The thought of living off-grid may seem daunting, but this sort of lifestyle can allow you to connect with nature and learn responsibility through self-sustainable living. The comfort and convenience of modern technology have made people dependent on it instead of using it to promote independence.
Living off-grid refers to living without public utilities. This means zero access to public water sources, public electricity and food sources like groceries and restaurants. To combat the significant lack of amenities, people who go off-grid set up self-sustainable systems to help them survive, such as wells, water purifiers, solar panels and vegetable gardens.
For some people, going off-grid is a way of life like no other. Below is a list of three amazing individuals who conquered the off-grid lifestyle and made it their own. (h/t to Survivopedia.com)
Life on the ice: Surviving in the Siberian taiga
To Agafia Lykov, off-grid living is the only lifestyle she's ever known. Hailing from a family under an Orthodox Christian sect known as "The Old Believers," this 72-year-old Russian woman spent decades of her life out in the harsh environments of the Siberian taiga. Most people wouldn't last a week in those conditions, but the Lykov family persevered and learned how to live in the wilderness, successfully setting up their homestead and raising a family.
Despite her age and living conditions, Lykov is still as energetic as ever and knows more about wilderness survival than most instructors you can find on the internet. There's no denying how difficult it is to live in the Siberian taiga. Lykov's mother died of starvation on one cold, winter night just so she could give food to her children. An early winter killed all the plants in their garden, leaving them with nothing but their own leather shoes to eat.
Lykov has been living off the land by growing potatoes and other vegetables in her garden. These vegetables are stored properly so they can last all throughout the harsh winters. As for protein, Lykov would go fishing and takes care of a few chickens for eggs and a goat for milk. If things get too cold, she would cut down trees to make a lovely fire.
Congressman for survival
Former congressman and scientist Roscoe Bartlett claims that he started his life as a poor young boy on a sharecropper farm. Through his upbringing as a farm boy, he learned plenty of things about independence and sought to become a full-time survivalist the moment he retired. While he had a net worth of over $8 million, this money was not what made his off-grid lifestyle a reality. The first cabin on his property, which costed only a thousand dollars, was something he built himself from scratch after hauling all the materials needed via cart.
To Bartlett, self-reliance and self-sufficiency are key to developing a successful off-grid plan and lifestyle. The lifestyle he had adopted is simple while also allowing him to maintain excellent health. He also emphasized the importance of understanding how fragile the electric grid is in the US. Most infrastructure available today are directly dependent on the grid to function properly. If the grid were to fall, everything else would follow.
Off-grid on a budget
What if you're just a newbie prepper with big ambitions, looking for ways to go off-grid but lacking the funds for big projects like building a large cabin and getting survival supplies? Jill Redwood, an environmentalist, has shown that you can begin living an off-grid lifestyle for less that $3,000. Redwood spent 35 years in the woods of East Gippsland, Victoria, Aurora, just enjoying the hermit lifestyle she yearned for since she was five. While it did take her eight years to establish a homestead in her preferred location, she was able to do so with less than $3000, which is a manageable budget size for such a project.
Redwood may be living off-grid, but she's not totally out of touch with the rest of society. Her property houses a large solar array that provides her with power to make various things work, including her computer and internet connection, which allow her to continue working as a freelance writer.
Self-reliance plays a major role in Redwood's lifestyle. Living off-grid has simplified her life to the point that she rarely goes to the city to get the supplies she needs. Most of the time, she relies on the food crops she has cultivated or she makes things herself. Her foraging skills have also been helpful in her off-grid lifestyle, finding things that other people don't need anymore instead of buying a new one.
Expand your horizons and learn new things by reading more about off-the-grid living at OffGrid.news.
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