Down a gravel road and nestled deep in the woods, On Warren Pond Farm prospers with a small harvest and a couple of dedicated caretakers. Jill Swenson, one of those caretakers, said it is all she needs to be satisfied.

But it’s not just because of her thriving small harvest or her husband, Sam Warren, that she is content. She is living off the grid — making her life, and her energy, all on her own.

According to a 2006 article in USA Today, more than 180,000 families live off the grid, with that number increasing by 33 percent every year. In essence, those choosing this alternative lifestyle are not attached to the regular electrical grid, rather they attain their energy for their homes through other renewable means, such as solar, wind or water energy.

For Swenson, a former journalism professor at Ithaca College, what had originally started as a petite cabin powered by a small group of solar panels is now one powered by two sets of solar panels, a couple of residential windmills and a homemade waterwheel built by Warren.  

The energy produced through these renewable energy sources is stored in batteries that they keep hidden in their home. Those batteries give them enough stored energy to give electricity in the night and often for a few extra days. If they experience a deficiency of sun, wind or water power for an extended period of time, they maintain a propane generator on the side of their home. A homemade burn shed for hay bails from their land pushes hot air in to heat their home.

“To be self-reliant is very satisfying,” she said.

Swenson’s new life on the farm meant a change in her work life as well. She chose to leave the world of academia and engulf herself entirely in her self-sufficient home.

“I was working, but my life wasn’t,” she said. “I made the decision that I wanted to do something, instead of just talking about it anymore.”

Now, Swenson and her husband work from their energy-efficient home, selling their produce to neighbors and local customers. They also open their four small cabins behind their pond for people to come and experience what it is like to live sustainably — a way of life she believes is becoming more and more appealing to many in the Ithaca area.

“People are a lot more satisfied with their lives,” she said about off-the-grid life. “You take control of your destiny.”

In March 2009, Swenson was featured in The New York Times by Adam Ellick ’99.

Paul Myers, of Burdett, N.Y., also makes his living from his self-sufficient home. After building his house from scratch in 2003, Myers became more interested in reducing his carbon footprint and helping others to do the same. Now he helps families live more sustainably and be more conscious of their energy use with his renewable-energy company, Upstate Energy Solutions.

“When you live off the grid, you only have a finite amount, as much as you can pick up in a day or as much as your batteries can store,” he said. “You sort of become hyperconscious of what you’re given. … It’s a huge leap to make.”

For those who are not ready to make the leap but still want to add renewable energy to their residence, companies, like Upstate Energy Solutions, help on-the-grid homeowners add renewable energy sources to their homes. New York state’s Green Building Tax Credit Program offers tax credits to homeowners adding sustainable technologies, like renewable energy sources, to their home.

Myers said living on the grid, referring to people who don’t produce all of their energy and live attached to the electrical grid, causes people to often take their energy for granted. Living off forces them to become more conscious. Myers’ home, like Swenson’s, is powered by solar energy sources and uses passive solar heating to heat his home during the day.

“Every day when you wake up and the sun is shining, you feel really good because you’re making electricity all day long,” he said.

And though off-the-grid life is becoming more popular today, it is not a new idea. Cindy and Steve Nicholson of Caroline, N.Y., have been tapping into their own renewable sources for more than 20 years and teaching people in the process.  

“People are getting more interested because they are realizing what getting electricity from private companies is doing to our environment,” Steve said. “We found that living off the grid gives you a little extra motivation to be energy efficient.”

When the Nicholsons aren’t showing their home on tours like the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association Green Buildings Open House, a national showcase of homes that are built and powered sustainably, they teach a “Meet the Practitioners” course. It is held at GreenStar Natural Foods Co-op in Ithaca each year to give people the chance to learn more about living off the grid, renewable energy sources and living sustainably — be it on or off the grid.  

“In the immediate future, we are all going to have to use less energy,” he said. “We are all going to have to share the limited resources of energy, and one of the big places people can make a difference is in their own residences.”

With educational talks from people like the Nicholsons, renewable-energy companies like that of Myers and sustainable living experiences like On Warren Pond, many people in the Ithaca area are turning to renewable energy sources and living off the grid. And as Swenson continues to keep up her way of life in a cabin built and powered by her own hands, she knows the impact it is making.

“If you can spend one day producing more than you consume, then you’re on your way,” she said.