Our grandparents and great grandparents were often figuratively left in the dark.  However, rural Americans are a tenacious lot, and if the power lines wouldn't come to them, they would bring the power to themselves.

As labor-saving devices like washing machines and electric milkers became more important to the rural off-grid farmer, or things like radios and electric lights became more in demand, a number of ways to electrify the farm were used. They are all going to sound familiar to the modern prepper because we still use the modern versions of these methods to power off-grid cabins, and our homes in emergencies. As the old saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun, and here are three ways our great grandparents made their own electricity…