Could you live off the grid comfortably if you needed to...??

Whats the grid? Will it feed me? Will it give me a clothing allowance? Im scared now. Can somebody give me a hug?

The Grid? Is that a reference to the Matrix?

If so then yeah, why not?

I have been exploring this possibility this past week. The answer is I could live off the grid if I could replace a percntage of what the grid provides by alternate means. I cannot easily live without flowing, clean water and some minimum amount (yet to be determined) of constantly available electricity. I can create this if I like and I'm now determing whetehr or not it is worth it to me.

Well, that rules you three out. Whimps. Next......

Been off the grid since August 2001.

I have a scar from the mark it left!

I could indeed.

Have a look at the "My Life In Fiji" (in Bedlam) thread, with particular notice of the Google Earth pic.

There were times when I didn't even have kerosine for the lamps.

I could indeed.

Have a look at the "My Life In Fiji" (in Bedlam) thread, with particular notice of the Google Earth pic.

There were times when I didn't even have kerosine for the lamps.

Interesting to note: as we could only consider such life styles within a non-western, non-industrial setting, yes? Try attempting such an idealistic utopia in a modern Western country. Food for thought.

Today, only some 35 kms from the Cambodian border, we {family} could easily and comfortably exist in such a frame. Without a systematic and establishment stronghold overseeing us, collectively......we'll see who is prepared and who isn't - come the revolution.

I could indeed.

Have a look at the "My Life In Fiji" (in Bedlam) thread, with particular notice of the Google Earth pic.

There were times when I didn't even have kerosine for the lamps.

Palm oil burns.

Human progress has been developed by those who wished for a bidder and better grid.

To try to return to the days of making your own edible products, ways of cooking them, keeping sanitary, why not go and live in remote areas of the Congo?

You'd miss 'Bedlam' however, and the locals around you would consider you mad and then steal whatever you had with you, so you'd really be 'off the grid'.

Ok, Im honestly not sure. Who can say for sure, unless they have REAL experience (long term experience) of living that way. Which, apart from Hardcourt (and i still have to sit down and read those amazing experiences in that thread), few of us, i believe have.

The closest ive come to something like that i guess would be when i spent many months sleeping in a car. Ok, i know i know, a car doesnt quite cut it, but anyway what i mean is we would park for days at a time in some remote area of the UK and I would collect stuff to eat (mushrooms etc) and i washed our clothes in rivers. Cooked outside etc.

Also,for about a year I rented a converted barn in a farm in a rural part of Cumbria. Just a stove where you burned wood to warm the water and cook. Very simple room. Very simple lifestyle. Again, much of my food came from around the area. Fresh eggs from the farm and collecting food growing around the area as well as growing my veggies.

But, i truly love hot running water, microwaves, lighting, internet, and other conveniences at my fingertips. Could i live off the grid? Yes, very likely. Im sure i would enjoy it well enough too. BUT, by choice would i want to live off the grid?..well sure! ....so long as i get hot running water, microwaves, lighting,internet,and other conveniences at my fingertips. ...oh and can i get a clothing allowance?

Yeah eek, back to nature is for kids and geriatric hippies.

There's other ways of being off the grid than living on weeds and frog spawn.

I could indeed.

Have a look at the "My Life In Fiji" (in Bedlam) thread, with particular notice of the Google Earth pic.

There were times when I didn't even have kerosine for the lamps.

Interesting to note: as we could only consider such life styles within a non-western, non-industrial setting, yes? Try attempting such an idealistic utopia in a modern Western country. Food for thought.

What difference would it make? The biggest difference I see is that the closer you are to civilisation, the more hampered you get with bureaucracy. and officialdom: Don't light that fire, don't cut that tree, don't catch that fish, don't shoot that poacher.....

Are you talking about total isolation? No trading for medicines or tools, starting from scratch with nothing? Or setting yourself up with solar panels and a toolshed full of the best hand tools, fields for crops already cleared of bush, forest and sea nearby to hunt/gather....

What exactly do you envisage. or what is the question?

Ok, Im honestly not sure. Who can say for sure, unless they have REAL experience (long term experience) of living that way. Which, apart from Hardcourt (and i still have to sit down and read those amazing experiences in that thread), few of us, i believe have.

The closest ive come to something like that i guess would be when i spent many months sleeping in a car. Ok, i know i know, a car doesnt quite cut it, but anyway what i mean is we would park for days at a time in some remote area of the UK and I would collect stuff to eat (mushrooms etc) and i washed our clothes in rivers. Cooked outside etc.

Also,for about a year I rented a converted barn in a farm in a rural part of Cumbria. Just a stove where you burned wood to warm the water and cook. Very simple room. Very simple lifestyle. Again, much of my food came from around the area. Fresh eggs from the farm and collecting food growing around the area as well as growing my veggies.

But, i truly love hot running water, microwaves, lighting, internet, and other conveniences at my fingertips. Could i live off the grid? Yes, very likely. Im sure i would enjoy it well enough too. BUT, by choice would i want to live off the grid?..well sure! ....so long as i get hot running water, microwaves, lighting,internet,and other conveniences at my fingertips. ...oh and can i get a clothing allowance?

You sound like a strong lady Eek, and I'm sure you could do it if you had to. But why go without a hair dryer if you don't have to?

I could indeed.

Have a look at the "My Life In Fiji" (in Bedlam) thread, with particular notice of the Google Earth pic.

There were times when I didn't even have kerosine for the lamps.

Interesting to note: as we could only consider such life styles within a non-western, non-industrial setting, yes? Try attempting such an idealistic utopia in a modern Western country. Food for thought.

What difference would it make? The biggest difference I see is that the closer you are to civilisation, the more hampered you get with bureaucracy. and officialdom: Don't light that fire, don't cut that tree, don't catch that fish, don't shoot that poacher.....

Are you talking about total isolation? No trading for medicines or tools, starting from scratch with nothing? Or setting yourself up with solar panels and a toolshed full of the best hand tools, fields for crops already cleared of bush, forest and sea nearby to hunt/gather....

What exactly do you envisage. or what is the question?

Perhaps you misunderstand me, H. I'm in agreement that the more civilised {whatever that is} one's existence and atmosphere is hampered by control, suppression, and dependency. Where the average Westerner wouldn't recognize freedom, independence, and self-sufficiency if it came up and twicked them in the nose......the greatest enemy would be the ingrained and conditioned mindset of mindless consumption and the umbrella of unnatural traits that might attach and accommodate such fanciful lifestyles.

CATATONIC....

I could indeed.

Have a look at the "My Life In Fiji" (in Bedlam) thread, with particular notice of the Google Earth pic.

There were times when I didn't even have kerosine for the lamps.

Interesting to note: as we could only consider such life styles within a non-western, non-industrial setting, yes? Try attempting such an idealistic utopia in a modern Western country. Food for thought.

What difference would it make? The biggest difference I see is that the closer you are to civilisation, the more hampered you get with bureaucracy. and officialdom: Don't light that fire, don't cut that tree, don't catch that fish, don't shoot that poacher.....

Are you talking about total isolation? No trading for medicines or tools, starting from scratch with nothing? Or setting yourself up with solar panels and a toolshed full of the best hand tools, fields for crops already cleared of bush, forest and sea nearby to hunt/gather....

What exactly do you envisage. or what is the question?

Perhaps you misunderstand me, H. I'm in agreement that the more civilised {whatever that is} one's existence and atmosphere is hampered by control, suppression, and dependency. Where the average Westerner wouldn't recognize freedom, independence, and self-sufficiency if it came up and twicked them in the nose......the greatest enemy would be the ingrained and conditioned mindset of mindless consumption and the umbrella of unnatural traits that might attach and accommodate such fanciful lifestyles.

They say that neccessity is the mother of invention. I reckon neccessity may also be the mother of change in habits.

Ingrained and conditioned mindsets, mindless consumption, and unnatural traits that accompany fanciful lifestyles would cause barriers, yes, but I think those habits would be quickly unlearnt. Humans are very adaptable.

You sound like a strong lady Eek, and I'm sure you could do it if you had to. But why go without a hair dryer if you don't have to?

Haha yep!

Anyway, at that time it wasnt really about being strong or anything, it was about the novelty factor. I also knew I could change how i was living, so that makes it feel like an adventure too, rather than a way of life that i had to accept whether i liked it or not. So it was never really close to a hard core way of living as I always had a safety net. I enjoy new and different experiences, my problem is if i feel im stuck in a rut (which is all a mental state anyway, but if i feel a situation isnt changeable or is forced, thats often when my mental panic sets in and i feel trapped). That way of thinking is unfortunately often my downfall too, because although im happy to put down roots, i still need variety or experiences that make me feel exhilarated. If i dont get it, i start to feel like a slow puncture. I feel dissatisfied after a long period of the same routine, and particularly i feel deflated by a partner that is complacent. Unfortunately the environment i live in and the people i interact too easily can affect my mood and zest for life.

Not really "off the grid" but not particularly on it. When I came to Koh Phangan, we had no phones, (radio phone at the post office) dirt roads, no hospital, no doctor, no bank (hospital and bank came about 6-7 months later), and electricity only at night (big diesel generators in town--at the end of the line it didn't really turn the fluoroscent bulbs on).

But, I was 23 and didn't mind washing my clothes by hand, taking baths in the stream next to our house when the water stopped running, and having zero mod cons.

Been there, done that, do not have anything to prove by doing it again. Good luck to you but if you have zero experience with it then its all romantic bs. IMHO

sbk the cavewoman!

I don't own a microwave. Never have, don't have the space.

Yes, i have done the camping thing and the other camping thing and that other...

I like my flat with it's elecricity and hot water and warm bed and etc.

Why would i leave all that to hug a tree? I can look at trees through my double glazing. (when its clean enough)

Too old to be a born again hippy.

I could live off the grid easily. I once cooked a Pizza (unfrozen) on my own AND strangled a wet tea towel. But would i want to do it all over again......nah. My Tarzan days are over.

Who knew you were such a barbarian mrboj? strangled a tea towel. wow. Now, I am afraid.

Be afraid sbk. Be very afraid. I didn't want to confess on here but I also wrung a mop out once..........without a bucket

That beats my whip any day

oh god, did I really say that

sorry

I've lived for months at a time in a tent with no water other than what I collected myself. I ate what I hunted or captured. The only heat for cooking or warmth was an open fire. In the desert I learned how to collect water where there wasn't any... by spreading a plastic sheet over a hole I dug myself, and captured the dew on the underside of the plastic sheet, in the early morning. Now I find it much more comfortable traveling in my camper that has a propane stove, a fridge and electric power supplied by a battery.

Yes, I can do it, but the question is... WHY?

For me it was living off the land on a hunting trip where the quarry was only part of the picture.

In the desert I learned how to collect water where there wasn't any...

I live in the desert but now we have Carrefoure's etc. If I do run out of water though, I get the houseboy to go and get some

I found myself without water once, 'twas an horrid experience but I pulled through.

Oh wait, I think that may have been beer actually.