Permanent move to the bush

[bb07]

Wow, first off let me say thanks to all for the replies & excellent points brought up. I'll do my best to answer & hopefully not miss anything.

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. 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

I've never heard of poly tunnels before but sounds like a great idea, one I'll definitely look into.
Health is of course always a concern as are accidents. However, no one in the bush really thinks about it that much, people just go about their lives & take things as they come. People slow down & stop rushing. Work is at slower pace, caution becomes second nature.

Cheers mate!

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.

Yes, I do have a satellite phone. Very pricey though!


Xunil, I'll try to address your points.
Sudden illness:- always possible. If life threatening then coming out to a hospital would be the only way, other illness dealt with like anywhere else.
Accident:-again always possible. In the north though people slow down with everything they do & are in general just more cautious. Being in a rush usually causes most accidents.
Crop failure:-no worries because if a garden doesn't work there's no crop to fail The only things that grow naturally are blueberries and cranberries. Even on the worst of years there's always some.
Food store failure:- we intend to use canning as much as possible.
I grew up on a farm in the '60's & early '70's. We produced & raised most of our food with no problems. I'm pretty familiar with what will be involved. If something does happen to cause failure then it will have to be dealt with.
Believe me, if I were to make a list of ''what ifs'' it would be very long & I'd be afraid to leave the house!
Hygiene:- Frozen pipes? Not a problem. There's no running water. There's a large lake right beside the cabin with the cleanest, purest water imaginable. In the summer I pump it to a storage tank in the cabin. If there for only a short time, I'll skip setting up the pump & hoses & just carry water in pails.
In the winter, again with pails only.
I've spent months there in the winter(because of winter work, years ago), getting water in temperatures as low as the -60's F.
Fuel: -unlimited wood supply close by. I use chainsaws(have three). Very little gas & chain oil is needed to cut a whole winter's supply of wood.
The cabin is equipped with a brick lined air tight woodstove.
What happens in years to come? Who knows? When old age & sickness comes it's dealt with wherever a person may be. Can we really plan that far ahead & have that plan work out? Maybe, but usually plans for the future have a way of not working out. As my older brother recently told me "I quit planning ahead. I don't even buy green bananas anymore"

 

[nuggets]

back to the OP ..Does the move to the remote bush `hinge` on you `selling up` to make the move?? Can,t you just plan on spending a `year` out there, then make a better decision on your return ?? best of luck to you -which ever way the trail leads !!

 

[RonW]

I forgot to mention in my earler reply; ask the locals!
I would....
They know how to do it, don't they??

I am thinking about a similar move, going from Dutch all out-city boy to a Swedish rural area....
Not as drastic as your move, but probably with a similar impact on me!.....

 

[eraaij]

Just go for it. Even when living in a town, unexpected stuff can and will happen in your life. And I am not entirely convinced that you will be better off that way - these days.

 

[forestwalker]

I am thinking about a similar move, going from Dutch all out-city boy to a Swedish rural area....
Not as drastic as your move, but probably with a similar impact on me!.....

Curious; which rural area in Sweden? A lot -- sort of -- of Dutch people around here...

 

[bb07]

To try & address some more points made:

Tengu, I'm not familiar with the fermenting compost so would have to look into it. Hydroponics would be nice but space is limited so capacity would also be limited. Winter daylight is also quite short.

wattsy, you are correct about the snow. If I built a greenhouse I always figured on dismantling the walls & roof before winter, leaving only the frame set up.

Sawyer, it's not this town in particular, it's all towns. I grew up on a farm & then proceeded to spend a lot of time in the bush. I just don't like being crowded in & surrounded by people along with the noise, traffic etc. When I step out my door I prefer to see trees and water.(who wouldn't) If I haven't been able to change by now I don't expect I will in the future.....

forestwalker, we actually bought land many years ago, 130 acres bordering the Crown Land. Everything north of us (for hundreds of miles) was bush & water, right up to the northern border of the province. Everything south as far as the U.S. border was farmland. The property was 15 minutes drive away from the nearest town. A good sized river was the properties northern border.
The quantity and variety of wildlife was amazing. The soil was very rich so gardening was easy. Absolute paradise for most people.... my wife hated it:yikes: (I liked it well enough but once you've been to the far north, a person becomes very spoiled.) The bush was pretty thick, lots of poplar, willows, alders & all sorts of vegetation. The water was murky in the river. Sloughs, grass, thick bush & vegetation as opposed to the crystal clear lakes, caribou moss, open jack pines & sand country that she grew up in. We sold it after a few short years. Yeah I know-please drop your pitchforks & nooses
I too have become accustomed to that type of environment & now have difficulty not turning up my nose at areas farther south.
Yes, spoiled I know. I'm certainly not looking for sympathy because I know it is not deserved, nor expected. I'm merely stating our preference of environment.

nuggets, not necessarily. Rather than sell this house we could rent it out, providing we could find suitable, reliable renters, to cover the monthly mortgage and utilities costs.

RonW, my wife is local. The handful of people in the area are family.

eraaij, no truer words have ever been spoken.

You only live once, right

 

[RonW]

RonW, my wife is local. The handful of people in the area are family.

I missed that part. Sorry.

In that case; what's holding you back?
It is clear where your heart is and you have back up, both socially and practically. Right?
I'd say:"Go!"

Curious; which rural area in Sweden? A lot -- sort of -- of Dutch people around here...

The area we will be moving to is southern Dalarna, preferably the area around/between Borlänge/Falun/Avesta, avoiding the major living areas.
On the other hand, I do need a job and I do have 3 young children who need to go to school and have a social life, so I can't wander off to far.

 

[Gotte]

I read a post, I think on here, about a couple who quit the rat race in the US and set themselves up in the wilderness for three years. It was in response to the Bush administration and the war. It seemed hard, but they seemed to do very well. I wish I could remember where it was or how you'd go about finding it. It was an interview, form memory, and very interesting. Perhaps someone else hear remembers it.

 

[forestwalker]

I'd say go for it. If you have nothing that holds you back and you think you have a decent chance to make it go.

 

[Tengu]

But check how well your wifes family will back you up first. Your going to need that network...wherever you go.

And at lest these days the internet is there...and hopefuly solar panels

Some hydroponic sets are the size of a single wardrobe. (I wont say which market they are aimed at!)

 

[IdahoBackwoods]

... 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.

...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 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....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.... 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....

My wife and I know what you're talking about. It took us 32 of saving and planning, including 8 years finding the right land in an area we had camped in during all seasons over a 33-year period.

But we came here as recently retired people with enough to live on. And although it is 70 miles to our doctors and hospital, that's on paved roads -- though often ice- and snow-covered almost half of the year. There is a little store only two miles from where we live, and that's a big help. We are now 69 years old, and we are almost finished building our little house, but it's getting harder as we get older. Last year, I had a sudden cardiac pacing failure in December and had to be transported to Spokane, which is 5 hours away in winter. They implanted a pacemaker in me and I am functioning again, but I don't have the energy and stamina I had before.

I mention all this because I think it's something every older person needs to consider. I didn't expect to break down last winter, but I did.

On the other hand, we are living in an area where there are far more deer, elk, moose, bear, cougar, coyotes, and wolves than there are people. We hear and see animals around us all the time. Every day when I go outside I feel like I must have died and gone to heaven.

 

[IdahoBackwoods]

Scott Richardson's blog 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

But they live close enough to Williams Lake BC to get their mail there. Williams Lake is a small (pop. 10,000) city with all services. It's not as remote as what bb is describing.

 

[IdahoBackwoods]

If you want to know about processing human waste into fertilizer, there is no better source of information than the famous book by Joseph Jenkins called THE HUMANURE HANDBOOK, now in its Third Edition.

We use sawdust toilets and have followed Jenkins' advice for 12 years with great success. The sawdust comes from processing firewood for our woodstoves.

 

[Echoes of the old ways]

If your really thinking of doing it then I'd ask are you ever going to be really happy and settled if you don't try it?
are you always going to be saying what if?
As long as you have considered all the pro's and cons and really know what your getting into. May as well give it a try.

If you fail or decide it's not what you thought you can always re-asses, and make another change.
If you do then at least you can say ah well at least we did it.

 

[bb07]

Thanks to you all for your input. If we go for it , it won't be till next fall I'm thinking, possibly longer if the house has to go.
We know it's what we want, and we know what we'd be getting into. Now it's only the money business to work out!

 

[Hoodoo]

Do you have a fall back plan if your health fails?

 

[bb07]

Do you have a fall back plan if your health fails?

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

 

[forestwalker]

Thanks to you all for your input. If we go for it , it won't be till next fall I'm thinking, possibly longer if the house has to go.
We know it's what we want, and we know what we'd be getting into. Now it's only the money business to work out!

Not telling grandma how to suck eggs since I presume you knaow this already, but think about the seasonal cycle of work. When do you need to be there in order to have a winters worth of firewood ready for the winter? Around here we have very little standing dead wood, so people cut firewood (birch by preference) before easter, and allow it to dry -- split and stacked -- over summer. Fall would be for the moose, presumably? If I was going I'd think shelter, firewood, food, and want all of them more or less sorted before snow.

More than a bit envious, I'm in "half-way" land here in northern Sweden.

 

[bb07]

Not telling grandma how to suck eggs since I presume you knaow this already, but think about the seasonal cycle of work. When do you need to be there in order to have a winters worth of firewood ready for the winter? Around here we have very little standing dead wood, so people cut firewood (birch by preference) before easter, and allow it to dry -- split and stacked -- over summer. Fall would be for the moose, presumably? If I was going I'd think shelter, firewood, food, and want all of them more or less sorted before snow.

More than a bit envious, I'm in "half-way" land here in northern Sweden.

I always have a woodshed full of dry wood. I like cutting wood so whenever I'm there I make time to cut any new deadfall near the cabin before it lays on the ground too long. There is lots of dead stuff, standing dead and deadfall, as well as huge amounts of fire killed jack pine close by. Birch is quite small here & scattered here & there. Jack pine is the predominant tree.
Moose is anytime, legal year round for Treaty Indians.

 

[nenook]

oh if only , that in my humble opinion would be my and im sure many of us on here, nirvana, but we are trapped by modern living but at least have our craft to keep our dreams alive, follow your dreams my friend and the very best of luck to you both,

best wishes

nenook