Can you give it up?

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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A lot of us fantasize about spending our lives in the woods, the wild. Away from the hustle bustle, taking care of ourselves. Living off the land in the wild blue yonder.

However, how many of our "crutches" would we still rely upon? Running water and electric light are two very ingrained "treats" that we have come to rely on. The power goes out, we might gripe until it comes back on. It is bearable. Would you be able to do it for the rest of your life? The next forseeable year?

I don't watch much TV, I know I would miss my dvd's though. I would miss a few radio shows, but would really miss my internet. No phone lines, no cellphone service. I hate to talk on the phone, and I don't have delivery service where I am, but it does help to call in a carryout order ;). No more.

So, for a few months, it would be great to build a small cabin, and live off the land. Fresh vegetables and fruit in the summer and fall. Fresh meat all around you. Wood for fuel.

Could you give it all up? I am not talking about moving to the country, but going to the boonies and living off the land. More than a trip, more than a couple years. Alaska, the Yukon Territories, Siberia, northern Europe, the Outback.
 
My biggest fear about SHTF scenarios and fantasy/real wilderness living is the loss of music. I am not musically inclined either.
Besides that, as my health fails I find that I might miss more than when I was in my 20s. I did a couple years roughing it across the country, and it was very adventurous and all that, but I found I could live with way less than I have today.

As far as long term, I don't think I could now.
 
Nope. Not me.
The wilderness is a great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.
 
Rupestris said:
Nope. Not me.
The wilderness is a great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.
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That is me in a nutshell. Might be just right now though. I am trying to get away from having the tv on as background sound. I still have not upgraded my tv to digital, and have no real push to get the converter. Except for missing ESPN, Discovery and TLC and a few other channels, I wouldn't really miss TV. I don't even have basic cable, so, I am using tv as a crutch more than anything else.
 
In one of Les Strouds books he talks about how he and his wife lived in the Canadian wilderness in a survival/native hunter/gatherer type mode for a year. He readily admits that they did not eventually become one with nature or go with the natural flow but rather it was just as hard the first day as it was the last. Nature doesnt care about your survival skills. She just keeps throwing it at you every day in one way or another. How we deal with this mentally dictates how our outdoor adventures turnout. Just my .02$--KV
 
For me missing all of those things would be very hard, but I think that it would be worth it. I feel that if I were living that sort of lifestyle I might not miss alot of the TV/radio and other modern entertainment, just because it would take so much time to just sustain your situation. Hunting, fishing, planting, cutting wood, repairing the cabin, all these things would keep my busy, tired and hopefully happy. Winter's would be hard to be cooped up in a cabin though.

I know I could do it if I had to, and I have a feeling that if I tried and gave it up, it would not be because I wanted domino's pizza or to watch the OC. The hard part for me would be living isolated from my family/friends, but if I could get them all to come with me and I was reasonably sure I could pull it off, I would give it a shot. I know my skills are not up to snuff right now.

I would prefer some situation where I could go into a trading post every few months to get things that I couldn't make myself.
 
raindog101 said:
The lack of access to medical care would be a killer for some. Literally.
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for all sooner or later ! Medical or Dental emergency is multiplied 10 fold or more without proper treatment and can lead to other health or life threatening issues and eventually death....probably why pioneer folks did not live very long not to mention weather,terrain,wildlife ETC. :)
 
raindog101 said:
The lack of access to medical care would be a killer for some. Literally.
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Was just thinking about how my kid is getting of penicillin tomorrow.
I'm just not a "live in the nature" kind of person, I may be outnumbered here, but I like living in the civilized world.
 
As TexasTony mentioned, there's a reason that life expectancy was so short back in the pioneer days. I bet most of us here have already outlived the average back then.

I readily admit, I'm too fat and lazy to live in the boonies indefinitely. What if I broke my spectacles?!?
 
mymindisamob said:
My biggest fear about SHTF scenarios and fantasy/real wilderness living is the loss of music. I am not musically inclined either.
Besides that, as my health fails I find that I might miss more than when I was in my 20s. I did a couple years roughing it across the country, and it was very adventurous and all that, but I found I could live with way less than I have today.

As far as long term, I don't think I could now.
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everyone is musically inclined to some degree or other. that's why we love music. get yourself a Honer harmonica. you can get one for ~$30.
 
texastonydobbs said:
for all sooner or later ! Medical or dental emergency is multiplied 10 fold or more without proper treatment and can lead to other health or life threatening issues and eventually death....probably why pioneer folks did not live very long not to mention weather,terrain,wildlife etc. :)
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110% correct!!!!!
 
I could give it all up, but I wouldn't like it. :D I like my conveniences too much. That being said I wish it was more possible to spend plenty of time outdoors in the woods.
 
Well it really depends on what you are giving up?

I have friends who have done without running water or electric for years, homesteader types.

I know a lot of musicians and you can run a CD player on solar easily.

The hardest part is the lack of refrigeration. If you shoot a deer unless if it's cold and you can just let it hang and eat parts off of it you have to immediatly either can or jerk it up.

The real problem with living primitively is when you have to work off the farm too. It makes it really hard.

Our power back when we had a well was off for weeks before and it was extremely difficult to pump and heat water for dishes, water our goats and chickens and stay clean while working 8 hours a day and driving an hour each way to work.

If you are retired or have figured out how to get some income coming in where you don't have to leave and commute then it's not that hard.

However 3 things that really screw you are #1 the cost of land #2 the cost of health insurance, and #3 the cost of a vehicle and the mandatory insurance.

It is very hard to make enough to pay for land or health insurance doing day labor or selling stuff off your farm. A car is a terrible handicap. I have one friend who for years lived on about 3000 bucks a year. He had no insurance, walked or rode his bike everywhere and had no running water or electric. Had a big garden and lots of goats and poultry so he had milk and meat.
 
I'm young, in relatively good shape, with few obligations and no health concerns. I am not attached to TV, or the phone, or the 'net...I am pretty sure I could go for a while in the woods alone. I have actually wanted to try it but I feel like I need to do quite a few more short outings before going all out.
 
When I first read the OP, I was reminded of that movie and book Into the Wild, and the story of Christopher McCandless.

I am certain beyond any doubt that I would not fare well in a long term wilderness living situation.

I am good for maybe a week tops. I miss creature comforts after a couple of day and modern indulgences after that. I do have a pretty decent skill set...short term I'd survive. After that I become a real PITA to myself and those around me. I've never found (or needed to find) a rhythym for living long term in the wilderness, for giving up these things in my modern life.

Long term? Well best case scenario, for me at least...YMMV, would be to be eaten by a Bear and Crapped over a cliff
 
On the one hand, I'd like to live off the grid but I'd want to do it with all the comforts. I'd need to be able to generate power and have a well and still be connected to the rest of the world (satellite internet/tv).

However, that's a hard thing to do and not cheap. I would not want to live like a homesteading pioneer from the 18th or 19th century.

The compromise we made was to move from congested California suburbs in 1994 to rural Idaho on a little land. I can access backcountry quickly from here but be home for dinner (unless I screwed up).
 
Jenner 515 said:
When I first read the OP, I was reminded of that movie and book Into the Wild, and the story of Christopher McCandless.
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I will be the first to admit that I would give it a good try, but I would succumb also. He died because he ate the wrong plant, and his body couldn't absorb nutrients. A mistake, sort of the straw that broke the camels back.
 
CSG said:
On the one hand, I'd like to live off the grid but I'd want to do it with all the comforts. I'd need to be able to generate power and have a well and still be connected to the rest of the world (satellite internet/tv)..
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I have a pal who has no indoor plumbing, very minimal solar power but he has high speed internet and a laptop he uses to watch DVD's.

Stuff like that doesn't use a lot of power. What really eats your power is refrigeration.

Almost everybody I know who wants to keep food that needs refrigeration goes for either a natural gas (if they have free gas) or propane refrigerator.

My friend Helen built a large carport above her house. It has a gutter that goes into a buried plastic tank and then it gravity feeds to her house where she has a propane powered instant hot water heater. So she has running and hot water w/o electric.:thumbup:
 
The thing about using propane is that you're beholding to Hank Hill or one of his buddies. You are not "off the grid" when you rely on someone else to provide the things you need, like propane.

You can get 12v refrigeration using the type of refers that the RV industry uses. The problem is they tend to be very small.
 
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