Living off the grid and off the beaten path in New Zealand

Barbara Corcoran was raised in an Army family with moves around the country, Germany, and Iran.  She moved to New Zealand in 1986 to marry her Liverpudlian husband John, and have six children and nine grandchildren between them. This talk focuses on the couple’s experience of building and living in an off-grid house in a remote corner of the South Island’s high country. The talk will cover the process of planning and building the home on a 17 acre mini-farm, which included water collection, solar electricity, solar hot water, and other eco-friendly features.  In her and John’s years living quite an alternative lifestyle in Burkes Pass, they learned what worked and what didn’t and shared their experience with  their builders to use as needed.