Permanent move to the bush

[Hoodoo]

Nothing really specific. If things got really bad there's family down south we could stay with. And if we got so decrepit that being in a place like that was no longer possible, the property is worth quite a bit so selling out would net us a pretty substantial sum.
Hopefully that day is far off. The last old timer to leave the area was in his eighties when he finally had to leave because of poor health. And the youngest trapper is in his sixties.
That means I've got a way to go if I'm as lucky as them

 

[cariboo]

It is our fourteenth winter.
Most of the catastrophes mentioned have happend. The major ones like death, severe illnesses and accidents haven't. Crop failures, food spoilage, injuries, flooding, vehicle breakdowns etc... have.
Aki and I are heathier and stronger, not to mention more resolute in our convictions than ever. We have a 7 yr old who is thriving. Home schooling, chess and being raised in the forest.

We do live in a unique area. In the bush, a couple of kms off a logging road. Complete isolation except for the odd plane or two yet we can journey into Williams Lake for our mail.

It is simple. If it isn't we are doing something wrong, but every time we are mistaken we learn.
So though we don't try to make mistakes, when they happen we welcome them. It's when they happen twice or the killer three times that it hurts. That hasn't happened often.
Potatoes keep us on our toes. I`ll say, `It`s not going to frost tonight, it`s July 14th ...`

Simple stuff.
Plant more than one crop. Something will probably fail. Frost, hail, bad seed, bugs, mice, moose. We are not the only ones in the bush that like garden fresh vegetables. We`ve done a lot of experimenting. Some great failures. We are dependent on our gardens so we learn.
Plants are amazing. When we've thought they were mortally wounded they`ve come back, almost every time.
What doesn`t kill them (us) will make them (us) stronger in most cases.

Built a sauna. We use a lot less water.
After 14 years every sauna we`ve had, somewhere around 1000, has been rejuvenating. When things get tough we take a sauna. Aki is making one now. Beautiful sunny day...
For us it has been a process of living with what we need.
Rather than start with everything, we started with nothing.


In the past few years I`ve posted here and on our blog describing the simple way we live with and our satellite internet connection and solar array. With a little of today`s technology and a small cash flow life in the bush is easy.

It is freedom here. I suppose it`s not for everyone.

I stopped writing in our Fireweed blog for the last year. I`ll start again this year.
I`ve been trying to upload a video onto our blog. It is proving to be a exercise in patience.

Scott
http://aki-and-scott-fireweed.blogspot.com/

 

[silentpaddler]

Dude, I have visited the southern part of Saskachewan and it seemed like there was nobody there. I can't imagine how few and far between the humans are in the north...
Anyway, best of luck to you...hope you find peace...and some adventure. Maybe you should take a field guide, like The Complete Guide to Wilderness Self-Sufficiency
by Chris McCandless
I've heard that the north half of the province is a lot like
Ontario's Canadian Shield...thousands and thousands of lakes...is that what the land is like
where you're going?

 

[bb07]

silentpaddler, I think I'll pass on that particular field guide
Yeah we're not too crowded here-just over one million people in about 250,000 square miles, with the majority of the population in the south. More than half the province is bush and water. Our cabin is about a hundred miles south of Lake Athabasca.
Lakes? Yes, about a 100,000 according to the government.
To get there we pass through the shield & go north of it into what's known as the Athabasca Sand Basin.

 

[Doc]

I read somewhere that although lots of people try and make the move to a rural largely self sufficient lifestyle, many fail. The two predictors of success are:

1. Having a partner who is genuinely as committed to the idea as you are.
2. Having another source of regular cash income (it doesn't need to be a lot) such as a pension.

I fall at the first hurdle. I worked for a while in Lochinver, which is almost as rural as it gets in the UK. I loved it, but my wife wasn't nearly so keen.

Best of luck, whatever you do.

 

[Thijzzz]

I'm at work so I can't read all the posts to check is anyone mentioned the "Off the grid"-episode of Survivorman.
In short, they are building a self-sustained house (solar power etc.) in a remote area.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7740441619915152822#

Perhaps this will also give you idea's. As I said I can't read the complete thread now so sorry if this is not of any use.

As for the grand plan: You've got the chance, you are prepared, you have thought it through, you know the area...go!

 

[cariboo]

I read somewhere that although lots of people try and make the move to a rural largely self sufficient lifestyle, many fail. The two predictors of success are:

1. Having a partner who is genuinely as committed to the idea as you are.
2. Having another source of regular cash income (it doesn't need to be a lot) such as a pension.


For sure those are the main concerns by far. Everything else is just logistics.

Scott

http://aki-and-scott-fireweed.blogspot.com/

 

[ged]

I do understand how you can hate living where you do. Once I had a job in Kensington (London, England) and I found living in London truly awful. I quit the job after three months and moved to the Oxfordshire countryside, which I loved. But I'm a country boy. I had friends in London, some of whom I went to school with, who really liked living in Grennwich or Wood Green or wherever, and some of them still live there thirty-five years later. I don't suppose you'll be meeting them on this forum.

But it seems a bit extreme. Is there no middle ground, so to speak, where you might be happier but less cut off from civilization? If you're going to make a big break, consider all your options, not just two of them.

 

[bb07]

I'm at work so I can't read all the posts to check is anyone mentioned the "Off the grid"-episode of Survivorman.
In short, they are building a self-sustained house (solar power etc.) in a remote area.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7740441619915152822#

Perhaps this will also give you idea's. As I said I can't read the complete thread now so sorry if this is not of any use.

As for the grand plan: You've got the chance, you are prepared, you have thought it through, you know the area...go!

Thanks for the link.
I just watched that video for the very first time. Interesting for sure but I'm thinking it must have cost him a small fortune for everything.:yikes:
Slinging loads in by helicopter is insanely expensive. So is spray foam insulation. That amount of money alone would have kept me in food for a very long time
Solar is great but not cheap by any means either (what is!).Too bad he didn't give the cost of the initial setup. I think solar in the long run is an excellent plan but I would like to do some research to find out how long it would take to regain the initial investment of the material/installation costs as well as battery life/replacement cost etc.
Other than the solar, the rest of what he's done really doesn't apply in our situation but was still an interesting video and one I enjoyed, thanks again.

 

[bb07]

caribou, how right you are. In our case, #2 is our only problem.

ged, in post # 26 I talked a bit about having a similar place as Les was building in his off the grid video. It just wasn't for us. And we honestly don't think of it as extreme, more so as the natural place to be if we aren't here.
We even discussed moving to an acreage in this area just to get out of town, but it didn't take long to figure out that we'd just be in the same situation as we were when we had the 130 acres.

 

[forestwalker]

Thanks for the link.
I just watched that video for the very first time. Interesting for sure but I'm thinking it must have cost him a small fortune for everything.:yikes:

I saw a comment on that movie on a Swedish self suffiency forum that he went the route of having it all *now* and paid for it. I also suspect that he was worried about the kids acceptance if they went from suburbia to "100% bush" in one go.

Slinging loads in by helicopter is insanely expensive. So is spray foam insulation. That amount of money alone would have kept me in food for a very long time

Besides the concern that that kind of insulation may trap damp. If I built (or renovated from the frame out as he did) I would only use the natural ones that have proven over time to work, probably sawdust (it absorbes damp and gives it off later, with few mold problems).

Solar is great but not cheap by any means either (what is!).Too bad he didn't give the cost of the initial setup. I think solar in the long run is an excellent plan but I would like to do some research to find out how long it would take to regain the initial investment of the material/installation costs as well as battery life/replacement cost etc.

If I was going to do the off grid thing I'd want some solar. Mostly sufficint for running/charging the laptop, running the Internet connectivity when needed and (if it worked there) keeping the cell phone charged. I honestly can't think of anything else I would not just as happilly do without.

My "retirement dream" is to do what you are planning, or at least as close to it as I can arrange in Sweden.

 

[WDBurns]

Plain and simple: GO FOR IT.
I envy you.

 

[redneck]

If you know the land well and especially the game and fish populations, it maybe worth considering being a guide for hunters and anglers, it may not provide a lot of income, but all it really requires are a good knowledge of the game trails and a practical experience of having hunted and fished the area.