I read a book recently—Off On Our Own by Ted Carns. Ted is a resident of the Ligonier area. He and his wife, Kathy, live on a five acre site on Laurel Mountain, east of the town of Ligonier. Ted and Kathy live off the grid—hence the title of the book. Ted has, in his years of residence on the mountain, built a sustainable life style with his own heating, refrigeration and waste systems and his own sources (plural) of electricity.

Ted demonstrates that it is possible to live a comfortable life without constantly taking from nature. He gives back as much, even more, than he takes. In doing this, Ted gives as one of his principles paying attention to necessity over desire. “Necessity” might sound rather harsh but to me it is simply recognizing whether you really need something or only want it. In this society we are taught to want much more than we really need. Then we waste what we no longer want. Through application of his philosophy and attention to recycling in both standard and unique ways, Ted has reached a point of Zero waste. He has done this without any huge outlay of money, by simply living as he feels he should.

A great part of Ted’s message is spirituality. He applies that to his endeavors and to his life.

It’s a good book. It’s well written. It’s informative. Get it.