My wife has long been a bit of a closet prepper, with dreams of retreating to an isolated homestead and living out our days in some quiet, natural setting. The apocalypse is actually here, and we're scared of our own snacks.'

One day early into COVID lockdown, my wife finished wiping down some groceries with sanitizing wipes, turned to me, and said:

In 2020 my family was living in a typical three-bedroom house at the end of a cul-de-sac in a small town in New Mexico. In short, I feel like a smarter, more useful human after moving off the grid.

While I've made plenty of mistakes and learned lessons over the past three years, the adventure has also slashed our living cost and empowered me with a greater understanding and fascination around how both natural and built systems work and interact. Over a series of articles and videos here at CNET, I'm going to share this 'living off the grid' journey with you, detailing how we manage without being connected to any public infrastructure. Meanwhile, my family was busy embarking on a journey of our own: Moving off the grid and taking on the responsibility of supplying our own electricity, heat and water using solar panels, wood, propane and rain catchment.

During the first summer of COVID, countless people fortunate enough to work remotely road tripped to the small mountain town where I live.

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