Changing my, and my Family's Life Forever....

[Beekissed]

We homesteaded in this manner when I was growing up and its not as hard as folks imagine. Much harder in Alaska bush but the needs are still the same. You need warm shelter, a good road in and out, reliable transportation, some knowledge base for killing, processing and preserving wild game, a good water supply and a great imagination. Also a good skill set for growing gardens, orchards, etc.

I hesitate to think that you will earn much money off your furs, goat kids and such. It works better if you have a marketable skill or something you can produce to earn more money, or even if one of you can commute to a job of some type to defray some of the costs of just living.

You also need to be prepared for some pretty serious predators. You will have the easiest prey around. If you do not currently hunt or have no hunting skills, this is something you are seriously going to need to supplement your food supplies and to ward off predators.

Come on over to SS and hash it out...there are a few of us who have homesteaded and lived off grid on barely nothing at all. We can give you some answers to some of your questions and maybe some encouragement.

 

[koonaone]

Go for it. And hair on ye!!

We did for 40 years, we are plugged in now on a lake shore in BC, as my wife is disabled pretty severely, though I personaly will go back to it if I'm left alone in life, goddess forbid.

We lived from alaska to queen charlottes, Oregon, chiapus state mex.. to guatemala and points in between, in that time. Average periodicity ~ 2 years per location. A lifetime of good memories, a batch of good kids, and some good good friends, when you get old there isn't much more to wish for I think.

Your kids will need/want (important to differentiate) more social life when thier pubes come in. That doesn't mean they have to live in town though. I guided fishing trips, wildlife photography trips, taught ecosystem analysis courses, that kind of thing. We always had people around a good part of the year. Imported friends and families kids and so on.

I raised 4 kids, NO school, taught them all to be rabid readers and to watch thier money like a hawk. Be aware though, you can't teach kids stuff that you don't know yourself, so for instance if you have never mastered academic discipline you won't be able to instill it in yur kids. (memorise the latin names of all NA mammals, why? just because! sometimes you have to do stuff like that.) Of mine 2 have advanced degrees, (architecture, recreational psychiatry) one owns her own daycare around Boise, Id, 1 is a happily henpecked working stiff.

Unless you can afford to buy in to one of the few ways of life that make any sense, like ranching, organic veggie production etc., the plan that you laid out is as sane as can be in a kinda insane world. I suspect you are going to be in the vanguard of hundreds of thousands wanting to do the same thing soon. This economic crunch is just starting to heat up you know. I also suspect the governments are going to try to stop it this time around, i wish them bad luck.

So yes, go for it, and yes, use your head as best you can.

yours

douglas

 

[thaiturkey]

Quote:
Great stuff! And the internet is so useful these days for education and help.

 

[koonaone]

Hey Stu

I just had a happy hour rambling through your expat blog, I love it. How far would $2600 cdn go for shelter, healthy food, home brew makings etc., over there?

douglas

 

[thaiturkey]

Quote:
Hi Douglas.

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it!

You could live a quite comfortable if simple lifestyle here for that. Some people do it on half the amount you mention. If you want to live in Bangkok or a tourist area you might want a bit more but your amount would still be enough to be comfortable.

As an example of prices, we eat out for around $17cdn for two, including a couple of beers for me. That often includes Western style cooking for me which is more expensive than the local dishes.

 

[annie3001]

Quote:
ditto

 

[whillo]

Wow, I loved this thread. Just one of the things that was always on my bucket list, but life kept getting in the way. And teenagers... they would have had me locked up as certifiably insane if I'd told them we were leaving dance, football and theatre. Now they're grown and I'm a bit tired and appreciate the internet that keeps the grandkid's pictures coming regularly.

More power to you! Awesome that there's so many here to give you advice and encouragement!

 

[KimberlyJ]

There was a documentary on TV not too long ago (or perhaps a 20/20 type special) about a couple with 2 girls that lived in the Alaska bush. The girls are now grown and moved to populated places in AK, but had come home to visit. They actually had two homes as the areas around each would get hunted out. They spent summers at one growing things and then winter at another hunting for fur and meat. Both homes were TINY...with the girls home they were very crowded, I think the father had to sleep in the wood shed.. It seemed to me to be a VERY frugal existance. In the clip he was drying meat and a bear came in to steal some....so then he had bear meat drying too.

I can't remember the name of it, I'm sorry. But it was both fasinating and frightening at the same time. Living that remotely seems like such a cool dream...but they worked HARD, ALL day and into the night too just to live a meager existance.

Good Luck with your decision.

 

[Mattemma]

That sounds exciting. I have always wanted to get some land and put up a yurt.I don't know if I would want to be so far from the city though.Out houses aren't to bad.My gm had one in her small village home.Washing the cloths by hand was a bit of a drag,but I got used to it. I LOVED cooking by the wood burning stove.And I loved her yard which was full of fruit and nut trees.

 

[chickenbottom]

if you were to want electricity solar panals would be great. you also could do a solar water heater for a bathroom if you wanted to. i would love to live like this personally. im beginning to hate modern times and going back to old ways would be wonderful for many different reasons. good luck to you on your journey to a great way of living.