Scott Fletcher：Learning to Live with the Sun

How retired software developer Scott Fletcher built an off-grid life. One careful calculation at a time.

Leaving the Screen Behind

At sixty-one, Scott Fletcher did something many people dream about but rarely execute: he closed his laptop for the last time and walked away from a career spent in front of a screen.

“I was a software developer and business analyst for the Canadian government,” he says. “I was very fortunate. I was able to retire with a decent pension.”

What pushed him wasn’t dissatisfaction, but exhaustion. Seven to eight hours a day seated, thinking in abstractions, solving problems that lived entirely in code. “It was time for a new physical and mental challenge,” he says.

That challenge took shape as ten acres of land in southwest Nova Scotia, three kilometers from the nearest power lines. A place with no wiring, dense forest, a private lake, and just enough cleared land to imagine a different way of living.

A Cabin That Teaches You What You Actually Need

Scott’s off-grid cabin is modest but deliberate: three bedrooms, propane for cooking, and a septic system for a full bathroom. Comfortable, but not indulgent.

Nine acres are forest. One acre is open. That acre feeds him. “That’s where I grow my food, raise my bees,” he says.

He kayaks. He fishes. Dinner sometimes arrives from the lake rather than the store. And slowly, the land began teaching him what modern life quietly demands.

When his propane refrigerator failed, replacement costs were “ridiculous.” That moment forced a question: Is there a smarter way to power this place?

Finding Solar Without the Red Tape

Traditional solar wasn’t an option. In Nova Scotia, permanent solar installations require licensed electricians, permits, and approvals from utility companies. “It was just not cost-effective for me,” Scott says.

So he looked for a workaround and found portable solar power.

After comparing three brands, he landed on Jackery. “There were YouTube videos of people using Jackery in the exact way that I wanted to use it,” he says. Seeing real-world use mattered more than specs alone.

His first purchase was the Jackery Solar Generator 1500, which he paired with a small electric refrigerator. That moment marked the beginning of what he now calls his “Jackery journey.”

What the Jackery Solar Generator 1500 Review Taught Him

The 1500 worked well, but living off-grid makes limitations obvious fast. When the battery needed recharging, the fridge had to be unplugged. Food went into coolers. The ice melted.

“It was a bit of a bother,” Scott admits. But it also revealed something critical: energy management is not about one device, it’s about systems.

That realization pushed him to expand.

Powering Connectivity in the Middle of Nowhere

Cell service doesn’t exist where Scott’s cabin sits. In an emergency, his options were bleak: kayak across the lake for a single bar of signal, or drive kilometers through the forest to a clearing.

The solution was satellite internet, but that required reliable power. Enter the Jackery Solar Generator 2000.

“I used the 2000 to run the fridge, my satellite radio, and other electronics,” he says, while dedicating the 1500 exclusively to Wi-Fi and communications.

What surprised him wasn’t just performance, it was consumption. “It’s incredible how much power these little electronic devices consume,” he says.

The Jackery Solar Generator 2000 review, in Scott’s words, became an education in invisible energy use.

When the Clouds Don’t Cooperate

Scott’s second year off-grid was unusually cloudy. Solar output dropped. Charging windows shrank.

So he adapted again. He added a Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Pro, rotating units strategically. With two 2000-series units and the 1500, he could survive a full week of poor weather without running out of power.

This summer, conditions flipped. Drought brought relentless sun. “I had absolutely no problem at all,” he says.

Forest fires became the bigger threat. One burned just seven kilometers away.

The Storm That Proved Portability Matters

When Hurricane Fiona tore through Prince Edward Island, Scott was at his off-grid property. After the storm passed, he drove home to check on his primary residence.

“It was like a big bomb had gone off,” he says. Entire forests flattened. Power lines destroyed. Gas stations empty within days.

Most people lost power for two weeks. Gas-generator owners ran out of fuel.

Scott brought his Jackery equipment with him. “Because the Jackerys are portable, I brought them,” he says. The Jackery Solar Generator 1500 review, under real disaster conditions, became something more than theory.

After four or five days, he returned to the cabin. There was no reason to wait for grid restoration.

Living Between Two Worlds

Scott now moves seasonally between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; his Jackery systems travel with him. In winter, he charges them from AC outlets at home, keeping them ready for storms and possible rolling blackouts.

When outages happen, the transition is simple. “All I do is unplug my UPS and plug it into the Jackery,” he says.

At the cabin, solar panels follow the sun. He tracks shadows, angles, and intensity. “You start to learn how to read the weather,” he says. “You start to notice the sun.”

Why the Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Pro Review Still Matters

Scott appreciates how Jackery products evolve. “The product lines have grown,” he says. “They’re lighter instead of heavier.”

He recalls how his first 2000 had wheels, while the newer Pro version is smaller and easier to handle, with the same capability.

From a former business analyst’s perspective, that matters. Design should reduce friction, not add to it.

Bees, Expansion, and What Comes Next

Scott’s beekeeping operation is still young. Winter survival will decide whether it expands. If it does, he’ll need powered honey-extraction equipment.

His plan? Test it with a Jackery first. “If it runs well,” he says, “I’ll probably get another Jackery that will exclusively run my honey extraction equipment.”

The system grows as life grows.

What Power Becomes When You Understand It

Asked what Jackery means to him, Scott answers carefully.

“Reliability,” he says. “Simplicity. And it’s fun.”

Fun, because converting sunlight into usable energy still feels miraculous. Because once the investment is made, “you basically have free power.”

Friends who visit expect hardship. His son once feared an outhouse in the middle of the night. When he discovered a four-piece bathroom, the tension vanished.

Off-grid life, Scott has learned, doesn’t have to mean deprivation. With the right analysis and the right tools, it can feel surprisingly complete.

The Jackery models Scott uses in this story have since been discontinued. Readers interested in creating a similar off-grid lifestyle may consider current Jackery solutions such as the Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus or the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus, which offer comparable performance and flexibility for off-grid living.