We have a fantastic and amazing opportunity to purchase some land and live off-grid. Living off-grid and building a place of retreat, of quiet has been a dream for a long time and we are close to realising this dream. But if you are considering this be aware that it is not all glowing and here is why.
The first step to living off-grid is to take any and all family members with you. This is a definite and will cause major disruptions in family life if you don’t. It is an enormous decision to make and if you’re doing it on a budget, it will affect the way you live. In talking it through with our teenagers they list 3 essentials, their own room, wifi and a proper toilet. Unfortunately, we will be living with compost toilets and we will no longer have a phone line and so will rely on 4g and hopefully soon 5g. We have talked this through and they understand and will adapt to make the changes!
As you can see from above it will mean a change in lifestyle. When we say off-grid, we mean off-grid, there will be no electricity, water, telephone or sewage connection. That means we will need to supply them ourselves.
Electricity
I don’t know how much electricity you consume and how many white goods you have but at the last count we number four heavy duty electrical items, hob and oven, fridge, chest freezer and washing machine. We will be buying a Raeburn and using that to heat water and cook our food, other than that we will need the other three items, We also need to charge phones, run laptops, turn on lights and run water pumps. I haven’t taken a full audit of our electricity needs but it will need to be done.
Learn new skills
Which fits in nicely with this website. I have been learning gardening, carpentry and solar skills. I have several friends who are very gifted at a number of practical skills and they are teaching me loads. Anna is very talented and she has been learning some interesting stuff which I hope she will start adding to this site.
Fire Building and Cooking
You need to learn how to build a fire and then how to cook over it. This is the exciting part of off-grid living and I really would have a go. This along with the next subject is the best part of off-grid living. Basically, you get to live off the land that you are living on. You collect your firewood and create a fire pit and then enjoy.
Gardening
Learn to grow plants. We have been exploring this whole topic in our small back garden, just look at the category Gardening. You need to be able to grow your own. Some people might add foraging but whilst Anna loves it, it is not for me.
So I said that it is not all glowing, Many videos on YouTube paint this lifestyle as an ideal and I believe it is but there will be days when the sun isn’t shining and the batteries are not charging, or the chickens have got into the fruit bushes and eaten all of your blueberries. It is a hard life but with a bit of preparation it can be the best life.