• Outdoors Outdoors

Off-grid creator wakes up freezing, finds everything soaked, and still gets a fire going

"Because baby, it don't get cold until you come out that blanket."

A woman building a fire in a firepit.

Photo Credit: TikTok

On Oct. 20, off-grid creator AliGoddess (@_aliceya) shared a TikTok showing a difficult morning off the grid. The day starts cold, the heaters have to wait for a generator, and even getting a fire going is a challenge because, as she says, "Everything is wet."

Here's what to know

The Oct. 20 video opens with the creator describing how the morning began. "Woke up and it was cold," she says, before explaining that they had just gotten the generator running to turn on the heaters. 

As the clip continues, the weather makes routine tasks harder. While attempting to get a fire started, the creator explains that "everything is so wet," searches for dry leaves, and notices "a little red mushroom hiding" in the damp ground.

Commenters responded with a mix of sympathy and practical advice. One wrote, "Idk how you do it."

Another offered a more detailed suggestion: "Girl rule one keep ur wood dry make a small shelter for the wood and use rocks to on the floor and then stack up the wood."

More background

The clip directly shows the work involved in staying warm off the grid. Rather than simply turning up a thermostat, this household appears to rely on multiple systems at once: a generator to power heaters and a separate fire for extra warmth.

Even with the rough conditions, the creator says winter is still the better season for this lifestyle. "We have really good comforters. It feels wonderful at night," she says, later adding, "I would choose winter over a summer off grid any day," and, "Because baby, it don't get cold until you come out that blanket."

@_aliceya Preparing for the cold weather off the grid #offgrid #winter #cold #offgridliving #dayinmylife ♬ original sound - AliGoddess☥ | Seamoss🌱

The video also points to how many supplies and how much effort a cold, wet start can demand. The creator says they had "two big boxes" of fire starter and "use all of them."

What can be done?

Once they just get the generator going, the heaters can come back on while the creator keeps trying to establish a fire outdoors. By the end of the video, that second effort succeeds, giving the household another source of heat.

The difficulty of that process underscores her point that "you will quickly see how important fire starter is." With the area soaked, she searches for anything dry enough to catch, including leaves.

Viewers shared similarly concrete ideas in the comments. One suggested a log store, another asked about a woodstove, and a third wrote, "Get coals too; they hold alot of heat for an extended fire."

After the fire finally caught, the creator closes the video with a brief summary of the morning: "Glad I didn't give up."

Where can I learn more?

These stories look at similar off-grid challenges, from cold weather and fuel to basic supplies. 

• A rural couple went off-grid after suffering through harsh winter at their new home.

• An off-gridder now heats the property with fryer grease from work that they turned into fuel.

• In Tennessee, one resident says they moved off-grid with almost no money to start.

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