So admire your perseverance and all the obstacles you have overcome -- I’m sure you will push through this as well, even though it’s taking longer than you hoped. I can certainly relate to how hard it is to be patient, start small and give the process the time it needs when there is a huge looming crisis. Grateful for all the words of wisdom and reminders in this thread addressing this.
It has taken ten years for Living Energy Farm to get where it is now, a thriving off-grid community (9 adults + 3 kids) with a comfortable home, growing and processing almost all of the food we eat year round, and our energy systems in place. Volunteers and interns (all work-trade) have been involved since the beginning, when it was just rudimentary camping on the land, and been hosting tours for several years, even though it was and continues to be very much a work-in-progress. Even with the initial funding and infrastructure building hurdles largely behind us, it is still a slow process to get the knowledge out there, share and empower folks to apply the technologies and solutions we’ve developed. I wonder if even the long-established and world renown permaculture sites struggle with how slowly the solutions they’ve found and demonstrated have taken hold, when such a dramatic shift is required in the way we live.
I guess the best we can do is remember that we can’t singlehandedly save the world, and the journey matters as much as the destination. The “speedbumps” can provide us an opportunity to look more closely and question our assumptions about what we need (and the means and resources required to meet our needs and preferences), to explore alternatives and find creative solutions, and to cultivate and appreciate the beauty, right where we are, along the path, and not just at the finish line that might forever elude us.
Since you are still in the beginning stages of setting up your house and homestead, I would encourage you, as other commenters have, to consider your energy needs and systems more closely. Especially given the financial cost to bring grid electricity to your home, and more importantly, the environmental cost -- since the grid is powered by fossil fuel extraction and other destructive sources like nuclear and even solar “farms” (a few years ago 100 acres of mature hardwood forest down the road from us was clear cut from us in the name of seeming noble “renewable energy”). The grid isn’t necessary in order to have electricity and internet -- and it doesn’t require a huge investment in PV panels and batteries either. We use a 2000 watt array to run the machines in our shop, the well pump, blowers for food and seed drying as well as space heating, grain mill, and sometimes solar electric cookers and a blender -- all “daylight drive” with the direct current (DC) electricity right off the PV panels, without an inverter or battery bank. We also have a daylight drive Sundanzer refrigerator. This means we only need a small 100 amp hour battery set (we use nickle iron, because they can last for decades and are non-toxic, unlike lead acid) for lighting and charging electronics. For internet, we use a “hotspot,” which we can charge easily with the NiFe battery sets, along with our phones and computers.
If you're interested in exploring this further, here’s a walk-through of our “daylight drive” energy systems:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Wk7inoIxI
and there is also more detailed info at
http://livingenergyfarm.org and
http://livingenergylights.com
I wish you the best of luck!