People living off the grid used to be called hillbillies.

Those are some beautiful beautiful pictures of unique, awesome people. Not the Americans, they're idiots. I'm talking about the other pictures on the site.

Okay, am I the only one who thought the bare-legged chick on the horse was hot?
/Sure, she was a bit scruffy-looking, but after ten minutes in a hot tub...

Or as our bears would say; a walking meat department.

here to help: 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.
here to help: 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 hhere to help: 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.

So according to you, all things that better mankind have occurred on Sunday night.

No offense but... think before you hit add comment. At least for one second.

as to the pictures. I hear banjos...


On the serious side, I know someone who is doing this. He says it's constant work.

http://primitivebob.com

His place is pretty amazing.

The shots were great until it drifted off to takes from the movie set of the hipsters pretending to live off of the grid.

Not sure I get the hate for those who choose to live off the grid? There are times when I think that if I had the physical capability, I should just say 'fark it', sell everything, buy an axe, shotgun, rope and nails, skillet and other survival supplies, head into the woods and live off the grid. No one to depend upon other than myself.

david_gaithersburg: The shots were great until it drifted off to takes from the movie set of the hipsters pretending to live off of the grid.

You are a bad person who doesn't help mankind for pointing that out according to retards.

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.

Whereas you make vast contributions to bettering the world as evidenced by your presence on Fark?

Oh, man, I can smell them from here.

That's my retirement, already self sufficient, get me a cabin ala Dick Proeneke and I will be in heavan

Great Janitor: buy an axe, shotgun, rope and nails, skillet and other survival supplies, head into the woods and live off the grid. No one to depend upon other than myself.

I too daydream of this, but then I imagine such Jerimiah Johnsons huddled in a rain-soaked, smelly cave are thinking, "man, I gotta bale on this primative crap and live in a warm home, with food in the refridgerator, clean clothes, a pickup truck..."

lordargent: 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).

This.

And the wimmen folk don't look none too happy, neither.

For those who haven't, I strongly urge you to go back in there and check the other photos. The High Himalaya is sweet.

generallyso: 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.

Whereas you make vast contributions to bettering the world as evidenced by your presence on Fark?

It must be hard living with a nonfunctional brain.

Kaiku: 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.

That, and deep down we all know those hippy chicks must absolute banshees in the sack. Or the straw. Or the dirt. Or wherever they do their shagging. I'd even go so far as to say they are probably better than crazy, without having to deal with, well... sticking your dick in crazy.

high Himalayas ftw.

So.....to live off the land you have to look like an Abercrombie model or be Amish?

//No hope for ugly atheists.

Does this mean one of the three men is single?

/Would secretly love to live that way

here to help: Hankie Fest: The problem is that it's a really selfish way to live. Not helping *is* harm, by omission.

Who says they're not helping? What... you want them to make money to throw into the woodchipper that is government?

I'm sure you are far more likely to get REAL help from these folk than you would from the average member of our modern society.

ecl: No offense but... think before you hit add comment. At least for one second.

Says the fella (or dame) who completely mangled their quote HTML.

You wanna restate your point so I can parse it properly without hurting my old man eyes?

Your points are nonsensical and my touchpad sucks.

All fun and games until the two chicks get knocked up by the three guys and the guys want the chicks to take care of the babies in an unseated shack. That's when things get complicated. Two winters max in the shack with a newborn and then she goes off to teach acting in Boston.

Depressing. You want "off the grid," just go to the Appalachians - there's a reason students did research for "Foxfire" up there.

You don't stare at posers.

Fubini: I'd still like to know what these people think they're accomplishing with their lives

I'd like to know what you think you're accomplishing with yours.

DeltaPunch: those hippy chicks must absolute banshees in the sack

I'm old enough to remember Hippy Chicks. Sorry to burst your bubble, my friend, but today they're called nerds or gamers. Overall, they were smart at poetry and living in a fictional dream world, but had little appeal (weird clothes and no deoderant). They were harmlessly cute, like manatees.

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.html

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

I am sure they gathered all those things using natural methods instead of just buying them.

Mock26: 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.

Well, that's funny, because whenever anyone complains about our modern way of life, we just get told to go live in a cave somewhere if we don't farking like it. Sounds like no one else would like to be part of the solution either.

Hmmm...I think Minnesota should buy a wide area and let people live in it for free. No outside electricity or water, no engines, no firearms, nothing trucked in. Bicycle generators are OK, so it doesn't have to be no-tech, just no grid.

You can get all the food, clothing, and shelter you need from all the farking deer all over the farking place. It would be interesting to see what developed.

Fubini: Pic 1) The crazy guy from The Village

first motherfarking thought

As an aside, the average SCA member probably spends more time "off the grid" than the gang of chuckleheads in costume on that site.

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

I could say that to about 99% of the population.

Great photography site. Thanks subby.

optikeye: * Meadow or pasture (For horses and/or other domestic animals.)
* Close access to public land and trails
* Structure for working in during bad weather
* Phone or internet access (or short drive to town for communication and re-supply.)
* Well and septic system

Yeah, well. The point is to not be actually hooked up to the grid, or to be hooked up to as few parts of it as possible, not to be way the fark out of reach of all parts of the grid.

The point is not to go way the fark out into Eastern Ass-farkistan and climb three mountains and descend four caves until you come out into the open in a valley that not even the satellites can find and you can say, "Grid? What grid?"

"Off the grid" does mean different things to different people. What I'm used to it meaning is that if the local power grid goes down, and the city water goes out, and the county sewer mains break and the sewer services go out---your lights still work, your freezer is still running, your water still runs, your toilets still flush.

However you've got it arranged, you can still put in your crops, cultivate them, bring them in, and put them up, save back seed. You can still hunt and preserve your stuff. You can still keep your livestock fed and more or less healthy (within the limits of the absence of modern veterinary care).

There's really not a darned thing wrong with living in a rural area and replacing your city water with a well--or buying a house with a well. Putting in solar panels or living someplace with a stream for hydro. Putting in a septic tank. Capturing and making use of biogas to reduce your greenhouse emissions and make your carbon output more efficient.

Hey, if that's somebody's idea of a fun time, more power to 'em.

But...anybody can dance around in deerskin and mud.

optikeye: FormlessOne: there's a reason students did research for "Foxfire" up there.

Yup, the Foxfire books are classic. A bit over romanticized as most 'off grid' stuff is today.
But the foxfire books are a great resource---sometimes a bit folklore heavy; as the project was both about skills and culture..but there's lots of books in that series that focus on different aspects of Appalachia.

Go with the original magazine - no romanticization there, as it was a semester's worth of direct observation & interview.