Would you live off the grid if you could?

jenna8984 · October 2014

This girl on FB (knew her in high school, she's married to DH's cousin) is a total "hippy". She's always posting about natural healing, most of which I think are ridiculous. Like yes I'm all for acupuncture or medical marijuana. But she's into like "these herbs will heal a cavity in your tooth" and I'm like uum I don't think a hole can just be magically healed?

But anyways, she was talking about how their dream (her, husband, and two unvaccinated kids) would be to buy a bunch of land and just live off the land in a little shack and homeschool the kids and grow herbs and chickens and whatnot. And she had several people commenting how that would be the life to not have an 8-5 and not be slaving away to pay "the man".

But I couldn't be more opposite. I love having a house. A warm house with the flick of a button, and food that I bought at the grocery store, and cable, and antibiotics. I'm all about working to have nice things. Our civilizations progressed for thousands of years so we could have these things. Just wondering which lifestyle you'd chose given the chance?

lurkergirl · October 2014

Haven't finished reading, but if they are anti-vaxxers then I wish they would go off the grid and keep their kids far the fuck away from me (and, you know, all the poor babies and kids who actually can't get vaccines, not by choice!)

larrygaga · October 2014

I'm happy living in a first world country, and I'm happy with all of the comforts it brings. I'm grateful for them, and how could I even talk to you guys living off the grid? How could I grace you with my presence and complete your lives?

There is a reason why people in first world countries have doubled their life spans. Because they get VACCINES and go to a real DOCTOR and can go to the store and get enough FOOD to eat.

I don't want to barely survive childbirth only to die when I'm 35 because of small pox, leaving the other 8 kids I have to fend for themselves because I only birthed them to work the farm.

theartistformerlyknownas · October 2014

This is my cousin, except with at least 6 kids (I lost track). Except she's never far enough of the grid to be off Facebook, oh no no. Needs to show us all the pictures of her 6 year old plucking her first duck. >.>

climbingsingle · October 2014

My cousin is like this too. She's always posting shit on FB about how a raw food diet can cure cancer. And her mother had cancer! Ay yi yi.

Anyway, I think I would like to experience living off the grid for a few weeks. And then promptly return to my house in suburbia.

One of H's dreams is to hike the Appalachian trail, which would essentially mean living off the grid for 6 months. I was like, "Yeah, I could do that for a month tops. You're more than welcome to do that without me."

birdybride2014 · October 2014

I wouldn't mind having a piece of land with a garden and some chickens, more so for privacy and I like eggs. But, I still really enjoy technology, heat, good grocery stores, and doctors. So......maybe living on the outskirts of the suburbs? haha

LittlePeachBlossom · October 2014

I wouldn't want to live like that. The novelty wears off quickly.

larrygaga · October 2014

birdybride2014 said:

I wouldn't mind having a piece of land with a garden and some chickens, more so for privacy and I like eggs. But, I still really enjoy technology, heat, good grocery stores, and doctors. So......maybe living on the outskirts of the suburbs? haha

My parents have raised chickens for years. They are super easy, but really mean. The eggs are Delicious, and don't get me started on when it came time to eat the chickens themselves. You won't feel bad because they will peck the fuck out of your hand.

Sorry, fellow vegetarian knotties.

loro929 · October 2014

birdybride2014 said:

I wouldn't mind having a piece of land with a garden and some chickens, more so for privacy and I like eggs. But, I still really enjoy technology, heat, good grocery stores, and doctors. So......maybe living on the outskirts of the suburbs? haha

This. I live in an apartment right now and the walls are pretty thin, I mean I hear the neighbor lightly cough in the middle of the night-type thin. I always think, if I can hear the neighbor stirring their morning coffee with all the windows closed, god knows what they hear from our side of the wall! lol So, living in a parcel of land in which I haven lots and lots of privacy, for my cartwheels and from the top of my lungs-style karaoke singing, is very very tempting. But, I don't really have much of a green thumb (I killed a house plant that I received as a birthday gift in less than a week), so the thought of having to provide food for myself and my family would be a challenge to me. I enjoy a good supermarket (Fairway anybody?!)

jenna8984 · October 2014

LittlePeachBlossom said:

I wouldn't want to live like that. The novelty wears off quickly.

I don't even find any novelty in it! I don't even camp for a night hahaha

Maggie0829 · October 2014

I like TV. I like the internet. I like electricity and heat and air conditioning and hot water when I turn on the faucet. I like the fact that I don't have to slaughter my own animals to be able to eat and yummy hamburger or slab of ribs. I like being able to throw a load of dirty clothes in the wash and then just walk away until I hear it beep. I like having access to a doctor if I get sick or hurt. I like having medicine that is easily accessible at my local CVS.

If people want to live "off the grid" then good for them but I will think that they are completely crazy to do so.

loro929 · October 2014

jenna8984 said:

LittlePeachBlossom said:

I wouldn't want to live like that. The novelty wears off quickly.

I don't even find any novelty in it! I don't even camp for a night hahaha

I actually have a "sort-of" off the grid story...
A few years ago I went "free-camping", i.e camping wherever you please on a (somewhat) secluded beach. This was really not my idea of fun, but well a group of like 12 of us were going so I thought "OK, why the hell not?" Damn, hindsight is always 20/20 right. Well, there was the obvious uncomfort of pitching a tent in a place where there is NO infrastructure for camping (i.e. no fresh running water, or BATHROOMS (!)). So, every night when we had dinner and a sea breeze was wafting through the air, so was the scent of the "bathroom field". This disgusted me to no end, so every morning I would hike this hill for 20+ minutes under the beating sun to have a coffee and use the bathroom at the coffee shop. We stayed for about 3 days, then one of the group got diarrhoea. Enough said. Within hours, FI and I rented an apartment in the nearest town for the rest of the trip. FI felt kind of bad for deserting the group. I was almost kissing the plumbing system of the apartment. I guess I am not the OTG type. sorrynotsorry.

ETA. more details and grammar

beethery · October 2014

Off the grid, like for really real? Growing all your own food and chewing on willow bark because your teeth are rotting out? No medicine?

I already live in the middle of the damn woods. If you take away the power to my house and the internet, I'm gonna go feral superfast until you get me in a hot shower and near a computer with tumblr.

I said it in the preparedness thread, I don't do survivalist chic well. I don't want to test it.

l9i · October 2014

I would ideally like to go halfways. We currently have a small garden, can, and get meat from hunting or the animals DH's sister raises. In providing in the sense I'd do more if we could. Ideally we'd like to live out in the country/woods and have more area for gardening and such.

As for modern things. Vaccines, healthcare, and education is a must. I also like working, If I was sheltered in he same location day in and out I'd go crazy, I enjoy people. I also appreciate the modern comforts of plumbing, heat, internet, etc.

So I'd go halfway. I'd enjoy living in a more private setting with the ability to grow/raise/hunt more of our own food and still go to work in society every day.

LittlePeachBlossom · October 2014

loro929 said:

jenna8984 said:

LittlePeachBlossom said:

I wouldn't want to live like that. The novelty wears off quickly.

I don't even find any novelty in it! I don't even camp for a night hahaha

I actually have a "sort-of" off the grid story...
A few years ago I went "free-camping", i.e camping wherever you please on a (somewhat) secluded beach. This was really not my idea of fun, but well a group of like 12 of us were going so I thought "OK, why the hell not?" Damn, hindsight is always 20/20 right. Well, there was the obvious uncomfort of pitching a tent in a place where there is NO infrastructure for camping (i.e. no fresh running water, or BATHROOMS (!)). So, every night when we had dinner and a sea breeze was wafting through the air, so was the scent of the "bathroom field". This disgusted me to no end, so every morning I would hike this hill for 20+ minutes under the beating sun to have a coffee and use the bathroom at the coffee shop. We stayed for about 3 days, then one of the group got diarrhoea. Enough said. Within hours, FI and I rented an apartment in the nearest town for the rest of the trip. FI felt kind of bad for deserting the group. I was almost kissing the plumbing system of the apartment. I guess I am not the OTG type. sorrynotsorry.

ETA. more details and grammar

So funny! I don't think I would have lasted that long! I've been camping but never REAL camping I guess because I've at the very least had access to portapotties.

A few years ago, I was considering going on a short expedition with friends. I was okay with not having running water, eating out of cans or pouches, and sleeping on the ground. When it finally dawned on me that I wouldn't have any sort of facility to do my business, I dropped out fast.

birdybride2014 · October 2014

LittlePeachBlossom said:

loro929 said:

jenna8984 said:

LittlePeachBlossom said:

I wouldn't want to live like that. The novelty wears off quickly.

I don't even find any novelty in it! I don't even camp for a night hahaha

I actually have a "sort-of" off the grid story...
A few years ago I went "free-camping", i.e camping wherever you please on a (somewhat) secluded beach. This was really not my idea of fun, but well a group of like 12 of us were going so I thought "OK, why the hell not?" Damn, hindsight is always 20/20 right. Well, there was the obvious uncomfort of pitching a tent in a place where there is NO infrastructure for camping (i.e. no fresh running water, or BATHROOMS (!)). So, every night when we had dinner and a sea breeze was wafting through the air, so was the scent of the "bathroom field". This disgusted me to no end, so every morning I would hike this hill for 20+ minutes under the beating sun to have a coffee and use the bathroom at the coffee shop. We stayed for about 3 days, then one of the group got diarrhoea. Enough said. Within hours, FI and I rented an apartment in the nearest town for the rest of the trip. FI felt kind of bad for deserting the group. I was almost kissing the plumbing system of the apartment. I guess I am not the OTG type. sorrynotsorry.

ETA. more details and grammar

So funny! I don't think I would have lasted that long! I've been camping but never REAL camping I guess because I've at the very least had access to portapotties.

A few years ago, I was considering going on a short expedition with friends. I was okay with not having running water, eating out of cans or pouches, and sleeping on the ground. When it finally dawned on me that I wouldn't have any sort of facility to do my business, I dropped out fast.

Yah, I can pee outside like a champ. But poop? Hell NO! haha

KatieinBkln · October 2014

I love the grid. The grid is great!

The grind, eh, not so much. But a person can conceivably move out to the country and raise some chickens without making it some kind of political statement against The Man. Like, I'm pretty sure most farms are in fact, "on the grid," taxpaying, vaccinating, electricity-using households. I'll never understand this desire to completely separate from society--society has problems, but it's what we have. It's what made us who we are. And quarantining oneself out of exasperation with society's problems seems to me like the coward's way out.

loro929 · October 2014

birdybride2014 said:

LittlePeachBlossom said:

loro929 said:

jenna8984 said:

LittlePeachBlossom said:

I wouldn't want to live like that. The novelty wears off quickly.

I don't even find any novelty in it! I don't even camp for a night hahaha

I actually have a "sort-of" off the grid story...
A few years ago I went "free-camping", i.e camping wherever you please on a (somewhat) secluded beach. This was really not my idea of fun, but well a group of like 12 of us were going so I thought "OK, why the hell not?" Damn, hindsight is always 20/20 right. Well, there was the obvious uncomfort of pitching a tent in a place where there is NO infrastructure for camping (i.e. no fresh running water, or BATHROOMS (!)). So, every night when we had dinner and a sea breeze was wafting through the air, so was the scent of the "bathroom field". This disgusted me to no end, so every morning I would hike this hill for 20+ minutes under the beating sun to have a coffee and use the bathroom at the coffee shop. We stayed for about 3 days, then one of the group got diarrhoea. Enough said. Within hours, FI and I rented an apartment in the nearest town for the rest of the trip. FI felt kind of bad for deserting the group. I was almost kissing the plumbing system of the apartment. I guess I am not the OTG type. sorrynotsorry.

ETA. more details and grammar

So funny! I don't think I would have lasted that long! I've been camping but never REAL camping I guess because I've at the very least had access to portapotties.

A few years ago, I was considering going on a short expedition with friends. I was okay with not having running water, eating out of cans or pouches, and sleeping on the ground. When it finally dawned on me that I wouldn't have any sort of facility to do my business, I dropped out fast.

Yah, I can pee outside like a champ. But poop? Hell NO! haha

This. I mean baking under 100º+ temps while hiking a mountain BEFORE coffee / a drink of water to get to the coffee shop BR was more enticing to me than trying out the field (also in the sun) with nothing more than a role of toilet paper and a plastic bag (at least everyone was picking up after themselves?)

levioosa · October 2014

I would love to be self-sustaining. However, it would take a lot of soul searching for me to butcher my own animals. I can't even chop up a raw, dead chicken without wincing. I mean, if I had to, sure, I could do it, but I'm really enjoying the life where I get to drive to the store and have the butchering done for me. I can only Ron Swanson so much, you know?

theartistformerlyknownas · October 2014

levioosa said:

I would love to be self-sustaining. However, it would take a lot of soul searching for me to butcher my own animals. I can't even chop up a raw, dead chicken without wincing. I mean, if I had to, sure, I could do it, but I'm really enjoying the life where I get to drive to the store and have the butchering done for me. I can only Ron Swanson so much, you know?

Yeah I can't really handle food that still looks like the animal it came from. I like to think that chicken breasts grow that way, in styrofoam and plastic wrap. I can cook a whole chicken or turkey, but have to just toss it in the pan without looking at it too much. Then I cook it til all the meat just falls off.

beethery · October 2014

lolo883 said:

levioosa said:

I would love to be self-sustaining. However, it would take a lot of soul searching for me to butcher my own animals. I can't even chop up a raw, dead chicken without wincing. I mean, if I had to, sure, I could do it, but I'm really enjoying the life where I get to drive to the store and have the butchering done for me. I can only Ron Swanson so much, you know?

Yeah I can't really handle food that still looks like the animal it came from. I like to think that chicken breasts grow that way, in styrofoam and plastic wrap. I can cook a whole chicken or turkey, but have to just toss it in the pan without looking at it too much. Then I cook it til all the meat just falls off.

YUP. FI keeps talking ab out going hunting and bringing home whatever animal. I told him as long as he can make it look like it came from the grocery store, I'll cook it. If I can see any kind of anything beyond muscle tissue, he's going to have to cook it over a fire in the yard like a neanderthal because I am not playing with that shit.

lyndausvi · October 2014

Never going to happen. I've killed every plant except oddly an orchid that is still alive after 6 months. So we would starve if I was left to grown our food. DH is terrible at fishing and hunting. Butchering would not be a problem though. DH is good at that. So I guess if we got someone to hunt and fish for us we would be okay food wise.

Honestly, I like the grid. I like TV/movies. I like the internet. I like turning on a spigot and getting water out. I also like to travel on planes.

I watch Alaska - The Last Frontier (about a family who lives off the grid in Alaska). Yeah, no, not a life I want, but each to their own.

pinkcow13 · October 2014

I'm from NYC. Nope. I can't even do the suburbs, let alone living in the woods to raise my own chicken and tackle my own cows for dinner.

The most I have done is gone camping for a weekend.And even that is a lot for me. Usually a lot of booze is involved on our camping trips, which makes it better.

climbingsingle · October 2014

levioosa said:

I would love to be self-sustaining. However, it would take a lot of soul searching for me to butcher my own animals. I can't even chop up a raw, dead chicken without wincing. I mean, if I had to, sure, I could do it, but I'm really enjoying the life where I get to drive to the store and have the butchering done for me. I can only Ron Swanson so much, you know?

Yeah, I'm totally with you on that.

jenna8984 · October 2014

lyndausvi said:

Honestly, I like the grid. I like TV/movies. I like the internet. I like turning on a spigot and getting water out. I also like to travel on planes.

Me too! I'm big on travel. So it's like yes, I understand that working sucks and of course I'd love to not do it. But I'd much rather put up with work in order to afford traveling the world.

bethsmiles · October 2014

Ideally, I'd be cool going half-way off the grid. Zero-houses are awesome and I'd love to own one. SO and I would love to be able to have chickens and grow a lot of our vegetables when we have a house, he also wants bees but I'm not a fan of that idea. But I like being a part of society so, no I would not want to live off the grid. Sure it's nice for awhile when we go camping but I don't want to be disconnected from the rest of society forever.

kmmssg · October 2014

This girl lives on the grid and will stay there. I can remember before I retired and we would go on a field exercise for a couple of weeks. I would go home and just keep flushing the toilet over and over because I missed being able to do that.

The closest I get is going camping once a year with the grandkids. I used to get paid to sleep in a tent and "rough it", they are the only reason I will do it for free.

beethery · October 2014

bethsmiles said:

Ideally, I'd be cool going half-way off the grid. Zero-houses are awesome and I'd love to own one. SO and I would love to be able to have chickens and grow a lot of our vegetables when we have a house, he also wants bees but I'm not a fan of that idea. But I like being a part of society so, no I would not want to live off the grid. Sure it's nice for awhile when we go camping but I don't want to be disconnected from the rest of society forever.

Bees are pretty cool, but you have to be careful. We had to put a little electric line fence outside of our bee boxes because a bear kept showing up and pretending to be godzilla.

levioosa · October 2014

lolo883 said:

levioosa said:

I would love to be self-sustaining. However, it would take a lot of soul searching for me to butcher my own animals. I can't even chop up a raw, dead chicken without wincing. I mean, if I had to, sure, I could do it, but I'm really enjoying the life where I get to drive to the store and have the butchering done for me. I can only Ron Swanson so much, you know?

Yeah I can't really handle food that still looks like the animal it came from. I like to think that chicken breasts grow that way, in styrofoam and plastic wrap. I can cook a whole chicken or turkey, but have to just toss it in the pan without looking at it too much. Then I cook it til all the meat just falls off.

I made chicken noodle soup from scratch the other day, and I just kept saying, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" as I hacked at the chicken. I have one rosemary plant that is failing to bear me enough leaves to sustain a proper Italian.

daria24 · October 2014

If I had a house in a sunny place, I would like to have a full photo voltaic system and be able to generate my own power. But that's as close to off-grid as I get. I like having public water and sewer system. I like having neighbors. I like being surrounded by a community.

I think it's weird when people want to move to the middle of nowhere with just their partners and children. I love my husband, but I need to be around other people too sometimes.

bethsmiles · October 2014

beethery said:

bethsmiles said:

Ideally, I'd be cool going half-way off the grid. Zero-houses are awesome and I'd love to own one. SO and I would love to be able to have chickens and grow a lot of our vegetables when we have a house, he also wants bees but I'm not a fan of that idea. But I like being a part of society so, no I would not want to live off the grid. Sure it's nice for awhile when we go camping but I don't want to be disconnected from the rest of society forever.

Bees are pretty cool, but you have to be careful. We had to put a little electric line fence outside of our bee boxes because a bear kept showing up and pretending to be godzilla.

Oh my god, I would have to worry about bears?! This does not make me want bees more!

Would you live off the grid if you could?

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