is a fancy candle holder. Each has a glass shade to keep wind from blowing out the candle. Both of these are from my folks’ home at Frenchman’s Bay, St. Thomas.
What’s the drawback with this old fashioned approach? Mainly, you need to be careful that you don’t start a fire. Fire is the most feared danger of country living off the grid. The fire station, if one exists, is usually many minutes away, but they may as well be on the moon if you don’t have phone service. Your only chance is to put the fire out immediately. Otherwise, grab your family and get out. So, be sure to keep all the flame-based lights away from paper and other combustible material. Take special care if you set a candle or lamp outside, where a gust of wind can knock it over and increase risk of fire.
The other element of modern life which can be enjoyed without electricity is the propane refrigerator. Hard to believe, right? That propane can make stuff cold. Well, it did, and kept our food cool and fresh, and even let us have ice cream. Sorry, I don’t have a photo of our refrigerator.