Non Electric Homestead McMinn County (for sale, rent, daycare)

[Pam& Bill]

Creeksitter,
Can you move your chair just a tad so I can set my chair next to yours? We can talk about why this has snuck into a daydream or two.... I'd love to understand why anyone would do this, obviously it isn't for me, but I would like to understand.
Pam

[Beretta]

I have a girlfriend that lives out in the country near Seattle. Oh what gorgeous pics she takes of the area, but I digress. She would love to do the same thing.....set up a homestead. Living in the Seattle area I think that there is a predisposition to earth friendly activities; but for Jo Anne she explains it on a personal level. She says that she feels the tug of being a hippie that was prevalent when she was a child, that she feels responsible for not letting the ways of the past be forgotten in all of our progress, and that she gets a special sense of accomplishment when she and the land have worked together to produce her needs. She feels that the use of plastic vs reusing glass and other such things is not being planet friendly. She really loves self sufficiency and her sense of pride when her family meal consists of bread she has baked and foods that she has grown and prepared is evident.

I don't pretend to speak for Jo Anne, but like others, I want to try to understand. This is very interesting to me as my own father was raised on a farm and the stories he shares of harsh realities do not seem romantic or anything I would want to do. Dad appreciates running water, and electricity and grocery stores. I still remember the wood stove, outhouses, getting water from the well, collecting eggs, butchering the cows, etc. from my time on my grandparents farm. I remember how stressful it was if the weather didn't cooperate and there was concern that there wouldn't be much food put up that year and that the animals didn't have hay for the winter, etc.

I also look forward to replies from those that are interested in homesteading in these days and times.

[Pam& Bill]

SMG,
It is an interesting point you bring up. About pride in eating what you've produced. I hadn't thought of that and you are probably right.
I was born and raised on farms, I helped bring the cows in from the fields when it was time to milk them and I did my share when it was time to slaughter the chickens, I also spent a good amount of hours weeding the garden. We never had an outhouse, but we did depend on the weather and lived a harsh life ruled by cruel Mother Nature.
Maybe this is why I find homesteading in this day and age so hard to comprehend. Farming was a tough life to live, not to mention how it ages one prematurely. So I am interested in hearing others thoughts on Homesteading because Creeksitter is taking a nap!
Pam

[McMar]

I love the idea of simple living - off the grid. Solar showers, ok. Rainwater collection, ok. Growing my own veggies and eating little meat - ok. However, I could not deal with an outhouse. Anyone ever had a composting toilet?

[Kim918]

The whole idea of living off the grid is so foreign to me, but at the same time it sounds like an amazing thing to be able to do.

Okay, question from a city slicker. So you live off the land.... farm, raise veggies etc.. use an outhouse. What about working? From what the op said, if they lived like this they will be able to save money, so I am assuming they work day jobs. It would be like time travel. Go home and step way back in time, go to work and be in the year 2008. I think it would be too hard trying to manage both lives. Especially with an outhouse. LOL! I get up for work at 3am everyday. It's dark outside. I could not imagine not having a hot shower (just turn on the faucet) a nice warm, well lit bathroom with plenty of room for cosmetics etc. It seems like it would be hard to step back in time only part of the time, but then have to join the rat race by day.

I too, am anxious to read the op story as it unfolds.

[Eat]

Don't confuse living off the grid with the title of this thread. They are talking about a non-electric homestead, which is an entirely different thing.

Living off the grid simply means your home is not tied to the electric utility. However, you can still have electric everything if you generate enough of your own power, and a lot of people do just that, while a non-electric homestead means doing without electricity entirely, as I understand it.

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by Eat

Don't confuse living off the grid with the title of this thread. They are talking about a non-electric homestead, which is an entirely different thing.

Living off the grid simply means your home is not tied to the electric utility. However, you can still have electric everything if you generate enough of your own power, and a lot of people do just that, while a non-electric homestead means doing without electricity entirely, as I understand it.

Great point, thanks Eat. I really thought that they were going both non-electric and homesteading.

[MooksterL1]

I really have nothing helpful to add, but I just wanted to say best wishes! It does sound like an amazing adventure and I can't wait to read updates!

Just for a little inspiration for non-traditional housing..... Paradise Found: Home Front: Cookiemag.com

[creeksitter]

P&B, yes I've been asleep. Normally Sunday afternoons find me sitting by a creek reading the NY times in the "wilderness" of the Smokies. Today I sat by the TN river, then went on a pilgrimage to Norris to seek out trout lilies.

To answer your guestion: too many subscriptions to Mother Earth News at an impressionable age. It's just daydreams after all. Clearly I've never had to be self sustaining so I don't know how hard it is. Todays NYT had an article about the new survivalism and it got me thinking about building a solar survivalist shack. My dad has some property in N Anderson county with good soil and a year round stream. But at 52, I doubt I have the physical stamina to be a year round survivalist. I do love to putter in the garden and that satisfies my agricultural urges.

[Pam& Bill]

Creeksitter,
I guess my impressionable years were wasted reading Mad magazine or Cosmo. I can't say I've ever read Mother Earth news.
I find the NYT touting a survivalist fad pretty humorous. Brings to mind aging yuppies being bored and looking for the newest Utopia or the easiest way to buy contentment in order to convince themselves they are doing something worthwhile. But I digress.
A survivalist lifestyle isn't something I would even attempt and I'm younger then you. If I had to be self sustaining and grow my own food, I'd starve. I start out like gang busters every spring and soon lose interest. Plus veggies are not my favorite food group, so I'm sure that is why I lose interest. I could fish and even put the worm on the hook, but I don't clean them or eat them. So see? I'd starve.
I think I've hit upon an understanding of why this choice wouldn't be for me and I can understand better why someone would want to do it.
Pam