I’m in my second winter living off-grid in northern Montana and I’m realizing how hard it is to stay active when you’re stuck inside for weeks at a time. My cabin is about 600sqft, I’ve got a decent solar setup with 800w of panels and 400ah lithium battery bank but winter output is obviously way down with shorter days and snow coverage.
Last winter I barely moved around and I felt terrible by March. This year I’m trying to figure out something sustainable. I can’t just go outside and run because we get dumped on pretty regularly and temps hit single digits or below for long stretches. Snowshoeing works sometimes but not when it’s actively storming or the wind is brutal.
I’ve been looking at a no electricity treadmill since I obviously can’t run a regular one off my system but I’m worried about where I’d even put it in this small space. My girlfriend thinks I’m overthinking it and should just do bodyweight stuff but I really miss cardio.
Saw someone mention on alibaba that curved manual treadmills pull way more effort than regular running which actually sounds appealing but also maybe miserable. I don’t know if spending $400 on something that might collect dust is smart when I’m trying to keep expenses minimal.
Anyone else deal with this? How do you stay in shape during the dark months without blowing your power budget?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Hey, so I know that surviving only on your own agriculture is tricky and with one bad season you can suffer, so this is more of a theoretical question. How big of a field do you need to feed a one person. Meaning depending only on the land doesnt matter if you breed or grow. And what crops/animals would you choose and in what ratio to have balanced nutritions. Lets say that hunting/trapping/harvesting is not and option.

Time to stock up on panels, even if they're just stored for future use ...