Will More People Want To Live Off Grid,,,, and How Does this Sound

[WomanOfTheWoods]

With the world falling apart by the day, will more people want to try off grid living?
And will more people with land, small holdings, small farms be sharing their resources?

I've been mulling over this for a few weeks now. I have some spare land in a beautiful woodland setting, very secluded, private water supply, unlimited seasoned wood, gardens, room for growing food etc, share of my home grown food, eggs, chance to keep poultry, use of outdoor oven and fire pit. I was thinking of offering it in return for some help around the garden, building raised beds, getting more poly tunnels going. There's decent 4G in the area, so this would suit someone working online.

Does anyone think there's a need for this? And is asking for 1 day per week of outdoors help seem a reasonable exchange? I don't want rent! Will more people be seeking alternatives to normal housing? Perhaps living in converted vans, caravans and shepherd huts. Pros and Cons?

[Vitamin c]

It's obvious people will look at alternatives but a mass migration to the countryside for most would be just unsustainable as most work in towns and city's.
But solar panels,allotments growing your own walking /bikeing will all grow good time to invest in these sort of industry's.

[Nurseandy]

WOTW - I may be singing to the choir here but have at "woofing" https://wwoof.org.uk/wwoofer/register

A mate of mine has a permaculture farm here in aberdeenshire and uses a lot of people from them. They work in exchange for food, digs & experience/education.

[Medusa]

Your home sounds beautiful! We have planned to move to Scotland to a small place with a bit of land for the last couple of years, family issues have got in the way and husband is now blowing hot and cold about the idea as in we need to do this and that to the house to be able to sell it for a decent price. We are spending a fair amount of money to do this and that which we likely will not see if we sell and time is running out for us to relocate due to our ages, I actually want to be able to enjoy our time of non paid working to tend the veggies, the chickens, get up in a morning and choose to plant, harvest, make bread, make jam, chop wood etc (and have my Esse Ironheart stove which I have my heart set on) and not be too infirm to do so. I love your idea of working a day a week in return for a share of eggs and firewood and a place to stay of some sort, however I would be concerned about not having any security ie if you decided you didn't want to share your land, wood, crops anymore or if something unexpected happened and the arrangement could not continue. I have read of and seen You tube videos of Nurseandy's suggestion and that may work very well for you. Alternatively I have a lovely bell tent I would be happy to come and pitch for a couple of weeks in return for helping out

[WomanOfTheWoods]

WOTW - I may be singing to the choir here but have at "woofing" https://wwoof.org.uk/wwoofer/register

A mate of mine has a permaculture farm here in aberdeenshire and uses a lot of people from them. They work in exchange for food, digs & experience/education.

Personally I am fundamentally against woofing. It limits the woofers, keeps them poor and they are only ever one step away from being homeless. This is simply my own personal opinion. It is largely a set up where middle class people living in nice homes use cheap labour rather than pay for tradesmen to do the work. They use labour often as the only way of maintaining their lifestyle. I value labour and always aim to pay a man a decent going rate for his time.

Occasionally woofing does work. This is very, very rare. Places like Tap O Noth Farm in Rhynie is an exception as the owners are giving much more than they get by way of learning, experience, knowledge.
What I'm offering is a place where a person can legally stay, as much fresh produce and firewood as they need, no bills,,,, in return for approx 6 hrs per week helping me with the gardens. The person would have their own income .

[WomanOfTheWoods]

Your home sounds beautiful! We have planned to move to Scotland to a small place with a bit of land for the last couple of years, family issues have got in the way and husband is now blowing hot and cold about the idea as in we need to do this and that to the house to be able to sell it for a decent price. We are spending a fair amount of money to do this and that which we likely will not see if we sell and time is running out for us to relocate due to our ages, I actually want to be able to enjoy our time of non paid working to tend the veggies, the chickens, get up in a morning and choose to plant, harvest, make bread, make jam, chop wood etc (and have my Esse Ironheart stove which I have my heart set on) and not be too infirm to do so. I love your idea of working a day a week in return for a share of eggs and firewood and a place to stay of some sort, however I would be concerned about not having any security ie if you decided you didn't want to share your land, wood, crops anymore or if something unexpected happened and the arrangement could not continue. I have read of and seen You tube videos of Nurseandy's suggestion and that may work very well for you. Alternatively I have a lovely bell tent I would be happy to come and pitch for a couple of weeks in return for helping out

Medusa, my land is unusual in that I can legally offer a lease and people have legal right to stay. The site has a private driveway ( that sounds a bit posh, as it's more farm road than driveway) separate from my house, is surrounded by woodland and not overlooked by my house. We are all going to get old. I'd rather get old on my small holding than old in a house in a built up area.

[Nurseandy]

WOTW - I may be singing to the choir here but have at "woofing" https://wwoof.org.uk/wwoofer/register

A mate of mine has a permaculture farm here in aberdeenshire and uses a lot of people from them. They work in exchange for food, digs & experience/education.

Personally I am fundamentally against woofing. It limits the woofers, keeps them poor and they are only ever one step away from being homeless. This is simply my own personal opinion. It is largely a set up where middle class people living in nice homes use cheap labour rather than pay for tradesmen to do the work. They use labour often as the only way of maintaining their lifestyle. I value labour and always aim to pay a man a decent going rate for his time.

Occasionally woofing does work. This is very, very rare. Places like Tap O Noth Farm in Rhynie is an exception as the owners are giving much more than they get by way of learning, experience, knowledge.
What I'm offering is a place where a person can legally stay, as much fresh produce and firewood as they need, no bills,,,, in return for approx 6 hrs per week helping me with the gardens. The person would have their own income .

tap o noth farm is exactly the place I was referring too! Very good friends nd neighbours for over 10 years before we moved. Many many drunken nights

[Ara]

In the past we have had Wwoofers working on our smallholding but I can think of nothing further than using them as cheap labour. Yes, they work here but then I am putting a lot into their experience. It is not just a case of "oh, so and so needs doing so I must get some Wwoofers in to do it" as the work I get them to do depends on what they are interested in and also what they are capable of. We do not use their labour to maintain our lifestyle as we have been quite capable of doing it ourselves up until now. Yes, I am sure some hosts do see Wwoofers as a cheap way to live as they would like and some of ours told us of less than successful experiences in the past. I can also tell you about less than successful experiences with Wwoofers here. Some only want to learn the language, one was looking for a free place to live until their visa ran out. On the other hand there have been people who really understood what we were trying to do here and if they did some sheep shearing while they were here it all added to the experience.
Some of us Wwoof hosts do it to enable other people to live life as we do - out in the middle of nowhere without shops/clubs/bars to distract us from living.
Sadly, we will be giving it up later this year as we realise that, due to health issues, we will be unable to continue here for many more years. Maybe I will become a Wwoofer to remind myself what it was like.

[jansman]

Off grid- I think- has more than one facet. It can be the full- on Croft/ small holding etc. That’s great, and 25 years or so ago I could have gone for it. Indeed , I had an acre of land I rented in the village. I had a couple of huge polytunnels, couple of dozen fowls, and my beloved goats. It was sold by the farmer and now has a small housing estate on it.

As others have said, age catches up! Boy o boy, don’t it just? So I have retreated to our property. Ok , it’s a large garden, but frankly I don’t want it that much! I have all raised beds- proper ones , so I save my back, half a dozen fowls, and half a dozen rabbits. We burn wood. Lots of wood. In fact, that bit of ‘off grid’ is my biggest contribution to that way of life. We have rainwater catchment- rather a lot, and some very small solar charging.

I feel that it’s all about scale. My youngest daughter now lives in a town house with a very small garden. She is still growing some runner beans and salad and spuds in pots. Her partner is copying my solar battery charging. Working with what they have! Every little helps.

[WomanOfTheWoods]

Off grid- I think- has more than one facet. It can be the full- on Croft/ small holding etc. That’s great, and 25 years or so ago I could have gone for it. Indeed , I had an acre of land I rented in the village. I had a couple of huge polytunnels, couple of dozen fowls, and my beloved goats. It was sold by the farmer and now has a small housing estate on it.

As others have said, age catches up! Boy o boy, don’t it just? So I have retreated to our property. Ok , it’s a large garden, but frankly I don’t want it that much! I have all raised beds- proper ones , so I save my back, half a dozen fowls, and half a dozen rabbits. We burn wood. Lots of wood. In fact, that bit of ‘off grid’ is my biggest contribution to that way of life. We have rainwater catchment- rather a lot, and some very small solar charging.

I feel that it’s all about scale. My youngest daughter now lives in a town house with a very small garden. She is still growing some runner beans and salad and spuds in pots. Her partner is copying my solar battery charging. Working with what they have! Every little helps.

Yes, we've all got to do what works best for each one of us. I'm a little bit older that you Jansman, but for me, the land is what is important. It is much more than country living, but having a sense of place.
I've known numerous people who have farmed and until they leave in a box...... in very old age. I know almost no one who has died in a nursing home.

I have told my son I will live this way until I die.... For me, living in the countryside in nature is essential.
To some people this may sound ridiculous, but nothing in this world would ever make me live in a town or village.