We love hearing from you, so here is your chance. Introduce yourself and tell us what makes you selfsufficient 'ish'. Go on don't be shy, we welcome one and all. You can also tell us how you heard about us if you like.
Hi there - Dave here - expat (Livepool) living here in Ireland for the past 16 years. We (Fiona my wife from Galway, and the dog Holly from the rescue center) are sweating on planning permission for an eco house in Galway on 1 acre of land (with access to another 40 or so acres). We're pretty confident that we'll get it - after 2 years though in fairness to the local authority, the land is in a special area of conservation.
We're really interested in going down the self-sufficiency route and living off the grid - at least part time but preferably (after a few years) full-time.
So we're looking to bombard you guys with a ton of questions and hopefully getting the odd nugget of wisdom back. So please be gentle and disregard any "stupid" questions
Let us be lovely
And let us be kind
Let us be silly and free
It won't make us famous
It won't make us rich
But damn it how happy we'll be!
Edward Monkton
Member of the Ish Weight Loss Club since 10/1/11 Started at 12st 8 and have lost 8lb so far!
been down that road ,looked for fpp for strawbale,the council could not stop laughing .
And then not being grid connected , would save alone for connection fees ( in 2003 ) 3k !
What it is now , would not have an idea .
To getgrid connected now and then in the future be slf sufficient is a waste of money , be 100 %
self sufficient from the start or it is a waste of money .
Paul - that's interesting. A little surprising not to get a positive response from the council but I would hope their tune has changed these days...
As regards grid connection, my understanding (and I could be wrong) is that we'll need to be connected for two reasons:
1. To sell electricity back to the ESB
2. To cover us for windless days
We *could* go down the road of getting photovoltaic cells to keep generating on windless days but I'll have to do the maths - I understand that they are quite expensive. Water generation is not really an option (though it could be looked at) and I currently can't think of any other mainstream generating technologies. Perhpas others might chime in.
But you probably raise a bigger question - I think it must be really hard to go completely self-sufficient (100%). But we'd hope to eliminate as much as possible any complete reliance on anyone else that's bad (men in suits) and accenuate those areas where we can relay on others who rely on us (bartering for goods and work).
Hi Dave - I see you didn't get the stock answer, so I'll do it - there's no such thing as a stupid question. There are only questions to which you don't know the answer. Ish may not give you the perfect answer, but there are tons of people here who'll have a damn good go.
Enjoy.
Mike
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)
(thanks)
and welcome to ish. 
Am also looking t eventually go off grid