So a loner, a crazy family, and some kind of MMMFF orgy thing.

I sometimes wonder what became of GaryPDX and whether he finally pulled the plug on his internet feed.

Why is the guy in the first picture wearing a Snuggie?

They look like serious posers.

Also, living "off the grid" is all find and dandy until you need an insulin shot, or get a compound fracture.

Some of those look to be Amish people. They've perfected the art of living off the grid.

WTF Indeed: some kind of MMMFF orgy thing.

not that there's anything wrong with that.

In my day, we called them hippies and Backwoods folk.

The lifestyle is fine -- if you enjoy intense labor every day just to exist, don't mind your women looking mostly like guys and guys looking like Hillbillies. If you get seriously sick, you might have a bit of a problem getting medical care in time and 'natural cures' are NOT as good as everyone wants you to think. Most of our current medications came from natural cures AFTER they had been distilled, concentrated and often mixed with other chemicals.

Making your own soap and candles from 'natural' stuff like meat tallow and fats, which you have to first catch and render, is a real biatch also. (Most herbal soap makers today buy their basic soap ingredients and combine them to sell you 'natural, hand made soap'.)

Plus, you had best know EXACTLY what you're doing to preserve food, especially canning. You'll need about a barrel full of salt. Make a mistake and you die. Rather unpleasantly too.

That said, in my twenties, I seriously considered getting a chunk of land in the woods, building my own cabin and kind of living somewhat off the grid. About that time, though, I REALLY discovered girls, booze, parties and drove a tricked out 1967 Pontiac GTO.
Not too many girls, I discovered, were interested in trekking out into the bush, fighting bugs, swinging an axe or helping rip the skin off a freshly killed animal.

Besides, they looked so much cuter all made up. It was the 70's. Guys looked dumb but women looked HOT!

So, I never built that cabin. I also discovered that I like a/c, TV and computers -- and black lights.

My idea now would be a solar cell powered place, probably one of those Tiny Cabins on wheels (no -- not motor homes, real cabins that you tow) a generator, and access to a grocery store, even if it was miles away. The idea of the nearest neighbor being at least a mile away sounds real good to me. And forest. Lots of forest.

What exactly am I looking at?

Subby says it's living off the grid, TFA says it's people living in harmony with nature.

What do I get instead?

Pic 1) The crazy guy from The Village

Pic 2) The crazy guy from The Village has a motion detecting camera permanently wired to look at his kitchen table. That's not harmony with nature, that's paranoid schizophrenia.

Pic 4) What is this I don't even

Pic 5) "Harmony with nature" means modern firearms, a modern (albeit wood burning) kitchen, metal knives, modern glass and metal pots and pans. None of those things could exist without technology from the 1800's, much less the modern day.

Etc. etc. etc... eventually we get to a tribe of fair skinned people with nice complexions covered in gourds. From the bow and arrow, I'm more inclined to think that these people are reenacting the Hunger Games.

I'm not exactly sure what it means to live in harmony with nature. I would have loved some text accompanying these pictures explaining who these people are and what they're trying to accomplish. The first two sets of people definitely don't look like they've totally forsaken modern conveniences, and the last set honestly looks more like an art project than real people surviving in the wilderness.

Fubini: What exactly am I looking at?.

'off the grid' means different things to different people. it can mean people deciding what level of technology they're comfortable with and living at that level or it can mean rejecting as much technology as possible. it can even mean trying to live as self sufficently as you can.

Weaver95: Fubini: What exactly am I looking at?.

'off the grid' means different things to different people. it can mean people deciding what level of technology they're comfortable with and living at that level or it can mean rejecting as much technology as possible. it can even mean trying to live as self sufficently as you can.

The only context I've ever heard "off the grid" used with is in terms of preventing electronic surveillance, or in the literal sense of the electric/water/sewage/etc. grid.

I'd still like to know what these people think they're accomplishing with their lives, other than existing.

Fubini: I'd still like to know what these people think they're accomplishing with their lives, other than existing.

you'd have to track them down and ask them yourself. it means different things to different people.

Rik01: Making your own soap and candles from 'natural' stuff like meat tallow and fats, which you have to first catch and render, is a real biatch also. (Most herbal soap makers today buy their basic soap ingredients and combine them to sell you 'natural, hand made soap'.)

Apparently soapmaking was such a biatch that they couldn't be bothered with it.

Rik01: Plus, you had best know EXACTLY what you're doing to preserve food, especially canning.


It's super easy to preserve food. People did it for 10s of 1000s of years before we even knew botulism came from little invisible bugs. Not exactly rocket science.

doglover: Rik01: Plus, you had best know EXACTLY what you're doing to preserve food, especially canning.


It's super easy to preserve food. People did it for 10s of 1000s of years before we even knew botulism came from little invisible bugs. Not exactly rocket science.

as long as you follow basic sanitation procedures, it's not even an issue.

Weaver95: doglover: Rik01: Plus, you had best know EXACTLY what you're doing to preserve food, especially canning.


It's super easy to preserve food. People did it for 10s of 1000s of years before we even knew botulism came from little invisible bugs. Not exactly rocket science.

as long as you follow basic sanitation procedures, it's not even an issue.

Even if you don't, it's hard to get food poisoning. In the Middle Ages people used to cure meat by hanging it up. Just hangin' it up there. They somehow managed to become our ancestors anyway.

More power to people if they can do this.

If I lived 'off the grid', I would do so in town. You can't deny the need for social interaction. But what is 'off the grid'? I thought it being disconnected from the power, sewage and water grids. I wouldn't call these people 'off grid'. A better word or phrase would be 'self sufficient'.

Either way, learning to live within the environment you are in makes sense. I live in a desert, so it would make sense that I practice water conservation, have a home that can protect me from the summer sun and winter moon, know the flora and fauna, geography, and so on.

Meh. Needs more hi-res pics. I can't quite make out what these pictures are supposed to be showing me.

Luckily, we have the men of the Night's Watch to protect us from the dirty hippies north of the Wall.

Marcus Aurelius: I sometimes wonder what became of GaryPDX and whether he finally pulled the plug on his internet feed.

He's a dolt.

Let's find out.... "Who's More Grizzled?!"

Fuggin Bizzy : Meh. Needs more hi-res pics. I can't quite make out what these pictures are supposed to be showing me.

I know what these pictures don't show ...

// black people

// or even brown people

// when I live off the land, I do it for fun, over very short periods of time. I am too fond of the modern marvels of science to do otherwise (I'm a programmer damnit, could you imagine me going computer free for a month? Not gonna happen).

Bring me that tenderloin baby!

I have no problem with people who want to live off of the the grid. If they enjoy such a lifestyle then all the more power to them.

However, from the little blurb at the site we have this, "to not be a part of problem anymore." Sorry, but if that is the case then all these people are doing is running away from the problems of the world, and that does nothing to help solve those problems. Kind of a shiatty reason to go live off of the grid.

Fubini: I'd still like to know what these people think they're accomplishing with their lives, other than existing.

A ridiculously empty question.

A little context would have been nice.

or am I being foiled by NoScript again (which I am okay with)?

They look smelly.

here to help: A little context would have been nice.

or am I being foiled by NoScript again (which I am okay with)?

Would have liked to seen more than just images. At least a couple paragraphs of something.

Fubini: What exactly am I looking at?




All natural tampons for women.

A lot of hate in this thread that I think may stem partly from subconscious jealousy. These people are free in a way few people anymore can comprehend.

Mock26: Kind of a shiatty reason to go live off of the grid.

Why? I think it's a good reason. What other reasons are there? Become a stuffed suit politico who'll eventually just bow down and become what they hated?

Not creating tons of trash or using fossil fuels and living conservatively off the land has a very large impact.

Do you know how much garbage is produced by the average first worlder?

Well I don't either... but I know it's a lot.

I say good for the freaks. I wish there were more like them.

I'm certain back in days where people actually lived like that by necessity the average person thought "man, if there were only a way to make life easier". At the least, I'm sure most would easily trade lives with modern people today.

The young people in the 'clan of the cave bears' dearskin are students in a 'wilderness class'...who pay 600 bucks a week to the instructor to dress-up and learn skills.
http://www.lynxvilden.com/p/contact.h tml

Basically a summer camp for Hippies.
http://www.lynxvilden.com/p/2012-sche dule.html

Here's a list of things you need to bring to $1000 immersion camp:


* MINIMUM 6 LARGE BRAIN TANNED DEER HIDES (OR BUCKSKIN CLOTHES)
* STONE AGE TOOL KIT INCLUDING; FIRE KIT, BONE AWL, STONE KNIFE
* PACK BASKET
* 5LBS DRIED WILD PLANT FOODS
* 5LBS DRIED WILD MEAT OR FISH
* 1LB RENDERED FAT
* WATER CONTAINER
* GATHERING BASKET
* EATING BOWL AND UTENSILS
* RAWHIDE OR BUCKSKIN FOOD CONTAINERS.
* SELF BOW AND ARROWS (OPTIONAL)
* BRING A RAW/DRY SALTED WINTER KILL COW BUFFALO HIDE OR 10LBS OF GOOD FELTING SHEEP WOOL FOR THE BEDDING CLASS.

bim1154: Would have liked to seen more than just images. At least a couple paragraphs of something.

Totally.

And now I'm assuming we're all on some kind of CIA "KILL ALL HIPPIES" watchlist just for checking out that website.

because rejecting consumerism is BAD... m'kay.

Mock26: I have no problem with people who want to live off of the the grid. If they enjoy such a lifestyle then all the more power to them.

However, from the little blurb at the site we have this, "to not be a part of problem anymore." Sorry, but if that is the case then all these people are doing is running away from the problems of the world, and that does nothing to help solve those problems. Kind of a shiatty reason to go live off of the grid.

This is very true. If anyone has time, watch the Doco 'Ishi, Last of the Yahi' on Netflix. He was the last of his people, and knew his homeland, knew how to live in it, knew everything about his surroundings and yet he starved and ultimately gave up as he slowly lost the land and its resources to encroachment of settlers.

I do want some of that buckskin clothing.

Stop. Shower time.

optikeye: The young people in the 'clan of the cave bears' dearskin are students in a 'wilderness class'...who pay 600 bucks a week to the instructor to dress-up and learn skills.
http://www.lynxvilden.com/p/contact.h tml

Basically a summer camp for Hippies.
http://www.lynxvilden.com/p/2012-sche dule.html

Here's a list of things you need to bring to $1000 immersion camp:


* MINIMUM 6 LARGE BRAIN TANNED DEER HIDES (OR BUCKSKIN CLOTHES)
* STONE AGE TOOL KIT INCLUDING; FIRE KIT, BONE AWL, STONE KNIFE
* PACK BASKET
* 5LBS DRIED WILD PLANT FOODS
* 5LBS DRIED WILD MEAT OR FISH
* 1LB RENDERED FAT
* WATER CONTAINER
* GATHERING BASKET
* EATING BOWL AND UTENSILS
* RAWHIDE OR BUCKSKIN FOOD CONTAINERS.
* SELF BOW AND ARROWS (OPTIONAL)
* BRING A RAW/DRY SALTED WINTER KILL COW BUFFALO HIDE OR 10LBS OF GOOD FELTING SHEEP WOOL FOR THE BEDDING CLASS.

Well that's just annoying.

And those kids did look a little "trust fund-ish".

I'd still rail the chicks though.

Triple bagged of course.

Fubini:
I'd still like to know what these people think they're accomplishing with their lives, other than existing.

THIS THIS THIS. What have they done to better the world, to help other people, to make a positive impact in society, to help future generations? Nothin'. They're just existing. Whooptie.

Kaiku: These people are free in a way few people anymore can comprehend.

Especially the instructor who's getting 600 to 1000 bucks a person from the young people in the last photos for a week long class.

kmmontandon: They look like serious posers.

Also, living "off the grid" is all find and dandy until you need an insulin shot, or get a compound fracture.

This isn't true at all. Back in the good old days, people were amazingly healthy.
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Because when they got sick, they died. People living completely off the grid have the ultimate treatment for diabetes and compound fractures- it's called death.

That's the most awesome thing about the Paleo diet. The people who follow the diet (like Innuits) live good, productive, sickness free lives, and die on the average at 40. They don't have most of the problems that modern people do because they don't live long enough.

As long as you're willing to have a 25% chance of dying before the age of 1 and another 50% chance of dying before you're 25, you can get away with all sorts of things that modern people 'need'.

I guess that could be fun in a "The Hills Have Eyes" kind of way.

optikeye: The young people in the 'clan of the cave bears' dearskin are students in a 'wilderness class'...who pay 600 bucks a week to the instructor to dress-up and learn skills.
http://www.lynxvilden.com/p/contact.h tml

Basically a summer camp for Hippies.
http://www.lynxvilden.com/p/2012-sche dule.html

Here's a list of things you need to bring to $1000 immersion camp:


* MINIMUM 6 LARGE BRAIN TANNED DEER HIDES (OR BUCKSKIN CLOTHES)
* STONE AGE TOOL KIT INCLUDING; FIRE KIT, BONE AWL, STONE KNIFE
* PACK BASKET
* 5LBS DRIED WILD PLANT FOODS
* 5LBS DRIED WILD MEAT OR FISH
* 1LB RENDERED FAT
* WATER CONTAINER
* GATHERING BASKET
* EATING BOWL AND UTENSILS
* RAWHIDE OR BUCKSKIN FOOD CONTAINERS.
* SELF BOW AND ARROWS (OPTIONAL)
* BRING A RAW/DRY SALTED WINTER KILL COW BUFFALO HIDE OR 10LBS OF GOOD FELTING SHEEP WOOL FOR THE BEDDING CLASS.

How long is the class?
I took a 7 day class with Cody Lundin and traipsed across the desert with just about only the clothing on my back (plus water bottles, blanket, knife). We didn't need any of what you've listed. It was ... very educational and a wake up call to what we really need and what is really important.

I love a comfy bed inside of a good home. I love clean water and sewers/toilets. These were things I appreciate +1000% more than I did before.

Fallout 3 Cosplayers, unite!

Excellent "Wasteland Settler's Outfit", and "Brahmin-Skin Outfit"!

Ribbons all around for these folks!

/and have some Purified Water, you earned it

optikeye: Kaiku: These people are free in a way few people anymore can comprehend.

Especially the instructor who's getting 600 to 1000 bucks a person from the young people in the last photos for a week long class.

And he gets to do "Tick Checks" daily to the naive! Hell, I use to when I was a white water kayak instructor at the end of the day till they caught on.

Hankie Fest: Fubini:
I'd still like to know what these people think they're accomplishing with their lives, other than existing.

THIS THIS THIS. What have they done to better the world, to help other people, to make a positive impact in society, to help future generations? Nothin'. They're just existing. Whooptie.

What have YOU done?

You're sitting on Fark deriding these people you don't even know on a Sunday night.

I highly doubt you have bettered humanity in any significant way based on that fact alone.

No offense but... c'mon.

"Not being part of the problem" is an interesting reason to do that. If they did away with themselves, wouldn't that make them even a lesser burden on the earth?

I can't help but suspect that wanting to live "off the grid" is caused by some form of mental illness.

Are we sure that these douchebags aren't under the mistaken impression that they are all competing in a reality show to become the new face of Ralph Lauren's "Off The Grid" collection?

How I mine 4 fish?

Fubini: What exactly am I looking at?

Subby says it's living off the grid, TFA says it's people living in harmony with nature.

What do I get instead?

Pic 1) The crazy guy from The Village

Pic 2) The crazy guy from The Village has a motion detecting camera permanently wired to look at his kitchen table. That's not harmony with nature, that's paranoid schizophrenia.

Pic 4) What is this I don't even

Pic 5) "Harmony with nature" means modern firearms, a modern (albeit wood burning) kitchen, metal knives, modern glass and metal pots and pans. None of those things could exist without technology from the 1800's, much less the modern day.

Etc. etc. etc... eventually we get to a tribe of fair skinned people with nice complexions covered in gourds. From the bow and arrow, I'm more inclined to think that these people are reenacting the Hunger Games.

I'm not exactly sure what it means to live in harmony with nature. I would have loved some text accompanying these pictures explaining who these people are and what they're trying to accomplish. The first two sets of people definitely don't look like they've totally forsaken modern conveniences, and the last set honestly looks more like an art project than real people surviving in the wilderness.

Hey, at least you're fascinated by their lives. Put your pictures up and see if anyone cares.

Our society is like that of ants. You have to keep sending scouts out so that one of them comes back finding something new and great. This is their quest to find a solution or not be part of the problem of their own defining.

Hunger Games is post apocalyptic USA. This is the life we might all be living if the grid fails.