Self Sufficient, Off-Grid living - is it really possible?

For the last few days I've been pondering whether three people can comfortably live off-grid for any length of time?  We know it can be done during the warmer months, as we regularly live off grid in our lovely truck Myfanwy.

our beautiful, if somewhat elderly, truck

We also know how difficult living in a confined space can be, especially with a rowdy 9 yr old, when we're getting under each others feet (although it's a lot better than when we had the bell tent). We also know just how cold it can get even in Autumn, when the wood burner doesn't stay in all night and you wake up thinking you've somehow magically transported yourself to Siberia. It's also not much fun when we get days of continuous rain and it's all too much effort to go out, knowing full well that you're going to come back wet and cold. It's not easy drying so many clothes in a small space but, all things considered, it's better than bricks and mortar. My house isn't large but it costs a small fortune to run and, let's face it, these costs aren't going to go down, so living in a woodland is going to be much cheaper, which means we would need less money for a reasonably comfortable life. We'd have all the fuel we'd ever need right on our doorstep and as long as we have a shelter to dry and season it, it will be cost free (apart from Welshy having to chop it all). It will also be free to anyone else who is working in the woodland too, this is going to be a co-operative effort of share and share alike.

We have a couple of solar panels on the truck which are adequate for our present needs, such as charging phones, listening to music, etc, but how this will work out in a woodland is something I don't know. Summer months shouldn't be a problem but in winter we are going to use much more power and we won't be getting many hours of direct sunlight and as the panels are fixed in position, we can't alter the angle to get the best direction for the much lower winter sun. Welshy is the solar expert so this little problem will be left to him and he'll probably blog about it on here at some point. I know someday we'll have to get more panels, but this would have to be when we've worked out exactly what we're going to need, as they and the batteries do not come cheap. Maybe we could have a small wind turbine? I don't know much about them to be honest, but I can always learn.

What about toilet needs I hear you ask? I have quite a lot of experience of using compost toilets and on the whole they stay in better condition than normal portaloos and they smell much better. So I'm happy with a composting privy, but do we go with a straight composting one or go for a methane producing one, a la Kevin McCloud? I like the idea of a methane producing one, that way we can do the cooking in summer without using the wood burner, but could the three of us produce enough waste? We could site the privy in a place easily accessible to the other woodland workers but that would make it very uncomfortable for a midnight visit in bad weather. Realistically it's looking like we'll need a couple of loos dotted around, with an easy access one attached to our home.

We shall be harvesting rainwater for our daily washing needs and, if we're lucky, we'll have a stream or spring on the land. Drinking water is a concern though, we would have to have some sort of filtration system but, if necessary, we could always buy it in. This will have to be looked into in great detail, as I wouldn't like us all to end up poisoned!

We would feed ourselves with a permaculture forest garden, but have to face the fact that we would have to buy food until it's established. Luckily I was smart enough to do an RHS horticulture course some years ago and have done a couple of organic growing courses, so it will be good to put my skills into practice. We'll also have hens, I've had ex-battery hens in the past and totally fell in love with them. They'll produce eggs and in return, will get a happy life in our woodland. Any surplus eggs can be bartered with other woodland workers or sold and their droppings can go into the methane toilet or onto the compost pile. Hopefully we'll attract a goat keeper, who will swap eggs for goat milk and maybe a bee keeper or two.

These are all my thoughts so far. If anyone wants to pick my ideas apart please feel free to leave a comment. I know I've probably missed a million potential problems and would appreciate any views on this, so things can be sorted out either before we start or early on.

What Welshy & I will be doing in the Woodland

As the majority of people who read this blog will not know me, I thought it best to let you see the sort of things Welshy and I will be doing in the woodland.

Welshy is a man of enormous talent, where as I'm an enthusiastic amateur at best. We both like playing around with wood and here are some of the things we've done in the past, of course with an endless supply of material from the woodland, our productivity will hopefully increase.

Here's Welshy with his solar powered pyrography kit in action

and here are some of his wood burning creations

We also have a micro-lathe, which can be powered by the solar panel. Off-grid living will not stop our creativity.

Welshy making a Bodhran beater

Below are some of the things we've made on the micro-lathe.

We both started working with wood after an afternoon at a festival with the whittling knives and here is a little selection of what we've made.

So there you have it folks, this is why we NEED a woodland. What could be better than to spend your days making the wood shavings fly. Some of the stuff pictured is available to buy, so if you're interested, drop me a line.