The Off Grid living thread (Dropping out the rat race)

[simon sandleshit]

nice set up there raven...im not off grid by any means but just filled in a raised garden 20 feet long by 5 feet wide, just waiting for the last frost before i plant!

[misteraven]

Hopefully getting a new camera soon, but yeah... I'll try to take more pictures, especially with the better weather.

[NightmareOnElmStreet]

skate park beneath the mountains looks fucking epic. reminds me of a couple parks i saw passin through south dakota headed down to denver.

[misteraven]

skate park beneath the mountains looks fucking epic. reminds me of a couple parks i saw passin through south dakota headed down to denver.

 

Yeah man, its a great park for sure. Never really crowded and you cant beat the views.

[misteraven]

Couple from this week. Weather is really nice out this way now... Mostly mid 50s - mid 70s during the day.

 

 

 

[misteraven]

Recent shots...

 

 

 

 

Not my photos, but some shits taken about 20 - 30 minutes from where I live...

 

 

 

[One Man Banned]

Taking a little time off the grid right now, will hook this thread with some pix when I return.

Many lessons to learn each time. Between last time I was off grid and this time, it's medical care. You get fucked up, might not be a doctor for miles. If there is, might be just one doctor, either you like their opinion or way of practicing medicine or you might be fucked. Hospital might be more the size of a house than a hospital. All good reasons to maintain some style of healthy living.

[misteraven]

Medical care hasn't been an issue out this way at least. In fact, its been the opposite. There's an unusually high number of urgent care facilities here. Part of it might be that there's a ski resport and Glacier close by, both with plenty of tourists, but I suspect it's likely because farming and ranching can be dangerous and there's enough business out this way to merit so many urgent care spots.

 

That said, there is a tendency towards self sufficiency as well and most people have enough kit to treat most anything short of a broken bone. In fact, its normal enough to have to stitch up livestock that got a gash over barbwire or whatever that I'd bet plenty of people don't really bother going in for stitches. Personally I have a medical kit the size of a small duffle bag that would rival the kit carried by EMTs in any major city. From all the tactical training I've done in the past, I also have an IFAC / blow out kit in my car and in my closet that covers quite a bit from obstructed airways through to a collapsed lung, as well as a couple tourniquets and plenty of antihemorrhagics like Quikclot and Celox.

 

I really wouldn't worry to bad about it. Anything truly life threatening would qualify for a life flight airlift in a helicopter and anything less is a drive away. It might take a few to get to a hospital, but I doubt the response and turn around is significantly better in most places considering they also need to fight traffic both ways half the time. Where I lived in Miami, the hospital was about 30 - 45 minutes away with regular traffic. Also, where I live now is heavily populated with veterans. In fact, Montana and general but my town especially is known for supplying an unusually high rate of navy SEALs. My guess would be if you had a big accident in public, there's a better than fair chance of there being a corpsman or ex corpsman close by that would probably be able to assess and treat trauma as good or better than an EMT. But then again, maybe not all rural areas are like this one.

[misteraven]

Good timing, someone just sent me this...

 

Woman fights off grizzly bear, then walks to safety

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44243418

[One Man Banned]

Last time I had a crazy infection that just got proper treatment the day before I headed out. Needed a doc for the antibiotics. Checked to see what would be available if I arrived and started getting worse and options were a little limited. Urgent care clinics are the new regular doctor's office it seems. If it's an emergency guess I got to go but otherwise have concerns over the quality of treatment.

 

More space you have more self reliant you have to be. But, I have found overall that people are more neighborly and will help you out in a jam.

[Europe]

So just read this whole thread, and some of the ideas and thoughts are the same that I have been having out here, living in the downtown area of our capital. My wife's family is from an epic island which is probably the place in this country where you would go to live "off the grid", even though its well populated and you can fly from the island to the capital in 30 mins. Yes its a small country here. But either that or the big woods in a neighboring country. Our family have a couple of summerhouses on this island and we go there a few times a year and its always where I feel the best. Beaches, big woods, open land, fields and just epic nature all around me. I get to slow down and rethink life. Im playing with the thought of moving out there, but either my wife or me would have to land a good job to support us, and there aren't many around, especially not being a creative like me. Also my wife's profession and career ties her to major university cities. But on the island you can buy a house for 6 times less the money than you can where we live now. Maybe we will get around to it once we have to move out of the apartment and into a house to have enough room for our family.

 

Raven, how is mushroom picking out there? With all the nature and woods around you, there has got to be something to pick?

Mushroom picking has over the last few years become my new secret hobby. My father in law introduced me to it, and now Im completely hooked and its so awesome. Spending hours alone in big woods where no man goes, finding the most delicious things nature has to offer, completely free. So rewarding and mellowing at the same time.

[misteraven]

Hey @Europe cant even tell you how psyched I am to see you posting again brother.

 

Truth is that the decision to move out to the woods like I did stems from the same thing that happened to the boards... Too many years of burning it at both ends, take on way too much, stress etc and then coming to realize that what I worked so hard for wasnt even what I really wanted. I got caught up in the beginning, romanced by companies who's products I loved and then over time lost my way. At a certain point I realized that even if it was successful by most standards, I was miserable. Largely not present in the moment, especially in regards to family and friends and having to swallow opinions because of the dynamics of what I was working within. Basically upped and walked away from a successful agency. Gave up a nice big Soho loft that literally took years of climbing the ladder to pull off. No more parties and mostly, no more hookups and steady stream of free sneakers and packages. Traded it all in to give myself peace and quiet. To be able to grow my own food, raise some livestock and focus more on family and the projects that are meaningful to me. There's definitely pros and cons to what I did, but believe in the long run it was the right thing to do. Truth is I live pretty close to an airport that is very easy to fly through, have more room / space than I could have wished for and without all the distractions, have had a lot fo time to think and reconnect with the part of me that first imagined 12ozProphet and started building it.

 

Kind of off topic to your reply, but trying to give those reading along some context. You can see a little bit of what took me away from everything these last years at http://www.12ozcollective.com (though the agency largely operated under a different name). Also, most work was under NDA, so that's some highlights I was able to post online.

 

In any case, its a very healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. It's not entirely easy as there's a lot of basics I had to learn and an endless list of things that always need to be done, but its satisfying. I started this thread because I know a lot of people are burnt our or fed up or just waking up to realize the same thing I did... That the dream that we'd been chasing wasn't what it was made out to be.

 

In regards to mushrooms, I only recently got turned onto this. Was actually the mom of my daughters friend that gave us a big bag of wild mushrooms. And to your point, they were fantastic. Totally unlike anything bought at a store or anything I've tasted at even the best restaurants. Being new to it, I'm waiting to go out with someone more experienced since eating the wrong one can make you sick or kill you, but I was told that the way you get them is you have to find land that burned the year before. For whatever reasons it encourages the growth of specific types of mushrooms and those that grow on on that type of land are safe to eat. They actually sell service forest maps that chart all the areas that had burned the previous years as a guide on where to start looking. Technically you need a permit to pick on regulated lands, but they're cheap and mostly seem to be regulated by the honor system so not even sure many bother with it. I have seen people selling wild picked mushrooms and the prices are pretty crazy. Small bags for like $25, LOL! Seems almost as profitable as selling weed.

 

Anyhow, my wife sauteed them in quality extra virgin olive oil, some garlic, butter and coarse sea salt and it was really, really great.

 

Here's a few camera phone shots from this morning. I built two 12 x 4 x 2.5 ft raised beds last year. Filled them with local organic compost and for the second spring have been growing a lot of stuff. We're super far North and I'm also at a high elevation so our growing season is very short and at the same time the sun is super intense for the few months of spring / summer. Our last frost is actually June 7th and though there's no snow on the ground on my property, you can still see snow in the distance and in some of the shadows when we drive. Its not unusual to see a little snow fall all the way into May and we'll start seeing real snow again by about Halloween. Still have a lot of on my plate and still getting over the hump of moving so havent been able to build a green house yet or even setup some of the hydroponic stuff I was planning to get our plants started early and fully capitalize on the few months of nice weather. But salad type greens always do super well and are easy and we're also doing a lot of types of zucchini since we've been making it with red and white pasta sauce as a healthier alternative to pasta. Almost everyone out this way grows a bunch of stuff or raises various livestock and though the neighbors are pretty far (the minimum property size here is 21 acres, but most have a lot more), people are really cool with each other and often swing by and drop off a box of something they grew that they have a lot of. One neighbor grows a ton of beets, which i like but its not my favorite. However, she taught that you can eat the greens above ground and that part tastes awesome. It also grows fast so you can harvest it multiple times as the beet matures and then finally eat the beet itself in the fall. I love the concept of function stacking like that so now we're raising a bunch of beets as well.

 

Also been really getting into raising free range chickens and ducks. As I posted in the Keto thread the doctor said to eat as many eggs as I wont and that modern science has proven there's no real harm in regards to cholesterol (which seems to be 100% true since I've been eating eggs at least once a day for a year and my cholesterol levels are actually going down according to blood tests) so anyways... We have a bunch of birds. Out this way if you can verify $1200 or more a year in agriculture related revenue, property taxes are reduced 50% the following year. So as a method to get to know neighbors and people in the community we decided to produce more eggs than we need to give away and eventually I was going to teach the kids a little about web design and business by working with them to build a small subscription based website for farm fresh eggs here in the area. My son has a little dirt bike so he can deliver to the immediate area and the rest I can drop off each day when we hit the post office or UPS for 12oz related stuff. Won't make much money, but the intent is just to participate in the community, teach the kids a little something about work and making money and the tax thing is really great.

 

Also posted a flick below of some fresh home made lemon curd my wife made. Fresh lemons and a ton of fresh eggs. Tasted freakin awesome so we made blueberry pancakes topped off with butter, home made lemon curd and powdered sugar. Honestly better than pancakes I've had at any restaurant. She also made a fresh vegetable frittata which was epic.

 

Lastly, posted a video of a close by river that is over flowing from all the snow melt coming down the mountains. The water is just above freezing and actually is the number one danger out here. More people die (usually tourists) falling into fast flowing icy water than anything else. We do have a lot of alpha predators as well (various species of bears, wolves, coyote, etc) but was told that big male Elks (bucks) and Moose are among the most dangerous, especially during mating season. They wont hesitate to charge and stomp you to pieces apparently.

 

Thats the latest for now.

 

 

 

 

 

[One Man Banned]

Mushrooms were never my thing but would like to see flix of what you guys are pulling. Appreciate them more now, even considered growing my own.

 

Raven- those Elks are no joke, you can youtube the ones in Yellowstone. They're known for ramming cars during mating season.

[One Man Banned]

Will post a few from recent travels off grid. There's something actually nice to not having a phone signal, not staring at the TV, etc. Much more rewarding it seems, at least for me, to be out interacting with the environment.

 

Morning.

 

Edited May 30, 2018 by Guest

[One Man Banned]

Believe these are Brook Trout hoping to grow up.

 

Edited May 30, 2018 by Guest

[One Man Banned]

Not a good shot, but was psyched to come down to this pond and find a Bald Eagle sitting on the edge of the same shore as me. Too fast to get a decent shot, this is really a massive bird.

 

Edited May 30, 2018 by Guest

[One Man Banned]

If this guy looks worked up it's because he was defending against a Raven right before this was shot.

 

[One Man Banned]

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[One Man Banned]

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[One Man Banned]

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[One Man Banned]

I really like searching for the signs of different animals, sometimes tracking them. I set up a trail cam in the woods on this outing and will post some of that later on.

[misteraven]

@One Man Banned really cool man. Looks a lot like this area. We have a bald eagle family nesting in a tree right by the house and saw a bunch of turkey vultures the other day. Walked over and started smelling what had them interested. Seems a predator of some sort brought down a white tail deer. Ate half and left the rest so a grip of vultures and ravens we're competing over the rights to it. Literally see hundreds of white tails through out the day working their way back and forth across the pasture since my place backs up to an animal preserve.

 

By the way, you can upload multiple shots into one post. Then you either select to show all (if you select nothing it'll just show all) or you can click a photo from the upload list, type a response, click the next photo, type more, etc. Don't care that you did it your way, but wasnt sure if you knew.

 

Agree with the phone / reception thing. I'm in the frustrating situation in that it sort of works, but not really. Unless I get on wifi, it'll work enough to routinely drop most calls.

[CILONE/SK]

Raven, since I am not really that far from you, I have been thinking about taking a trip with my camper up there.

 

Maybe next year.

[misteraven]

Raven, since I am not really that far from you, I have been thinking about taking a trip with my camper up there.

 

Maybe next year.

 

Yeah man for sure, just let me know. Lots of room like I said.

[Europe]

I wouldn't have made a post like this 10 years ago when it was all about posting graffiti flicks on 12oz, but my new, secret, grown-up hobby these days is collecting mushrooms in the big woods, when time and season allows it. I got introduced to collecting mushrooms by my nature-crazed father-in-law, and its so good. Walking around alone in the deepest parts of the biggest woods, looking for the "gold of the forest" aka kantarells mushrooms, the most delicious of mushrooms ever. Last year was the craziest season ever (or at least in the 5 seasons I have been picking), because it rained a lot in the beginning of summer, and then it got really hot, perfect conditions for these goldnuggets to grow. You need to learn a few secret and tactics in order to find them, but once I caught on, it really sucked me in. For me its the ultimate dropping out of the rat race time, just going away from everything for a few hours and enjoy the silence and tranquility of the woods and the rewarding feeling of finding mushrooms, it really recharges my inner battery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A good batch after a visit to the big woods. State laws allows you to pick "a hat full" in public woods.

Cleaning mushrooms after the picking, with a glass of redwine in the sunset. Bliss.

 

One way to eat them is on a pizza with cheese and rosemary. Often used in sauces also. So tasty.

Below a good day out on the boat, follow by a quick trip to the woods. Incredible free summertime dinner.

Edited May 31, 2018 by Europe

[misteraven]

@Europe I feel you man... 10 years ago I was at the center of it all literally in downtown NYC. If someone had said I'd one day be growing organic vegetables and raising free range livestock out in the mountains of North West Montana, I'd have thought they were insane. Honestly, its awesome to have the best of both worlds and fortunately we have a great airport 15 minutes away. That said, I find myself really soaking in the peace and quiet and not feeling nearly as isolated as people might expect. Really getting harder and harder to qualify leaving, but then again it can also be good fun.

 

In any case, if I could double like your post above I would. So freakin cool man and that pizza and fish look pretty freakin spectacular.

 

Do you guys also have lots of super poisonous mushrooms out there? If so, how do you navigate through that and make sure you don't pick something that'll have you shitting water for a day or potentially killing you?

[One Man Banned]

Don't even like mushrooms too much but that looks good. I'd at least chef them up for my girl, but then again, that rosemary pizza looks pretty official.

I'd really like to keep bees but that's for later plans, right now I have too many bears around to risk it.

[One Man Banned]

Really do enjoy catching shit with the trail cam, here's a few. Funny note, I had it in mind to get a pic of a fox. Whole time I'm getting all these animal shots, no fox. Then I'm sitting by the window sketching, fox runs up and stops right there and we just look at each other, my camera out of reach.

 

[One Man Banned]

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[One Man Banned]

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