I enjoyed reading your story Remy and can relate. I may be facing my personal composting toilet nightmares and embarking on a change of lifestyle next year. If I do go off the grid in my tiny house I will definitely be getting a generator to heat the water. As long as I have a hot shower, good coffee, and a beautiful view all will be well..... I hope. It's exciting and scary.
Will provide good fodder for writing at least. Jo 😊
It's becoming more and more common in NZ for people to embrace this lifestyle in some form or another. You don't have to be fundamentalist about it. You can just take the bits that suit and gradually you may choose to get more and more off grid. For me it may not be off the grid in the long run but it will be about moving into a more sustainable way of living. In a tiny house, simplifying things. At this stage it will be in Wanaka where I have lived for 20 years. But of course the beauty is that the tiny house is on a trailer so you can move it eventually. Will keep you posted if it happens! :-). https://www.shayestinyhomes.com/hazel-design
I enjoyed reading this, Remy ... our smallholding life in France has just the right amount of living on-grid for the essential comforts. There's a great shower (rule one for our house searching), heating and windows, if our growing doesn't work out (bugs, incompetence, lack of watering, strong winds, heavy rain, deer and boar helping themselves) there's a French market about 10 kilometres away. Sure, we are living without a vehicle, but the pedalling isn't bad. I can plug in my laptop and scribble about how we aspire to keep our footprint small. And there is ALWAYS coffee to hand!
We did this many many years ago. I loved it but it cost me my marriage. 5 months in the interior of Alaska with a newborn I was ready to kill my husband. Didn’t kill him but the divorce soon followed!
Ah, how accurate! It seems so "romantic" to live off-grid, fend for ourselves, and feel the freedom of knowing YOU provide. There's a bit of Ego mixed in with that concept though, no? It's a battle my husband and I faced when we moved to a rural town. We immediately purchased a generator, because you expect power outages when you're rural... but it's something we never operated before. A loud, gasoline-gulping gadget that kept power on. Oops! Alas, our well wasn't connected to the power—so no running water. How does one cook? Wash dishes? Brush your teeth or self?
Hmmmm... rural living may not be as fun as we thought.
Nonetheless, I'm also stubborn and neither of us trusts the direction our world is headed. I'm still determined to grow my own, so after years of working in greenhouses, on organic farms, and moving back to a city, we moved BACK to a rural area. And bought a place across from a river, with no well, this time. I now have a place to start an actual garden and grow our veggies. A "food forest?" Certainly not. But it's a start. I'll have to learn to filter out the salt from the river water, but I have a rain collection system that will last us at least an hour lol.
My boss has a place 100% off-grid, and I've seen the hard work it's taken to build a driveway, a tiny pond, and a shed (sorry, house lol). No internet yet, no running water, no way to bathe or grow food... yet. She's been at it for 5 years now, and I'm proud of her ingenuity and skills. It's also very humbling, because I'm from a city—so this is all still very romantic for me.
We also watch A LOT of movies, as I believe you do. We've watched a survivor series, too. Between movies about post-apocalyptic life, prehistoric eras, and any pre-Industrialized era, well... we understand how much current civilization affords us. Such as conversations like these.
Our power went out during a windstorm last week and stayed off for 4 days and 4 wintry nights. Workers rebuilt our grid in sub-freezing temps. We now have water where we are, but it's frigid, and pipes can freeze in an outage. We sold our generator when we moved back to the city, and in an outage, none are available. Next best option? A heater, for those 20 degree nights. The kerosene heater was a godsend for one room only. We slept on the cold, hard tile floor, ate out at the few places open, kept our fridge/freezer closed to lessen the amount of food we lost. No showers. Even brushing your teeth hurts when you're sleepless, your body aches from terrible floors, and the water is a meager 45 degrees. Humbled yet again. No amount of blankets and pillows make a hard floor seem comfortable once you're a grown adult.
Civilization is a wonderful thing... I believe there's balance in grid/off-grid, and we can certainly find a happier existence than being "plugged in" 99% of the time. Kudos to you both for realizing the struggle is real!
It is hard, but it DEFINITELY makes you grateful for all those "little things!" Motivation? Well, I have a regular (and obsessively obnoxious to some) gratitude practice/Pollyanna outlook. I also no longer believe 95% of what I see online, which was soul-crushing, to be honest. I also believed what I saw online, because I want to believe people are good-natured and honest. Sigh... the downside of having hippie parents lol!
In addition, my husband and I watch a lot of older sci-fi movies, so while we're in NO WAY doomsday preppers, we know what "can" happen if we're under-prepared. So, I do a little each month to prepare for the future I hope never comes. I have a lot of gardening books on simple and cheap ways to grow, along with some complex gardening books.
Believe me, we left the rural life after our first 3 years, because it IS hard. My nose remained in regenerative farming books, and my heart stayed in the plant world. I practiced growing under experts, so I knew more every month. At the end of 3 years back in a city, though, we were called back to rural life. I'd happily remain in the conveniences of city life, if I didn't know in my soul that we need to be smart about the future.
I think the motivation comes from that last line, honestly... I'm happy to share more with you guys as we progress, if you're interested. It's definitely not a lifestyle for the faint of heart, but I believe there's a middle ground, and I believe in making human connections to farms and people who CAN survive--offering them skills I have, in exchange for what they have. 🌱🎃
I lived in Algeria once. High up in the mountains where there was only spotty internet and no indoor plumbing, at least not at first, and the water you needed warm you simply heated. The house had large cisterns, buckets and plastic wash basins of all sizes to wash or bath with. Others to wash food in, and still others for washing dishes. I didn't think it was such a big deal. Perhaps because there were other incredible things that were distracting me from the so-called discomforts.
I'm developing an article about the nomadic ethos. If you subscribe (free) you'll get the alert. My take on your story is that when you're raising small children, you have to be careful not to scare them. The best way to do that is to keep everything very consistent, at least until they are old enough to understand that life is not black and white. :)
The nomad article will come out in two weeks' time. Next week, I have an interview with an indie author named Alex McLoughlin. I hope you like it. :)
I take a huge interest in film. I'm a writer/illustrator, but I studied storyboard. It was a great help to my writing, and I LOVE talking about films, although I haven't just yet in Substack. I'm sort of new around here... by the way, thanks for your subscription!!
As someone who also dreams of homesteading and off grid living, I understand the wide gulf between Instagram goat milking and real animal husbandry. Many are fooled. Few realize the totality of commitment. But I keep dreaming!
Ive lived in many communes - off grid... now called intentional communities.
And have homesteaded twice. I did it with my family. Its not hard if your willing to do the work. But my advice is - Make sure you have a good kitchen. Good Bathroom. and MONEY.
If you try to do it in a small trailer, with a tiny fridge, and no good shower while struggling financially you will go nuts and quit.
Well you might be fine but your family will kill you.
When a rat ran across my kid in the night and a bob cat Yoweled outside the door in the snow - that was it.
You can handle those things if you have a good kitchen and bathroom and enough money to just leave and go to Portugal for a few weeks for a break from it all AHAH.
I think if a rat ran across my kid in the night, my wife would turn into the most dangerous wild creature in the region and terrify any bob cat (and me) 😅
I enjoyed reading your story Remy and can relate. I may be facing my personal composting toilet nightmares and embarking on a change of lifestyle next year. If I do go off the grid in my tiny house I will definitely be getting a generator to heat the water. As long as I have a hot shower, good coffee, and a beautiful view all will be well..... I hope. It's exciting and scary.
Will provide good fodder for writing at least. Jo 😊
Oh dear. Where about are you planning to go? Please do write about it :)
It's becoming more and more common in NZ for people to embrace this lifestyle in some form or another. You don't have to be fundamentalist about it. You can just take the bits that suit and gradually you may choose to get more and more off grid. For me it may not be off the grid in the long run but it will be about moving into a more sustainable way of living. In a tiny house, simplifying things. At this stage it will be in Wanaka where I have lived for 20 years. But of course the beauty is that the tiny house is on a trailer so you can move it eventually. Will keep you posted if it happens! :-). https://www.shayestinyhomes.com/hazel-design
I look fwd to it!
I enjoyed reading this, Remy ... our smallholding life in France has just the right amount of living on-grid for the essential comforts. There's a great shower (rule one for our house searching), heating and windows, if our growing doesn't work out (bugs, incompetence, lack of watering, strong winds, heavy rain, deer and boar helping themselves) there's a French market about 10 kilometres away. Sure, we are living without a vehicle, but the pedalling isn't bad. I can plug in my laptop and scribble about how we aspire to keep our footprint small. And there is ALWAYS coffee to hand!
The boars... Oh dear. Can't you just hunt these or is that another one of my delusions? I suppose it's not practical
+ There are probably 150000 laws around boar hunting in france
That too!
We leave that sort of thing to the Chasse. Happy to eat the pate!
Where are you from? UK?
Irish girl and a Scot, settled in rural France
You forgot to say that there was no coffee either, in this eco hotel 😱.
Now THAT is the deal breaker, right there!
We did this many many years ago. I loved it but it cost me my marriage. 5 months in the interior of Alaska with a newborn I was ready to kill my husband. Didn’t kill him but the divorce soon followed!
'I loved it but it cost me my marriage.' lol, amazing quote
I think we're too used to living in the city. But countryside air sure is fresher and you feel it immediately. X
Ah, how accurate! It seems so "romantic" to live off-grid, fend for ourselves, and feel the freedom of knowing YOU provide. There's a bit of Ego mixed in with that concept though, no? It's a battle my husband and I faced when we moved to a rural town. We immediately purchased a generator, because you expect power outages when you're rural... but it's something we never operated before. A loud, gasoline-gulping gadget that kept power on. Oops! Alas, our well wasn't connected to the power—so no running water. How does one cook? Wash dishes? Brush your teeth or self?
Hmmmm... rural living may not be as fun as we thought.
Nonetheless, I'm also stubborn and neither of us trusts the direction our world is headed. I'm still determined to grow my own, so after years of working in greenhouses, on organic farms, and moving back to a city, we moved BACK to a rural area. And bought a place across from a river, with no well, this time. I now have a place to start an actual garden and grow our veggies. A "food forest?" Certainly not. But it's a start. I'll have to learn to filter out the salt from the river water, but I have a rain collection system that will last us at least an hour lol.
My boss has a place 100% off-grid, and I've seen the hard work it's taken to build a driveway, a tiny pond, and a shed (sorry, house lol). No internet yet, no running water, no way to bathe or grow food... yet. She's been at it for 5 years now, and I'm proud of her ingenuity and skills. It's also very humbling, because I'm from a city—so this is all still very romantic for me.
We also watch A LOT of movies, as I believe you do. We've watched a survivor series, too. Between movies about post-apocalyptic life, prehistoric eras, and any pre-Industrialized era, well... we understand how much current civilization affords us. Such as conversations like these.
Our power went out during a windstorm last week and stayed off for 4 days and 4 wintry nights. Workers rebuilt our grid in sub-freezing temps. We now have water where we are, but it's frigid, and pipes can freeze in an outage. We sold our generator when we moved back to the city, and in an outage, none are available. Next best option? A heater, for those 20 degree nights. The kerosene heater was a godsend for one room only. We slept on the cold, hard tile floor, ate out at the few places open, kept our fridge/freezer closed to lessen the amount of food we lost. No showers. Even brushing your teeth hurts when you're sleepless, your body aches from terrible floors, and the water is a meager 45 degrees. Humbled yet again. No amount of blankets and pillows make a hard floor seem comfortable once you're a grown adult.
Civilization is a wonderful thing... I believe there's balance in grid/off-grid, and we can certainly find a happier existence than being "plugged in" 99% of the time. Kudos to you both for realizing the struggle is real!
Oh wow... I'm lost for words. That sounds... Hard. Where do you find the motivation for such a life.
My wife was following some instagramer living 'off the grid' it was hilarious. She truly believed everything she saw.
It is hard, but it DEFINITELY makes you grateful for all those "little things!" Motivation? Well, I have a regular (and obsessively obnoxious to some) gratitude practice/Pollyanna outlook. I also no longer believe 95% of what I see online, which was soul-crushing, to be honest. I also believed what I saw online, because I want to believe people are good-natured and honest. Sigh... the downside of having hippie parents lol!
In addition, my husband and I watch a lot of older sci-fi movies, so while we're in NO WAY doomsday preppers, we know what "can" happen if we're under-prepared. So, I do a little each month to prepare for the future I hope never comes. I have a lot of gardening books on simple and cheap ways to grow, along with some complex gardening books.
Believe me, we left the rural life after our first 3 years, because it IS hard. My nose remained in regenerative farming books, and my heart stayed in the plant world. I practiced growing under experts, so I knew more every month. At the end of 3 years back in a city, though, we were called back to rural life. I'd happily remain in the conveniences of city life, if I didn't know in my soul that we need to be smart about the future.
I think the motivation comes from that last line, honestly... I'm happy to share more with you guys as we progress, if you're interested. It's definitely not a lifestyle for the faint of heart, but I believe there's a middle ground, and I believe in making human connections to farms and people who CAN survive--offering them skills I have, in exchange for what they have. 🌱🎃
I lived in Algeria once. High up in the mountains where there was only spotty internet and no indoor plumbing, at least not at first, and the water you needed warm you simply heated. The house had large cisterns, buckets and plastic wash basins of all sizes to wash or bath with. Others to wash food in, and still others for washing dishes. I didn't think it was such a big deal. Perhaps because there were other incredible things that were distracting me from the so-called discomforts.
I'm developing an article about the nomadic ethos. If you subscribe (free) you'll get the alert. My take on your story is that when you're raising small children, you have to be careful not to scare them. The best way to do that is to keep everything very consistent, at least until they are old enough to understand that life is not black and white. :)
Sure, I look fwd to reading that :)
The nomad article will come out in two weeks' time. Next week, I have an interview with an indie author named Alex McLoughlin. I hope you like it. :)
I take a huge interest in film. I'm a writer/illustrator, but I studied storyboard. It was a great help to my writing, and I LOVE talking about films, although I haven't just yet in Substack. I'm sort of new around here... by the way, thanks for your subscription!!
Hey no worries! Looking fwd to reading your stuff
As someone who also dreams of homesteading and off grid living, I understand the wide gulf between Instagram goat milking and real animal husbandry. Many are fooled. Few realize the totality of commitment. But I keep dreaming!
Are you planning to do it? That’s going to be great blogging :)
In a certain kind of a way. And yes, that will be coming in 2024!
Ive lived in many communes - off grid... now called intentional communities.
And have homesteaded twice. I did it with my family. Its not hard if your willing to do the work. But my advice is - Make sure you have a good kitchen. Good Bathroom. and MONEY.
If you try to do it in a small trailer, with a tiny fridge, and no good shower while struggling financially you will go nuts and quit.
Well you might be fine but your family will kill you.
When a rat ran across my kid in the night and a bob cat Yoweled outside the door in the snow - that was it.
You can handle those things if you have a good kitchen and bathroom and enough money to just leave and go to Portugal for a few weeks for a break from it all AHAH.
I think if a rat ran across my kid in the night, my wife would turn into the most dangerous wild creature in the region and terrify any bob cat (and me) 😅
Glad you liked it :)