The Pros And Cons Of Going Off Grid

Going off Grid (Homesteading) Does Not Mean You Go Without

Denying yourself and your family things for comfort or survival is not self-sufficiency. Being self-sufficient simply means you are now the one providing what you need to survive and be comfortable, and not someone else.

A private well, for example, means you do not have to rely on your local government to provide you with water. Raising your own produce and livestock allows you to control what chemicals are used to repel pest and what antibiotics are fed to the livestock. You have more control, but you still need many of the things that up until this point someone else provided.

Harvesting your own firewood or putting up solar panels or wind turbines means you are less dependent

upon others to provide things for you.
You do not do without; so much as you do with less, less material things. Regardless of where you live today you will have to spend money on certain things, but you can reduce your spending by a considerable amount if you learn how to conserve.
Things you once tossed in the recycle bin or trashcan are now scrutinized for other uses. Food scraps are now saved for the compost heap instead of being ground up in the disposal, or tossed in the trash can.
You will learn basic blacksmithing techniques so you can shoe your own horses, and make tools. You will learn how to weld and do basic mechanical repairs on your equipment. As you will see you will still need tools and equipment, but being self-sufficient means you will have to make them, repair them, or do without them.
Going off grid means you will produce what you once paid for at the local retailer.

You need clothes, tools, fertilizer, feed for your livestock, you need beds and bedding and the list goes on. How are these things provided now, and how will they be provided once you start living less dependent upon others.

The Wrong Impression

Some of you may have watched or have heard about the reality show "Live Free or Die". The show follows some individuals as they essentially live free. Some of the participants take it to the extreme however, but you will notice the couple depicted on the show have somewhat of an idea about how to do it.

If you want to eat chicken, you raise chickens. If you want fresh milk you have a dairy cow. If you want honey for your biscuits, you keep bees. If you want a cucumber salad three nights a week you had better get digging. You like jams and jellies, well you know what you need to do then, or do you, well you will soon find out if you do not know as of yet.

The one that build huts in the wild and dresses in animal's skins, has by definition gone off grid, but that's not likely what you want for you and your family. You can of course do this, but the lifestyle would be rough and it relies more on bush craft skills than on anything

else.
You probably want electricity, hot and cold running water, and beds to sleep in when you go off grid. Going off grid does not mean you go without.
Once off grid, instead of buying a few pounds of potatoes at the local grocery store you go down to the root cellar and pick a few for baking that night out of the hundreds of pounds you grew yourself and have stored. While down there grab a few carrots, or turnips, maybe a squash or two, or an onion and this time of year is when you start thinking about pumpkin pies, so come back in a few days to grab a pumpkin.
The pantry upstairs has canned tomatoes, string beans, corn, canned fruits, peach preserves, strawberry jam, pickles, canned pork, chicken, and beef. The dry bins are full of dried beans and popcorn you grew, and dried pastas you made yourself. All things that at one time you picked off the shelf at the local grocery store, but now you pick the foods off your own shelves' at home.
It can take years to get established, established to the point you rarely need to buy foods at the local grocery store. Orchards need to mature, berry bushes need time to grow, and cattle, chicken, and goats need nurturing as well.
It takes time for you to develop the skills needed, and yes you need to mature as well. Homesteading or going off grid, if you will, takes planning and a financial commitment. It takes a leap of faith, because until you do it, you simply do not know if you can do it.
Where you live right now, may not allow you much in the way of independence, so you have a choice to make? Do you look for property that you can purchase and build on, or you can find a home in a rural area and start from there? There are choices you can make.