Permanent move to the bush

[bb07]

My wife and I are considering making a major change in our lifestyle. Major as in making a permanent move to the bush. We already have a cabin in the far north of this province. We spend as much time as possible there but would like to live there permanently. We have everything we would ever need there already and would only have to take whatever other personal things from here and sell the rest.

Currently we are living in a town and hate every minute of it. When we ask ourselves why, the answer is simple: money.
There is no other reason. Our children are grown and on their own, so the only thing holding us back is a means of making a living. I work seasonally in the area where our cabin is, but it's not enough to make ends meet. I'm considering trapping as a means to supplement our income. Moose, caribou and fish are available so starvation shouldn't be a worry, but variety certainly would. This is a sub-arctic environment.
We would like to experiment with growing a garden. A short growing season combined with no topsoil (it's sand country) would make it challenging but I have ideas to try, a greenhouse being one.

This is not a wild and random plan. Much sacrifice would have to be made. We've been thinking about it for many years. We both know the area very well. I've spent two thirds of my life in the area while my wife grew up there. She is Dene www.kayas.ca/peopledene.html - and has family in the area living in their traditional way, hunting/fishing/trapping.
The luxuries of the modern world would be traded for a much more basic, simple, subsistence way of life.
Candles/lanterns for lighting, with the height of luxury being the occasional running of a small generator depending on the availability/affordability of gasoline.
Running water only if I take a pail and run down to the lake.

This is a very remote area. In the winter, to get to the nearest village where supplies can be purchased is about a six hour trip by skidoo and then truck, one way. In the summer it's about a nine hour trip, one way, by boat/quad and truck. The next town from this village is another 2 1/2 hours farther for things like medical/dental etc. Basically everything can be had in this town.

We're happiest in the bush and sometime in 2011 will probably make the big decision and go for it. If it happens, there's no more internet, phone, cable tv, running water or easy life, just very simple living with lots of hard work and the simple joy of being alive in such a place.
This is not to imply that all would be perfect in paradise. Far from it. There are no full time jobs at this place. Short term and seasonal only.
A living must still be made. Although the usual monthly bills would no longer apply, a person still must eat and be clothed. Food and gasoline are the two most important things. Money would be very very tight.

Our health at this time is good. We want to do this before we're too old. We know exactly what we're getting into.
Drawbacks include(but aren't limited to):-frugal lifestyle
-very little money
-no regular communications with family(letter writing as opposed to instant communications, sending letter with whoever might be passing through)
-doing without many things, including eating like we do now
-long travel for supplies/medical etc
-did I mention lack of money?

Positives: almost everything else Truly, there's nothing more important in life than being healthy and having a full stomach, in that order.

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts. Would you consider trading comfort and financial security for poverty and much greater freedom?

 

[spiritwalker]

i think the idea is beautiful however there are some drawbacks, money i wouldnt worry about you can always labour to get what you need. Poly tunnels might work out more affordable than a greenhouse as you would need some of great size to get some greens grown rather than forraging full time. Selling skins and animal crafts could also be an option and or allowing people to visit you if you had a tipi set up or something to see how it is done (could be another source of income) My biggest concern would be health if one of you got hurt or fell ill you would still have to get up tend to the sick person as well as all the chores of the lifestyle which could prove too hard. Picture lashing down rain and having to send your wife out to gather grub water etc etc or even deep snow.. still would be a great thing to do

 

[Thecarotidpulse]

Cheers mate!

I am just reading "one man's wilderness" by Sam keith on the journey of Richard Proenneke.
the guy did just that... building himself a cabin in Alaska, went on to live 35 years there.
Quite the different story than the scottish guy (i forget his name) in Alone in the Wild... that goes slowly crazy.

I wish you joy of doing that... (and a happy New year!)
the money issue is as always a valid one... I just wish that you could have like a Spot satellite messenger and or a sat phone, just as extra insurance. But of course you'll have thought of this.

What about supplementing your income with a wilderness living school? link up with Mors there and see if you can set up a chapter in Sask.

Cheers and make a blog!!

 

[RonW]

I would say: Go for it!
It sounds like you know what you'll be getting into.
What little money you'd have, you'd probably spend on food other that "homegrown", flour, sugar, salt.
Selling off your assets will get you a small financial backup and used wisely would go a long way, since you already have everything you need.

Maybe look into preserving foods during wintermonths has to be looked at?
Also lonelyness might become an issue.

Other than that; follow your heart, find peace of mind and happiness!!!!

 

[sandbender]

Scott Richardson's blog (known as cariboo on this forum) is worth a look through, he and his family are doing what you plan to do.


http://aki-and-scott-fireweed.blogspot.com/2009/06/storm.html

 

[Xunil]

I've thought of this often myself and as much as many aspects of the lifestyle appeal there are elements that certainly don't.

Listed in no particular order of importance are the issues I came up with that would spoke the wheel somewhat:

1. Sudden illness
2. Accident
3. Crop failure (could be down to weather, animal/human spoilage etc)
4. Food store failure - you will obviously be planning on canning the salmon run and otherwise preserving fish, meat, fruit and vegetables. What happens if the canning isn't right on the money, or if your store suffers some sort of damage ? A friend of mine in northern Ontario had the distinctly unpleasant experience of his root cellar flooding out and part collapsing and everything in it was either spoiled or involved significant risk to get to. I have had canned salmon look as though the seals were good on the jars but on opening them they had spoiled for one reason or another. For those who don't know, 'canning' refers to pressure sealing the food to be preserved in special jars - run a YouTube search for 'canning salmon' or 'canned fish' for some video how-to's.
5. Hygiene - obvious one this - difficult in the colder weather where ensuring your water supply can be challenging and (arguably) more difficult in the summer with the rise of potential parasitic organisms
6. Fuel - one of the reasons so many primitive peoples were nomadic to one extent or another was that they could exhaust supplies of resources in their area. Burning stuff to keep warm is always going to be the least environmentally friendly method, however, in your case you will have few realistic alternatives. I imagine a combination of woodstove and/or woodburner, oil-driven heating and a backup generator or some similar arrangement. The woodstove or burner are the only ones you can feed yourself - the others require money to run and, even than, the wood gathering would go easier on you if you used chainsaws for at least part of the operation which, as we all know, require fuel and other resources to keep running. The longer you live in any one area the more demands you put on it, so selective harvesting of wood for fuel for the poorer parts of the year should be at least partially harvested from further afield, ensuring that you always have some closer-to-home stock available if you need to call upon it.

On a final spoil-sport note, what happens in years to come ?

You say you are enjoying good health and so on at the moment, which is great. What happens in, say, a decade or so ? I'm not being morbid, merely asking what your future will be if either or both of you decide or are forced to make a return to 'civilisation'.

My own concerns about this was that my skills (I am an IT consultant) would be light years out of date making gainful employment in my current field almost impossible. That means manual work of some sort to make ends meet and this, as you probably already know, is often on a short-term contract basis in your part of the world.

I know I sound like the biggest killjoy on the planet but it's something I've pondered often enough (I have a place in northern Ontario) but have yet to come up with a satisfactory overall plan to make it a success. The best overall solution I could come up with for me (and I know that everybody's circumstances are entirely different) would be a partial move where I either planned on making a semi-self-sufficient living running guided hunting/fishing/bushcraft trips and practiced hunting, fishing and carefully managed polytunnel crops throughout the year for my own use, perhaps selling some excess to help generate income, and combine that with knifemaking, which I have along history of, or where I just don't do it at all. Given that I have a three year old daughter I can't do it anyway until she's much, much older - if I ever do it at all I know it will be for selfish reasons but, for now, my place is to give her the best opportunities I can. Maybe when she's older...

Until then I visit my place a couple or three times a year and a close friend lives there the rest of the time, keeping it in good order, which is a great arrangement for the both of us

I know I am probably teaching you how to suck eggs with the above, but that is my take on just some of the more obvious negatives.

On the flip side, I can see soooooooooooooo many positives that I'm starting to argue with myself again over whether I should or shouldn't. Thanks for planting the seed again

Good luck with whatever direction you choose to take.

 

[sandbender]

"...On a final spoil-sport note, what happens in years to come ?

You say you are enjoying good health and so on at the moment, which is great. What happens in, say, a decade or so ?..."

That is the big question, Daniel Boone may have been trapping and hunting well into his seventies but most won't make it that far and if your going to be shoveling potatoes out of the ground that will take its toll on you and yours.

The solution may be to find other like minded families and set off together, settle over a larger area, help each other out, specialize in different things.

I have an elderly uncle who cannot work his land anymore, but what he doesn't know about bee keeping isn't worth knowing. All the young folks help him out with the things he can no longer manage and he keeps them supplied with honey.

 

[Sawyer]

better to regret the things you have done than those you haven't...

 

[Tengu]

As for extending the growing season, would a big deep bed of fermenting compost help? Like the old pineapple pits?

or how about an indoors hydroponic garden?

 

[wattsy]

i'm guessing you get loads of snow there? if you do you need to have a long think about the greenhouse or polytunnel because if you get a big dump of snow then they can collapse/ tear or the glass can break the snow we've just had destroyed my nans greenhouse

 

[Sawyer]

out of interest, what is it you hate about the town so much? The people, the lack of isolation/proximity to nature?

 

[Xunil]

Soil heating cabling works wonders with any out of season growing. I also use it with a thermostat to protect the water infeed and boiler pipes of my static caravan, enabling longer seasonal use in weather conditions that would otherwise preclude a visit

Downside is that they require electricity...

One of my mates uses a polytunnel year round in northern Ontario but his is adjascent to the property and lives under a purpose-built lean-to which protects it from the worst of the weather and still allows a lot of natural light in.

The conundrum, as I see it, lies in striking the balance between a realistic and attainable standard of living and also a path forward in later years when it may simply no longer be practical to live like that. Ironically, for anyone seeking solitude, that very peace and quiet removes any income streams that you could generate by hosting seasonal campers, hunters, fishers and so on.

I would echo Sawyer's question at this point, and ask what it is you dislike so much about your current circumstances and situation.

I am a great believer in achieving a degree of acceptance in life, otherwise before you know it you spend all your time and effort fighting against the current in a state of permanent dissatisfaction that overshadows any pleasures that come your way.

It's a sad fact that most people don't enjoy their jobs, or wish they lived somewhere else, or that they lived a different lifestyle, and so on and so forth. If you can cultivate a degree of acceptance (which is not the same as just rolling over and giving up) then big problems suddenly become small, small pleasures have greater significance, and you see the world through better eyes.

That might sound terribly prosaic and head-full-of-dandelion-fluff but it holds true nevertheless.

On the flip side, I wonder how many folks try this only to find the workload and practicalities of living like this permanently are prohibitive and, in turn, overshadow the very reasons why they went out in the bush to begin with.

I think the greatest difficulty lies in striking the balance in life and, sadly, most people seem never to find that balance. Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming the folks themselves - I think it is a sad inevitability of cramming lots of humans into rows of orderly houses in towns and cities who, at their core, are still genetically pre-programmed to be wandering hunter-gatherers.

What do you hope to achieve and what do you think this move will give you ?

One thing is certain - this is always great campfire chatter among friends and I guess everyone considers doing it at some point

 

[lannyman8]

I'd say go for it mate..... I can only dream of ever doing this sort of thing, so Im a big green monster at the moment........

my dream which may or may not be in reach later on in life is simple, get enough land to run a kennel for dogs, and have enough land with woodland on it to run bushcraft basic's course, be sort of self susstained as much as possible (appart from the kennels that is)..... Im looking at Wales but who knows, depends on land and prices, and if there is any woodland left when I can afford to buy some.........

I wish you and your wife all the very best, be safe and happy new year to all...

regards.

chris..................

 

[British Red]

Six months ago I chucked in a highly paid job in IT to live in our country cottage. Nothing so remote or difficult as your plans mark you - but a big leap for us.

I can only tell you I have never been happier.

 

[DaveBromley]

out of interest Red what do you do for income since the move? (sorry if too personal a question, but would be interested as this is one of the only reasons i'm still here instead of living in a forest somewhere!)

Dave

 

[British Red]

BB is doing some contracts up here and I will too as I need to - maybe three months of the year. If you are mortgage free, grow food or buy cheaply from farmers, chop your own wood etc. a good life needn't cost much!

 

[forestwalker]

If I was single I'd do it in a split second. But that is knowing that I'm in my mid 40's, and would go in expecting to die alone well before turning 75 from some silly accident och illness. Having a Spot or PLB will mean that one might actually survive appendicitis or a broken thigh-bone.

Would it make a difference to live in commuting distance (say less than 2h travel) from the town, or finding a job in the village (teacher? nurse?) that can make ends meet?

 

[Robbi]

I am a great believer in achieving a degree of acceptance in life, otherwise before you know it you spend all your time and effort fighting against the current in a state of permanent dissatisfaction that overshadows any pleasures that come your way.

It's a sad fact that most people don't enjoy their jobs, or wish they lived somewhere else, or that they lived a different lifestyle, and so on and so forth. If you can cultivate a degree of acceptance (which is not the same as just rolling over and giving up) then big problems suddenly become small, small pleasures have greater significance, and you see the world through better eyes.


very very well said sir !! for me, the above statement sums it up perfectly and is how i live my life

Edit to say i still haven't figured out quoting !! LOL !

 

[Sawyer]

I am a great believer in achieving a degree of acceptance in life, otherwise before you know it you spend all your time and effort fighting against the current in a state of permanent dissatisfaction that overshadows any pleasures that come your way.

It's a sad fact that most people don't enjoy their jobs, or wish they lived somewhere else, or that they lived a different lifestyle, and so on and so forth. If you can cultivate a degree of acceptance (which is not the same as just rolling over and giving up) then big problems suddenly become small, small pleasures have greater significance, and you see the world through better eyes.


very very well said sir !! for me, the above statement sums it up perfectly and is how i live my life

Edit to say i still haven't figured out quoting !! LOL !

+1

Achieving the elusive acceptance is the hard thing though!

 

[RonW]

It's the acceptance part I am trying to deal with, too!