Thai man releases video about living off the grid in America’s snowy mountains

[JLCrab]

Gee with pecker and sad sack of human excrement as part of your vocabulary no wonder you enjoyed the nose-picking session.

OK nice house but you look at that property and given that they've been there for almost 10 years I don't see how they've made improvements to make it sustainable 12-months of the year at that altitude in the Rockies.

Edited June 11, 2016 by JLCrab

[dick dasterdly]

Another description of some the posts on this and many other threads on TV, other than ignorance, appears to be rudness. I just equate the latter to people mixing up their medication and took a nasty pill instead of the happy to be alive dosage.

It's amazing isn't it Slapout, here you have a guy whose gone out and had a go in life, achieved things that so many of the brain dead morons in this forum could never achieve so instead of admiring his efforts and giving credit where credit is due they shoot him down and ridicule him.

What a sad sad sad sack of human excrement some of these low life bar hoping stool warming nobodies are.

Probably because the article is claiming that he is living a sustainable life in more than difficult conditions. As it turns out, he's doing nothing of the sort....

Mate, he built the house with his hands, what do you want him to do, lift the bricks with his pecker.

I bet half his naysayers here can't do half of what he did

No, I want the article to be true. i.e. he has lived for a few years (full time) in the house and has grown his own food etc. during that time. Otherwise its just a ridiculous 'puff' piece.

[neverdie]

Another description of some the posts on this and many other threads on TV, other than ignorance, appears to be rudness. I just equate the latter to people mixing up their medication and took a nasty pill instead of the happy to be alive dosage.

It's amazing isn't it Slapout, here you have a guy whose gone out and had a go in life, achieved things that so many of the brain dead morons in this forum could never achieve so instead of admiring his efforts and giving credit where credit is due they shoot him down and ridicule him.

What a sad sad sad sack of human excrement some of these low life bar hoping stool warming nobodies are.

Probably because the article is claiming that he is living a sustainable life in more than difficult conditions. As it turns out, he's doing nothing of the sort....

Mate, he built the house with his hands, what do you want him to do, lift the bricks with his pecker.

I bet half his naysayers here can't do half of what he did

No, I want the article to be true. i.e. he has lived for a few years (full time) in the house and has grown his own food etc. during that time. Otherwise its just a ridiculous 'puff' piece.

Why

[neverdie]

Gee with pecker and sad sack of human excrement as part of your vocabulary no wonder you enjoyed the nose-picking session.

OK nice house but you look at that property and given that they've been there for almost 10 years I don't see how they've made improvements to make it sustainable 12-months of the year at that altitude in the Rockies.

You taught me this stuff. What are you forgetting again ?

[dick dasterdly]

Another description of some the posts on this and many other threads on TV, other than ignorance, appears to be rudness. I just equate the latter to people mixing up their medication and took a nasty pill instead of the happy to be alive dosage.

It's amazing isn't it Slapout, here you have a guy whose gone out and had a go in life, achieved things that so many of the brain dead morons in this forum could never achieve so instead of admiring his efforts and giving credit where credit is due they shoot him down and ridicule him.

What a sad sad sad sack of human excrement some of these low life bar hoping stool warming nobodies are.

Probably because the article is claiming that he is living a sustainable life in more than difficult conditions. As it turns out, he's doing nothing of the sort....

Mate, he built the house with his hands, what do you want him to do, lift the bricks with his pecker.

I bet half his naysayers here can't do half of what he did

No, I want the article to be true. i.e. he has lived for a few years (full time) in the house and has grown his own food etc. during that time. Otherwise its just a ridiculous 'puff' piece.

Why

Because I've no time for gross exaggeration where something is implied, but the truth is entirely different.

[JLCrab]

Gee with pecker and sad sack of human excrement as part of your vocabulary no wonder you enjoyed the nose-picking session.

OK nice house but you look at that property and given that they've been there for almost 10 years I don't see how they've made improvements to make it sustainable 12-months of the year at that altitude in the Rockies.

You taught me this stuff. What are you forgetting again ?

I taught you nothing -- you probably grew up listening to Roy Chubby Brown from where you derive your scatological humor.

Edited June 11, 2016 by JLCrab

[neverdie]

^ never heard of him. You're story is sounding more doubtful by the minute mister crab

[neverdie]

Another description of some the posts on this and many other threads on TV, other than ignorance, appears to be rudness. I just equate the latter to people mixing up their medication and took a nasty pill instead of the happy to be alive dosage.

It's amazing isn't it Slapout, here you have a guy whose gone out and had a go in life, achieved things that so many of the brain dead morons in this forum could never achieve so instead of admiring his efforts and giving credit where credit is due they shoot him down and ridicule him.

What a sad sad sad sack of human excrement some of these low life bar hoping stool warming nobodies are.

Probably because the article is claiming that he is living a sustainable life in more than difficult conditions. As it turns out, he's doing nothing of the sort....

Mate, he built the house with his hands, what do you want him to do, lift the bricks with his pecker.

I bet half his naysayers here can't do half of what he did

No, I want the article to be true. i.e. he has lived for a few years (full time) in the house and has grown his own food etc. during that time. Otherwise its just a ridiculous 'puff' piece.

Why

Because I've no time for gross exaggeration where something is implied, but the truth is entirely different.

Dicky, I think you are Exaggerating.

[neverdie]

You boys are being very abrasive this afternoon.

Is it that time of the month again?

[dick dasterdly]

Another description of some the posts on this and many other threads on TV, other than ignorance, appears to be rudness. I just equate the latter to people mixing up their medication and took a nasty pill instead of the happy to be alive dosage.

It's amazing isn't it Slapout, here you have a guy whose gone out and had a go in life, achieved things that so many of the brain dead morons in this forum could never achieve so instead of admiring his efforts and giving credit where credit is due they shoot him down and ridicule him.

What a sad sad sad sack of human excrement some of these low life bar hoping stool warming nobodies are.

Probably because the article is claiming that he is living a sustainable life in more than difficult conditions. As it turns out, he's doing nothing of the sort....

Mate, he built the house with his hands, what do you want him to do, lift the bricks with his pecker.

I bet half his naysayers here can't do half of what he did

No, I want the article to be true. i.e. he has lived for a few years (full time) in the house and has grown his own food etc. during that time. Otherwise its just a ridiculous 'puff' piece.

Why

Because I've no time for gross exaggeration where something is implied, but the truth is entirely different.

Dicky, I think you are Exaggerating.

Sorry, I realised too late .

[JLCrab]

According to this article from 2011 from some people who visited Kuhn Jon\:

As a bit of back story, Peggy, Nate, and Jo all live in Chiang Mai, Thailand nine months out of the year with other members of their family ...

The family bought 42 acres in Jefferson, Colorado several years ago and built their own sustainable, off-the-grid home (to code, despite many efforts by contractors to thwart their project–but more on that later), and every summer for the past five years have come back to America ...

http://www.americabycycle.com/2011/10/12/building-the-jefferson-earthship/

So the guy is offering how to live 3 months of the year in a sustainable environment -- if anybody else is living there during the other nine months, he doesn't say.

Edited June 11, 2016 by JLCrab

[neverdie]

According to this article from 2011 from some people who visited Kuhn Jon\:

As a bit of back story, Peggy, Nate, and Jo all live in Chiang Mai, Thailand nine months out of the year with other members of their family ...

The family bought 42 acres in Jefferson, Colorado several years ago and built their own sustainable, off-the-grid home (to code, despite many efforts by contractors to thwart their projectbut more on that later), and every summer for the past five years have come back to America ...

http://www.americabycycle.com/2011/10/12/building-the-jefferson-earthship/

So the guy is offering how to live 3 months of the year in a sustainable environment -- if anybody else is living there during the other nine months, he doesn't say.

Aspiring detective or private eye?

[JLCrab]

No -- I lived in Colorado for 5 years and spent time on the Western Slope of the Rockies where friends ran a 3rd generation cattle ranch. Ever been there yourself?

Edited June 11, 2016 by JLCrab

[VincentRJ]

She likes gardening. She says she's good at it and "bumper crops of splendid turnips, potatoes, cabbages, onions, garlic, and herbs can be yours". I didn't find the part where she said she survives exclusively on turnips, potatoes, cabbages, onions, garlic and herbs. I suppose it's possible, but I think the diet would get boring after a while. It might be short on both proteins and fats as well.

The circumstances in respect of climate and water supply can vary at each location, as well as the circumstances and interests of each individual who is trying to lead a self-sufficiency lifestyle. Some people will be strict vegans, some moderate vegetarians, some meat-eaters.

Those who are meat-eaters will be faced with the choice of either breeding their own animals or selling surplus vegetables to buy meat, milk and cheese from the nearest market. An easy compromise might be to to breed chickens for the meat and the eggs, and/or create a fish pond, especially if there is a stream crossing the property.

Those who have a reasonable amount of money or a regular income, as Jon Jandai probably has, might decide to travel during the less-productive months of the year, or spend the winter months on a second property in a warmer location.

Once again, we are back to this being a non-sufficiency holiday or retirement option for people with outside income, or a hard and impoverished life of subsistence farming for those who are really fully sufficient.

No on has identified any credible "life is good" examples of true, self-sufficient living off the land. The OP suggests this is how Jon Jandai is living, but a little research by others proved that this is not the case.

It's not an either/or situation. At one end of the spectrum there are people engaged in teaching the methods of self-sufficiency, who have the money (from whatever sources) to travel to different locations and who perhaps own a number of properties that require regular maintenance and development.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are poor families in Nepal who are more literally self-sufficient, leading the life of subsistence farming with few luxuries, no motor cars, no tractors, no internet nor TV, and who probably weave their own clothes.

There will be countless situations in between those two extremes. As I've mentioned, circumstances vary considerably so one cannot generalize. The facts are, it is possible to be self-sufficient (in terms of food and dwelling requirements) if one owns even a small area of land, like an acre or two, or three, or four, and one has the money to buy the materials to build one's own house using one's own labour.

Whether or not one would enjoy such a lifestyle, and the creative challenges it presents, is another issue. I imagine most people used to the average Western lifestyle simply would not have the ability, nor the desire to learn how, to build their own house and to grow their own food.

[daveAustin]

Couldn't help noticing this dude's a little bit 'out there'.

[heybruce]

She likes gardening. She says she's good at it and "bumper crops of splendid turnips, potatoes, cabbages, onions, garlic, and herbs can be yours". I didn't find the part where she said she survives exclusively on turnips, potatoes, cabbages, onions, garlic and herbs. I suppose it's possible, but I think the diet would get boring after a while. It might be short on both proteins and fats as well.

The circumstances in respect of climate and water supply can vary at each location, as well as the circumstances and interests of each individual who is trying to lead a self-sufficiency lifestyle. Some people will be strict vegans, some moderate vegetarians, some meat-eaters.

Those who are meat-eaters will be faced with the choice of either breeding their own animals or selling surplus vegetables to buy meat, milk and cheese from the nearest market. An easy compromise might be to to breed chickens for the meat and the eggs, and/or create a fish pond, especially if there is a stream crossing the property.

Those who have a reasonable amount of money or a regular income, as Jon Jandai probably has, might decide to travel during the less-productive months of the year, or spend the winter months on a second property in a warmer location.

Once again, we are back to this being a non-sufficiency holiday or retirement option for people with outside income, or a hard and impoverished life of subsistence farming for those who are really fully sufficient.

No on has identified any credible "life is good" examples of true, self-sufficient living off the land. The OP suggests this is how Jon Jandai is living, but a little research by others proved that this is not the case.

It's not an either/or situation. At one end of the spectrum there are people engaged in teaching the methods of self-sufficiency, who have the money (from whatever sources) to travel to different locations and who perhaps own a number of properties that require regular maintenance and development.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are poor families in Nepal who are more literally self-sufficient, leading the life of subsistence farming with few luxuries, no motor cars, no tractors, no internet nor TV, and who probably weave their own clothes.

There will be countless situations in between those two extremes. As I've mentioned, circumstances vary considerably so one cannot generalize. The facts are, it is possible to be self-sufficient (in terms of food and dwelling requirements) if one owns even a small area of land, like an acre or two, or three, or four, and one has the money to buy the materials to build one's own house using one's own labour.

Whether or not one would enjoy such a lifestyle, and the creative challenges it presents, is another issue. I imagine most people used to the average Western lifestyle simply would not have the ability, nor the desire to learn how, to build their own house and to grow their own food.

We may be close to agreement.

At one end of the spectrum we have people like Jon Jandai of the OP who clearly are not living a self-sufficient lifestyle, in spite of how it is presented in the OP.

At the other end we have desperately poor farmers in Nepal who are surviving but not much else.

In between we have people in the west living alternative life-styles, supplementing their diets with their gardens, drawing on outside resources as needed. We also have small farmers in Thailand who can feed their families in good years. When times are bad they send their daughters to work in brothels so they can pay off loans or maybe keep their sons in school.

For those considering this lifestyle, I suggest spending a few months stooped over working the dirt for eight or ten hours a day before making a firm commitment. Remember, when harvesting the vegetables close to the ground you're not allowed to get on your knees, that slows you down and you won't get enough done. Stoop labor means you stoop labor.

[VincentRJ]

We may be close to agreement.

At one end of the spectrum we have people like Jon Jandai of the OP who clearly are not living a self-sufficient lifestyle, in spite of how it is presented in the OP.

At the other end we have desperately poor farmers in Nepal who are surviving but not much else.

In between we have people in the west living alternative life-styles, supplementing their diets with their gardens, drawing on outside resources as needed. We also have small farmers in Thailand who can feed their families in good years. When times are bad they send their daughters to work in brothels so they can pay off loans or maybe keep their sons in school.

For those considering this lifestyle, I suggest spending a few months stooped over working the dirt for eight or ten hours a day before making a firm commitment. Remember, when harvesting the vegetables close to the ground you're not allowed to get on your knees, that slows you down and you won't get enough done. Stoop labor means you stoop labor.

A further point that's relevant here, is the creative aspect of this alternative lifestyle of self-sufficiency, as opposed to the traditional life of the poor subsistence farmer doing what tradition requires.

Most people in developed societies have jobs that require them to adhere to sets of established rules. Creativity and experimentation are often discouraged. If you are an accountant, office worker, brick layer or even medical doctor, you are always working to a set of rules in accordance with the demands of others.

The jobs that are creative tend to be those of the artist, the photographer, the musical composer, the actor, and to some extent the architect. Many of these jobs do not provide the security of a steady income but the satisfaction of the creative activity tends to compensate for that.

Similarly, the creative act of designing and building one's own house, and the experimentation of growing various types of crops to determine which thrives best in the particular conditions, has its own rewards, in addition to providing the basic security of food and accommodation.

[heybruce]

We may be close to agreement.

At one end of the spectrum we have people like Jon Jandai of the OP who clearly are not living a self-sufficient lifestyle, in spite of how it is presented in the OP.

At the other end we have desperately poor farmers in Nepal who are surviving but not much else.

In between we have people in the west living alternative life-styles, supplementing their diets with their gardens, drawing on outside resources as needed. We also have small farmers in Thailand who can feed their families in good years. When times are bad they send their daughters to work in brothels so they can pay off loans or maybe keep their sons in school.

For those considering this lifestyle, I suggest spending a few months stooped over working the dirt for eight or ten hours a day before making a firm commitment. Remember, when harvesting the vegetables close to the ground you're not allowed to get on your knees, that slows you down and you won't get enough done. Stoop labor means you stoop labor.

A further point that's relevant here, is the creative aspect of this alternative lifestyle of self-sufficiency, as opposed to the traditional life of the poor subsistence farmer doing what tradition requires.

Most people in developed societies have jobs that require them to adhere to sets of established rules. Creativity and experimentation are often discouraged. If you are an accountant, office worker, brick layer or even medical doctor, you are always working to a set of rules in accordance with the demands of others.

The jobs that are creative tend to be those of the artist, the photographer, the musical composer, the actor, and to some extent the architect. Many of these jobs do not provide the security of a steady income but the satisfaction of the creative activity tends to compensate for that.

Similarly, the creative act of designing and building one's own house, and the experimentation of growing various types of crops to determine which thrives best in the particular conditions, has its own rewards, in addition to providing the basic security of food and accommodation.

Creative sufficiency farming? Farming as an art form, that's a new one. You better have a safety net (outside resources) before you try that or there's a good chance you'll starve.

[VincentRJ]

We may be close to agreement.

At one end of the spectrum we have people like Jon Jandai of the OP who clearly are not living a self-sufficient lifestyle, in spite of how it is presented in the OP.

At the other end we have desperately poor farmers in Nepal who are surviving but not much else.

In between we have people in the west living alternative life-styles, supplementing their diets with their gardens, drawing on outside resources as needed. We also have small farmers in Thailand who can feed their families in good years. When times are bad they send their daughters to work in brothels so they can pay off loans or maybe keep their sons in school.

For those considering this lifestyle, I suggest spending a few months stooped over working the dirt for eight or ten hours a day before making a firm commitment. Remember, when harvesting the vegetables close to the ground you're not allowed to get on your knees, that slows you down and you won't get enough done. Stoop labor means you stoop labor.

A further point that's relevant here, is the creative aspect of this alternative lifestyle of self-sufficiency, as opposed to the traditional life of the poor subsistence farmer doing what tradition requires.

Most people in developed societies have jobs that require them to adhere to sets of established rules. Creativity and experimentation are often discouraged. If you are an accountant, office worker, brick layer or even medical doctor, you are always working to a set of rules in accordance with the demands of others.

The jobs that are creative tend to be those of the artist, the photographer, the musical composer, the actor, and to some extent the architect. Many of these jobs do not provide the security of a steady income but the satisfaction of the creative activity tends to compensate for that.

Similarly, the creative act of designing and building one's own house, and the experimentation of growing various types of crops to determine which thrives best in the particular conditions, has its own rewards, in addition to providing the basic security of food and accommodation.

Creative sufficiency farming? Farming as an art form, that's a new one. You better have a safety net (outside resources) before you try that or there's a good chance you'll starve.

I think the main impediment would be worrying about such matters, that one might starve, or one might develop a hole in one's jeans.

As well as being creative, one has to exercise some basic commonsense based upon some degree of research. It would be silly to waste time attempting to grow a tropical plant in a cold climate with snowy winters. One wouldn't attempt to grow bananas in the Rocky Mountains, for example.

The idea of experimenting is to find out which plants are ideally suited to the soil conditions and specific locations, and which thrive with the least amount of care.

For example, on certain parts of my property, where I went to the trouble of improving the soil with mulch and horse manure some time ago, Lady Finger bananas and Papaya trees thrive without any care from me at all. The main work is merely plucking the fruit and removing an excess of the plants. New papaya trees continually sprout up in various locations, as a result of seeds dropped by birds or some animal. I allow the most vigorous plants to survive.

[JLCrab]

My first two purchases if I were to choose to live year round at a remote location at 9500 foot elevation-- a trucked-in well insulated double wide mobile home and a SnowCat. If you really ever spent the dead of winter there and not just the summer months -- and I have only been there late fall or early spring not the 20 below 0 DG F months -- you would know that self-sufficiency is only secondary to survival.

Edited June 13, 2016 by JLCrab

[Fookhaht]

Error

Edited June 13, 2016 by Fookhaht

[VincentRJ]

My first two purchases if I were to choose to live year round at a remote location at 9500 foot elevation-- a trucked-in well insulated double wide mobile home and a SnowCat. If you really ever spent the dead of winter there and not just the summer months -- and I have only been there late fall or early spring not the 20 below 0 DG F months -- you would know that self-sufficiency is only secondary to survival.

Perhaps those who had experienced life in northern Canada, such as the Inuit, would find such locations in the Rocky Mountains quite warm and pleasant.

I personally wouldn't choose to live permanently in such a place nor would I choose such a location if I had the intention to become self-sufficient in food. Why would one want to make things unnecessarily difficult?

On the other hand, some people thrive on challenges. Why do some people enjoy the challenge of climbing Mt Everest?

Becoming self-sufficient at 9,000 ft in the Rocky Mountains could be a more attractive challenge than climbing Mt Everest, for those with a love for gardening. The general area also has attractive scenery. For a person who loved skiing, the winter could be a great opportunity for a change of activity, or for a reader, a time to relax in one's well-insulated home and read some of those books one didn't have the time to read whilst growing lettuce or building greenhouses in summer.