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Could one live worry-free. Grow my own bananas and pineapples. Grow my own sugar and eat banana smoothies broke. Gather wood for Hawaiian cookouts and fish in the rivers and open fire cook Hawaiian food year round.
My only problem would be how to pay the property tax but I could pay my taxes by the banana and not touch any money. Correct?
Because then all you have to do is dedicate your life to paying for a parcel of Hawaiian land and then your kids can be home-schooled and then after high school, just live on the land and enjoy bananas and seafood. Do people try this? Is this a viable life option for mainlanders who want an escape?
Well, move to Puna and see how long you last. There are a lot of folks who have moved over to this island and are trying a similar sort of thing, most of them are in the Puna area.
The "not touch any money" part doesn't work all that well. Most folks will need some sort of income for things such as cell phones and dentist bills. Now there's the required health insurance, not sure how that's gonna affect the Puna folk. You'll need an income to buy food until you get the garden going. You'll still need an income to buy the blender and electricity to make the smoothies.
If you're gonna cook with wood, look into "justa" stoves. It's a carbureated stove that uses a lot less fuel than an open wood fire.
You'll want to plant more than bananas and pineapples. Papayas and sweet potatoes are pretty easy to grow, you could add those to the list. There's a pretty large learning curve to gardening in Hawaii. CTAHR has a lot of info on growing things in a subtropical climate, but their website is a bit awkward to navigate.
The only river on the island is in Hilo and there's more and better fish in the sea than in the river. But the inexpensive land isn't very close to the ocean so you'd be better off eating the feral pigs instead. Not to mention you need to keep the pigs from digging up your food garden, too.
If you're planning on doing this sort of thing, you may want to do a bit of WWOOFing first. That will give you a bit of experience in growing things and many of the WWOOFing situations are off grid and semi feral.
So, yes, it can be done but you'll still need some income of some type. That can be by selling the bananas and perhaps by doing some odd jobs, too, since I doubt you could sell enough bananas to cover what you'd need. But, I know folks who support themselves doing craft fairs, other folks who support themselves doing yard care so you can support yourself and not have a 9 to 5 job. If you live inexpensively enough you don't have to work that hard. But, you'll have to work at providing what you need and you'll have to not want a car or other things that are expensive to keep around. It's also best to find other folks doing a similar thing so you can trade what you provide with some (hopefully different) thing that they provide.
There is also the expense of setting the whole thing up so that needs to be factored in.
Location: Southernmost tip of the southernmost island in the southernmost state
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hotzcatz
Well, move to Puna and see how long you last. There are a lot of folks who have moved over to this island and are trying a similar sort of thing, most of them are in the Puna area.
The "not touch any money" part doesn't work all that well. Most folks will need some sort of income for things such as cell phones and dentist bills. Now there's the required health insurance, not sure how that's gonna affect the Puna folk. You'll need an income to buy food until you get the garden going. You'll still need an income to buy the blender and electricity to make the smoothies.
If you're gonna cook with wood, look into "justa" stoves. It's a carbureated stove that uses a lot less fuel than an open wood fire.
You'll want to plant more than bananas and pineapples. Papayas and sweet potatoes are pretty easy to grow, you could add those to the list. There's a pretty large learning curve to gardening in Hawaii. CTAHR has a lot of info on growing things in a subtropical climate, but their website is a bit awkward to navigate.
The only river on the island is in Hilo and there's more and better fish in the sea than in the river. But the inexpensive land isn't very close to the ocean so you'd be better off eating the feral pigs instead. Not to mention you need to keep the pigs from digging up your food garden, too.
If you're planning on doing this sort of thing, you may want to do a bit of WWOOFing first. That will give you a bit of experience in growing things and many of the WWOOFing situations are off grid and semi feral.
So, yes, it can be done but you'll still need some income of some type. That can be by selling the bananas and perhaps by doing some odd jobs, too, since I doubt you could sell enough bananas to cover what you'd need. But, I know folks who support themselves doing craft fairs, other folks who support themselves doing yard care so you can support yourself and not have a 9 to 5 job. If you live inexpensively enough you don't have to work that hard. But, you'll have to work at providing what you need and you'll have to not want a car or other things that are expensive to keep around. It's also best to find other folks doing a similar thing so you can trade what you provide with some (hopefully different) thing that they provide.
There is also the expense of setting the whole thing up so that needs to be factored in.
And be prepared for the freak wind-storm that comes along and wipes out half your crops or drops an Albizia on your greenhouse. The storm week before last wiped out a lot of my garden and those of folks I have talked too.
It is the dream of many to live "off the grid". The recent TV series "Mountain Men" showed the struggles of those who "live off the land" in the mountains. The one in NC {Eustace} bartered his services to acquire money to pay his taxes and had no qualms about going on horseback to the Town offices to pay them.Another traps furs for his keep,etc. There also have been "pioneer" tv shows where people leave the modern trappings and set out to set up an old fashioned homestead instead. There are still more shows about "living off the land" like "Live Free or Die". Check them out online you might find usefull viewing.
You could do that too{barter money for your services}, though if everyone in the area like Hotzcatz mentions is doing the same, it might be hard.
In growing/planning to grow your own food, be sure to get a consistant well-balanced diet, not just bananas and pineapples.
Also pineapples take, what, 2 years to produce their first "fruit",and time passes before the second one, so you won't be eating pineapples soon if you have to plant them from scratch. Bananas take a while too. I know, I have tried growing them from start ups {not so successful to actually produce fruits here in the northern tundra of NY}. SO plan on annual or seasonal veggies that are quicker to produce while you await the others...Naturally If you buy property with established plantings you are better off.
My next planting will be a "multiple fruit tree" from any number of seedling sellers, which will grow partly apples, partly pears, partly peaches, and the like, like that. {it is a sapling grafted with branches of each fruit kind on one tree trunk instead of having to have all the different trees fro each fruit.}.You might look into those, too.
But, be prepared for hard work in doing the "living off the land" stuff. It may seem you only need "dedicate your life" to growing and chasing a few bucks for taxes, but it is no easy task. And learn how to properly "home can" goods in glass mason jars for the "lean times" when maybe your crop is wiped out like Grassyknoll says.
IFyou CAN live off the land in an inexpensive way, then maybe the low-paying hospitality job{s} may actually pay your way if you are willing to do that kind of work. Figure out what you need to pay out, and include some extra for emergency and other non-barter purchased goods, and maybe then it could work.
It is unfortunate that we do live in a society that wants money to run everything,so you won't totally escape the need for some cash on hand.
Check out WWoofing like hotzcatz says, or check out a commune {same type of kinda idea}, which strives to be somewhat independent.
Good luck if you try it! Let us know how you make out.
-galaxy
My next planting will be a "multiple fruit tree" from any number of seedling sellers, which will grow partly apples, partly pears, partly peaches, and the like, like that. {it is a sapling grafted with branches of each fruit kind on one tree trunk instead of having to have all the different trees fro each fruit.}.You might look into those, too.
There are several good Gardening in Hawai'i sites that will quickly disabuse you of silly suggestions like this. The reason apples, pears, peaches, cherries and the like are not grown commercially in Hawai'i is because they barely grow at all in Hawai'i. These are all fruit trees which normally require an extended period of cold (i.e. winter) in order to produce fruit. There are exceptions, but they ARE exceptions.
As far as living on sugar-laden bananas, nutrition experts point out that while eating a banana or two a day as part of a well balanced diet is generally considered healthy, consuming more than two bananas a day is associated with various health risks, including headaches, sleepiness, and tooth decay, and a diet based on bananas is missing a number of essential nutrients needed for normal body function.
Bananas are very widely eaten around the world, but not as the foundation for a complete diet.
How are you going to (literally) put a roof over your children's heads that you plan to home school? Build some unpermitted structure that isn't built to code (therefore potentially unsafe & dangerous) that you cannot insure? Home school usually involves some expense as well, materials, laptop, etc. Gas to get here and there. Car to put the gas in to get here and there. People get sick sometimes or get hurt and need a doctor or dentist. People need clothing, shoes. No one can be healthy eating a limited diet of bananas, papayas, coconut and the occasional fish or pig. Hunting and fishing gear are not free. You would need several acres so that you could have a wide variety of crops plus room for a few chickens, goats or some other source of protein. Whose wood are you going to collect for your fires?
From what are you trying to escape? Likely what ever that is won't disappear when you change zip codes.
Could one live worry-free. Grow my own bananas and pineapples. Grow my own sugar and eat banana smoothies broke. Gather wood for Hawaiian cookouts and fish in the rivers and open fire cook Hawaiian food year round.
My only problem would be how to pay the property tax but I could pay my taxes by the banana and not touch any money. Correct?
Because then all you have to do is dedicate your life to paying for a parcel of Hawaiian land and then your kids can be home-schooled and then after high school, just live on the land and enjoy bananas and seafood. Do people try this? Is this a viable life option for mainlanders who want an escape?
Your first line, COULD ONE LIVE WORRY-FREE.....
I would say NO. That sounds like a very stressful situation.
The proper way to live a life is to engage in something meaningful for yourself, make an income at that, and sustain the rest. Your option seems to be to disengage from everything except a crop of sugar beats and bananas on a small plot of land, and raise kids on that and fish. I think you'll find that kids have way more demands than just that, as does home schooling.
My personal theory is the original question originated from someone trying to escape winter. 'Tis the season, after all, folks over there on the mainland are freezing their okoles off and may be working a job they don't like, as well. Dreaming about just chucking the whole enchilada and going off to live "stress free" in Hawaii probably has a lot of appeal to it. Especially this time of year. At least his daydream didn't include deserted pristine white sand beaches with little grass shacks along with bartenders dispensing free mai tais. Kinda charming to have daydreams with a touch of maybe-could-actually-do sort of vibe.
"My next planting will be a "multiple fruit tree" from any number of seedling sellers, which will grow partly apples, partly pears, partly peaches, and the like, like that. {it is a sapling grafted with branches of each fruit kind on one tree trunk instead of having to have all the different trees for each fruit.}.You might look into those, too"
There are several good Gardening in Hawai'i sites that will quickly disabuse you of silly suggestions like this. The reason apples, pears, peaches, cherries and the like are not grown commercially in Hawai'i is because they barely grow at all in Hawai'i. These are all fruit trees which normally require an extended period of cold (i.e. winter) in order to produce fruit. There are exceptions, but they ARE exceptions.
Note, OpenD, I still maintain a residence in NY, while only still "visiting Hawaii", {which will hopefully turn into reitrement wintering on HI, and summering here in NY, going Upstate until age forces a decision on which to become "home"}.I said "my next planting will be",as in here, in NY. I assure you, these trees will grow here, where apples are a large produce product here in NY. Although, I was skeptical about the peaches growing here, {generally grown in areas like Georgia's climate on this coast} but I am assured they {peaches} WILL, in fact, thrive in NY weather, and won't die off that 1/4 of the tree. I meant seek out {if ANY} of the like in HI for HI living. Saves space, provides variety of produce in one source.So DO check out those EXCEPTIONS you mention.
I am glad to see, OpenD, that you agree a diet in only bananas {and pineapple} is not exactly good for one.
Variety is best. ANd I don't know about "canning" bananas, although it can be done!:
"Canned bananas are perfect for making banana bread, banana cream pie, popsicles, and for putting in smoothies. They also make great baby food! You'll need a good abundance of bananas, as it takes about 6 bananas to fill a pint. If you find a great deal on bananas, you can stock up!"{From a Prepper site}.
He could sell fresh bananas, canned bananas, Bananaberry spread, banana butter, banana jam, mango-banana jam, etc.banana bana, bo banna, fee fi fo fanana, banana
No worries, plant the right varieties and you can have peaches, pears and apples in Hawaii. Here's link about required chill hours for them to produce: Bay Laurel Nursery Chill Hours
We got a pear this year from our Kieffer pear tree and it's only two years old. Bay Laurel sends nice trees and they will mail order to Hawaii.
But, it does take awhile before they produce anything, let alone enough to provide enough to sell for any sort of income or enough to actually make a dent in someone's food budget.
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