Bit difficult to run a good-sized freezer off-grid.
Laptop, cellphone connection on G3 network (that was all the phone company would offer with no phone line and no house), laptop is plugged in at dairy shed which has power, but solar generator would be more convenient, & could also charge cellphone and any other small electronics. Small solar light is easy to set up and cheap, I find it gives enough light to read by for twenty minutes or so, enough light to see by for the entire night if it's left on. Otherwise, candles and battery flashlight, the cost of running either is probably similar, the flashlight won't burn your blankets if you fall asleep reading. Really would be good to get a super-charged solar worklight for the workshop, so I can hammer and saw at stuff in the evening in winter.
Previous farm out on the coast I dug a hole in the garden, lined it with concrete and lit a fire when I wanted to cook. Was pretty taken aback to get to the wet country and discover you couldn't light a fire on the ground unless you first laid down a grid of dry sticks then set the fire on top of that... I have a cast-iron fire-pit that I use in an open-sided shed when the shed is empty. Initially, no fridge meant frequent grocery trips and figuring out which foods would keep adequately without chilling, the use of a friend's freezer means only having to shop half as often. Can eat well on pumpkin, potatoes, sweet potato, courgette, leeks, brocolli, carrots, summer crops in season. In reality, I could install a gas cooker and run it off bottles if I wanted to, or get a fancy barbecue - I just don't want to play with gas, did use a couple of gas camping stoves initially but they became a bit erratic and had to be used in open-sided shed or outdoors anyway. When travelling nearly ten years ago now I discovered one of those little gas cans about the size of an aerosol will make one good meal, if only used for porridge and tea it might last a week though.
Fruit trees are best planted five years ago. Don't know how to find the time to look after poultry but fruit/meat/non-edibles are the main thing that require a town trip. Fruit and poultry could make the place almost self-sufficient for food.
The biggest challenge with only an outside fire and limited access to electricity is temperature control.
Washing is done in a tub, hung up to drip initially then taken into a shed to finish drying. Dishes washed in a tub then stacked on basket shelves covered in a cloth to keep flies and cats off - no need to dry them before putting away. One of the primary electric appliances is the water distiller, I reckon when I get a wood stove installed I'll set up a permanent evaporation/condensation unit to stay on top of the stove. The previous resident drinks the water direct from the creek, that can be done if you don't mind the risk.
It's been an interesting journey, not living entirely off-grid here because there's the cowshed electricity to fall back on, have had a few short spells of sleeping/living in a car over the years and you soon learn what is needed for comfort (roof space to stand up and stretch, and floor space equivalent, believe it or not, and it's not safe to do an exercise routine on ground that's been trampled and pitted by grazing cows)
We are not far from there. 285 from Pecos to Mentone is a death trap. You have better odds playing Russian Roulette.
