where do I begin?

Where to begin. I was fortunate to have grown up with the Mother Earth News as sort of handbook for living off the land. It is still in print but its nothing like it was when John Shuttleworth was in charge. When other guys my age were reading comic books or hotrod magazines or even watching mtv I had my nose in the Mother Earth News learning how to be self sufficient. From about 1980 until present we have lived off grid by choice. I love to remind folks that electricity as we know it today is only about 100 years old and that mankind had lived without that electricity for over 7,000 years prior to Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. I know some elderly folks still alive today that were around before electricity was the status quo. But back to your question. At first we lived without any electricity at all and then eventually with solar electricity. When we decided to start harvesting sunlight for electricity I found a subscription to Homepower very helpful. I dont know of anywhere that will trade but there are places that will buy used appliances I am sure. There is only one way to live without electricity and its just to quit, cold turkey. Like any other substance electricity is, at the very least, habit forming. I know, I kicked the habit for over a decade and still I came back to it when we went solar

The Alternative Energy Store offers a variety of appliances, including gas powered refrigerators, appropriate for off-grid living. You can review them online by going to http://shop.altenergystore.com/go.asp?Cc=ENGAPPLN

Frequently, there are gas appliance service people located locally - I would start off by opening up your Yellow Pages and looking under "Gas Appliance Servicing".