If you can find a way to manually pump water without going outside I'd suggest doing it - that's the main reason I suggested punching through the floor in the basement because that's how we have it out at the farm house where I live. Of course the soil is very sandy and the water table is only 5 feet down, so it was pretty easy to do it like that for us, but then our basement really isn't very habitable anyway since it tends to flood in the spring. Then the trouble is pumping it out since sand tends to make it into the hole the pump is sitting in.
It's good that you have a wood stove, though you may want to invest in a propane heater if the woods stove isn't putting out enough heat, and like I said camps stoves are really great for cooking.
As for a generator, if you're really desperate to have electricity, that would be the cheapest way to go, but as you said, the things are usually pretty loud, and as an added bonus you have to keep them well maintained or they have an annoying habit of not working when you actually need to use them. Most people that have them tend to keep them in a shed or in the basement until they use them, but they have to be put outside when you use them because of the exhaust they produce.
Solar cells would be great if you can afford them, but another alternative might be a windmill generator. I've actually thought of trying to build one using some old car alternators to charge some batteries, but while that would work great here because there is very rarely a calm day in North Dakota, I don't know how it is where you are.