Off Grid Homesteads – Everything You Need To Get Started

Off Grid Homesteads

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that many big parts of our lives are unreliable. Complete industries have been falling apart, and if your life relied on any of them, you took a massive hit.

Many people are choosing to not rely on big industries for their lifestyles any more. There is much more stability and security in doing it yourself. This need has led to homesteading.

What is homesteading?

Homesteading is all about making your household self-sufficient and less reliant on other people or businesses for your needs. This is a bit of a spectrum—as homesteading has become more popular, some people choose to grow their own food but remain on municipal power.

Living off grid is more than just homesteading. It’s living in an autonomous household. You are not connected to a utility for your power or water, and instead make it yourself or don’t use it at all.

Living Off the Grid

Going off the grid is going to reduce convenience for the sake of living by yourself. This is going to be a massive change from your conventional houses. Some of these major differences are:

Electricity – Without the municipal power, what will you use? Homesteaders choose between generating it or doing without.

Water – You can make it without electricity, but you can’t without water. You’ll need a well, collect rainwater, or another way of getting water.

Plumbing – You aren’t connected to the sewer. Off grid homesteaders require an outhouse, a composting toilet, or a septic tank to empty.

Food – Off grid homesteads are going to be further out and you will need to plan your food well. Will you grow it? Will you use a car?

For some people, these might make you turn down living it out. But for some of us, that’s music to our ears. Not relying on others means everything is in your power to do.

What does an off grid homestead look like?

Most off grid homesteads are small. That idyllic picture of a cabin in the woods is a good thing to consider. Going off the grid is about minimizing a lot of needs, and space is typically going to be one of them. Browsing through example homesteads, you’ll see mostly one room cabins.

You need much more than one room for space, though. A lot of homesteads in places with nicer climates choose an outside kitchen with just the roof over it. That makes cleaning easier, and being outside makes space less of an issue. The walk to your well will be easier too.

People starting with more money can install a solar PV system with a diesel generator for the backup in colder months. This will keep the lights on when you need them, alongside all your other appliances.

If these topics interest you, consider getting your own off grid homestead or watching documentaries on how others live. It’s a big lifestyle decision, but you will be beholden to much less people. Your life can be in your hands.

#ad