Living "off grid"....

[Masis Eric]

I'm curious to see if anyone on here lives on a large piece of property and mostly off the grid.....

I'm going to go look at a 80 acre parcel in the next couple of weeks that is about a 4 hours drive up north for me. pretty inexpensive at 120k and it already has a well and a building site. The plan is to buy the land and slowly start fixing it up to potentially move up there full time in the next couple of years if not sooner.

I wouldn't be completely "off the grid" but I would def be farther away from stuff like the grocery store or a 7-11 than I'm used too.....

From the research I have done I can get satalite Internet (25 gigs a month for 125 dollars) so def not enough to stream but enough to do "internet" stuff...

Septic system would run around 10k and a propane tank would be anywhere from a 1-5k depending if I want to lease the tank or own it.

I would def be adding solar and some power banks.

As far as Income is related... I plan to still do my E commerce store and I could create some unique camp sites that I could rent out on hipcamp....

I also wont be moving alone... My parents and brothers family would be interested in moving up there with us so doing things like farming, bee keeping, hunting ect will be easier with more people..... We also already homeschool the young kids so school wouldn't necessarily be an issue....

I'm interested to see what everyone thinks.....

-Raul

I liked the idea very much. I am working with battery Banks and inverters as professional , if you have any questions in regards to a large size battery bank and inverters leave me a message.

Sent from my XT1585 using OB Talk mobile app

 

[dziner]

Not living there yet, but I have 30 acres with a hunting cabin off grid. My tiny (drying up right now) pond has a solar aeration system and I will have a drive point solar well/pump to keep the pond healthy soon.

The cabin has too many trees around it for solar, but kerosene lamps and an antique wood cook stove.

I may live there full time someday, but I'm getting old faster than I thought I would.............................................

I'm really interested in your pond/solar setup. I have a pond on my property as well and I'm curious how expensive/difficult it is to do a pump/aeration system that is off grid.

 

[dziner]

Good thread OP!

I own 21 acres of land in rural Pennsylvania. The land already has water, electric, and septic on it. But I'd really like to be off the grid and have something set back a bit further from the road. Though for ease of use, I could take advantage of what is already there, do a solar setup and energy efficient appliances and sell energy back to the grid what I don't use. I'm really thinking some sort of tiny home (I'm always on YouTube getting ideas).

But I also make a living online as a web designer/developer. And Internet access out there is something I haven't figured out yet. I have plans to plant fruit trees and such too though, both for my own use and to sell. Cell service is also spotty. But if I can figure out how to work from that location, and have a comfortable place to live with no mortgage, I'd be happy. I can always rent the house that I currently live in to pay the mortgage and offer me a few extra bucks every month.

 

[4wheelspulling]

I would put clean drinking water source at top of the priority list in search of a site. Next would be a clear view of the Southern sky, even in the winter, if you will be setting up solar power. Internet service should be up high on the list as well, so take your smart phone or a tablet and make sure you have strong enough signal on the property you are looking at. Trees for a wood heating source or just privacy is great. Think about your intentions of use. Is this a full time home or summer vacation, weekend cabin? Having propane is great for cooking and water heaters, but sometimes not the best heat source. Why? Burning propane puts a lot of moisture into the environment, of your cabin. Having both propane heat and wood heart works out well. Access to my place is difficult in the winter months due to snow and the elevation gain of the dirt/ gravel road to my place. 2000' in 4-1/2 miles! But with that I am only 7 miles to services and a Walmart! The steep road helps give me the remoteness of my place. I do not have the health or a snow plow to keep my road open in the winter. I took a snowmobile down to a neighbors place to use in the winter to get to my cabin. Even chained up with all Four tires and good chains is not enough sometimes at my place. Plus, it is no fun to get down off the hill to my home, crawl under and take off the tire chains, go to town, then have to crawl under and put back on the tire chains agin to make it maybe home!

Hope this gives some information and thoughts to think about with the search for off- grid living? I hope I did not scare you away from doing so? I would not trade my living situation for a place in the city, no matter how much I was paid! Benz.

 

[4wheelspulling]

Wanted to add a couple more pictures! Benz.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

I'm really interested in your pond/solar setup. I have a pond on my property as well and I'm curious how expensive/difficult it is to do a pump/aeration system that is off grid.

It's a VERY small pond, so the panel is only 35 watts, it has a regulator, then charges a deep cycle Interstate battery. The smallest invertor I could fit in the box and the largest aquarium pump I could find. Been running for 2 years, probably have $ 300 bucks in it. I bought the panel/regulator from Windy Nation.

There are dozens of designs, just Google around.

 

[dziner]

It's a VERY small pond, so the panel is only 35 watts, it has a regulator, then charges a deep cycle Interstate battery. The smallest invertor I could fit in the box and the largest aquarium pump I could find. Been running for 2 years, probably have $ 300 bucks in it. I bought the panel/regulator from Windy Nation.

There are dozens of designs, just Google around.

Cool. Thanks for the information.