Incredible Photos of People Living Off The Grid Who Abandoned Civilization for Life in the Wildernes

What i notice most is they all look fit and healthy..No Fatties off the grid.

Folks who live in the deep woods deserve respect, they must lead a very natural lifestyle and have the consciousness of nature which is rare in modern society.

a reply to: Aleister

I think for some of his subjects it was the distraction of the deeper woods that left them uninterested in monetary gain.
Just enough technology to reach your dream.

“The people and places depicted in my pictures display various fates which I think should not only be seen at a political level, but more importantly, as daily and immediate experiences,” Read More: www.trueactivist.com...

From Nietzsche obviously.

That last picture looks like a 3D rendering of one of the "Blue door" paintings by Wyeth.
Born blessed with a thick wall, perhaps one has an easier time pursuing goals without distraction?

a reply to: onequestion

Wow,
that is roughing it, in a sense. I seems by the pictures they could have tried a few better ideas of modern version style of outdoor living. But I suppose when you head outdoors with nothing and decide to make it a lifestyle you become a scavenger of what ever will make it work. I watch many of the shows about this kind of living, one like "Surviving Alaska". Im not a fan of constant fear a bear will be knocking on your door for some of your leg or torso and being forced to kill it or protect your family,( although,I do like bear meat). I guess I would live that lifestyle in the pictures but do some serious renovating to bring up the creature comfort levels.

You can't have a thread about people living off the grid without this girl.

Toddler spent 22 hours in wilderness, found safe.

a reply to: onequestion

Living off the grid is an old dream of mine, but I know I will take modern comfort with me. I'm not the type of person to work outside, it gets me really tired very fast... I have seen some people making a living off the grid with very simple ideas, same ideas of people choosing to live a nomadic like making art and selling it on the road, programming, part time seasonal jobs and so on. You don't need much money once you don't have to pay rent or a mortgage. oDesk is a great way of looking up for ideas for skills needed which are not typical 9-5 and can be done anywhere.

Some money has to be earned, even off the grid, unless you are truly ready to live a gypsy life and settle for things like medicine when needed, or things that needs to be fixed and you don't know how to do it yourself. Or your name is Dick Proenneke. This guy is a hero.

a reply to: onequestion

Good Article! Like one of the commenters there mentioned, You can live off the grid and still have some comforts of a normal home. Use solar power, pumps for well water, etc...... So being out on ones own doesn't mean to lose it all......

Thanx for the Share!! Syx.

I am reading "Into the WIld" as we speak. The movie was good but doesn't do the book justice.

I recommend it, especially for those who are interested in this thread.

originally posted by: onequestion
True Activist

When screeching city noises and demands from the 9-5 job become too much, most people can only dream of what quiet isolation in the rural countryside could be like. But French photographer Antoine Bruy turned that dream into a reality by hitchhiking across Europe from 2010 to 2013.

The artist wandered through remote mountain regions without any fixed destination or route in mind, but along the way met several individuals who had willingly abandoned hectic city life in exchange for retreat in the deep wilderness. These people sacrificed modern comforts for greater autonomy and freedom, and in result became inspiration to the inquisitive photographer.

I found this story very fascinating. I'm going to check into this a little and see whereabouts he went because I'd like to know more about the climate. Honestly I'd like to know more about the individual stories. Probably make for a great TV show.

Hey Jesse Ventura maybe you can turn this into a TV show?

originally posted by: chrismarco
a reply to: onequestion

I'm not curious as to why they want to live as hermits or off of the grid...it's their choice...after seeing the first gentleman in the picture...yes, hygiene was the thing that stuck out the most for me...

Seeing the man with the sheep under his knee does not exactly scream off the grid...the roll of paper towels, bottle of what could be medicine and the other tubed ointments gives me the impression that although he may be off the city grid..he's going back and fourth into town to get supplies...if that's the case is he truly living off of the grid?

Funny, and truly so as in irony, as what I first thought when seeing the title of the OP, is if they abandoned the grid, perhaps they should abandon their cameras. Sorry, but electricity is every bit as fundamental as their Canon, and evewn in reverse, which is what makes it ironic, if anyone needed that explained.
tetra

Family and people living off the grid whom I am associated with, are nothing like the photos. I think this is more to sell or get on a tv show. My family and friends who live off the grid have contact and do business in the nearby towns and most do homeschool their children although they are active in sports, churches and very educated. Living off the grid does take preparation, knowledge and lots of hard work to get the basics you will need for survival. The pictures shown looks more like the homeless, which he has exploited for his own gains.

My step son is in the process of now (after acquiring enough wood) of building his home. There is no access for electricity or county water where they are building. Paid cash to have a well dug, Going all solar with generators and wood heat. Others in the mountains(which they have already made a few friends) work together as far as trapping, hunting and gardening. They will have some sort of television, I'm just not sure how since this is all in the beginning stages.

His wife is getting her education in all natural medicines. They also took a course before they began their adventure to have more knowledge before moving ahead with their dream. Did I also say my step son retired from the Marines and his wife had 12 years in the marine. They have 3 boys 16, 7 and 6 and they boys love the wilderness.

Going up next summer with my husband to help with the completion and we will be taking our generator with our 5th wheel camper. May have to get some pics and open a thread when we get back. We will be going to northern west Northern about 40 miles from the canadian border in the mountains. I'm Very excited to spend a summer living off the grid to see for myself if it is as bad as some say. I will post some info and pictures next year, if I survive it.

a reply to: chrismarco

You can make a solar shower or any number of ways to clean your ass. At least you don't have to deal with the drama of your messed up neighbors, local law enforcement, or stupidity. The peace of mind is a good selling point. Just because don't know how to do it right doesn't mean it cannot be done right.

Some people just want to get away from the rat race.

Interesting photos, but if you are going off the grid. Well that whole phrase is kind of an oxymoron, unless your a hermit you will have to have some commodities, and I think whoever shot those photos took shots of the most bizarre things he came across, that house looked like it was just put together quickly and the other one looked like a shop to keep tools, generally tools are hanged up somewhere for easy access.

I have been to Europe and even in the little villages they still have things like electricity, and other things, and now a days, in fact most people in those places do work, and even in the most backwards place they can get modern things, in general its no different then if you were here in the states and were to head out into the boonies or country, some places even not that far from the cities dont have signs or anything.

No joke was driving by and the place was not even nowhere near country and not that far from big metropolitan cities I would say but literally the signs of the streets were painted on wooden electrical polls and you could only see them when you were driving in the direction of were they were written down, it took forever to find the right streets and everything some were literally just dirt roads covered by bushes on each side that you would miss when your driving by.

I think those people just sort of took off, but in general and I have even been to some of these European town most people do work, they generally go work in other countries even the US or Canada, then they go back and with whatever money they save they literally just buy the material they need and tools and get there relatives together and build there own houses and whatever else they need, and I am talking about little windmills for electricity and solar panels and all of that. Some of them were far from shanties let me tell you that, I know I been there.

In all with a little planing and a little help because like I said unless your going hermit it still takes a lot of people to build a village, because ultimately humans are social animals no matter were or what they living in, if anything from what I seen when I was in those small villages a lot of the grief is still the same you would find anywhere, and most came from the fact that there living among people, or even boredom, when you get a lot of time on your hands then boredom sets in then depression and well its no different then any other place really.

In fact working the land as people call it was just something to keep you occupied as well as a necessity. I suppose the secret to live is to always keep yourself occupied, the majority of deaths I seen in those small villages when old people kee over, was not from sickness or anything else, though that happens but it happens everywhere, it was because they just had nothing left to do and were alone and eventually end up just giving in and passing on one night.

But in all I would not advise anybody to just pack up one night and hit the boonies, especially considering that today what we have become is the equivalent of domesticated humans, kind of like domesticated cats, that pretty much all the skills our grandfathers grandfathers had or way back in the stone age cavemen people living then had more skills then us in just living in the wilderness. That if anybody who never has been in the wild or is used to it, well it would be a death sentence, however with a little planing and the right tolls and help, its far from impossible to life a more down to earth life and away from the rat race...After all the Amish do it all the time, and they life under more religious strained rules then Davie Crocket did back in his day, or even we do in modern cities. In all I just chock this up to just another lifestyle choice, if people want to do it, its there choices.

a reply to: RunForTheHills

I'm curious what off the grid means to people...

Because if it means basic self sufficiency.... not everyone is wealthy enough to go "off the grid" with a well and solar power. Digging a well... I had mine dug, years back and it was over 5,000 dollars. Just for the well and water softening and pumps etc... the land, that cost too, about 1800 per acre.(there is no free land...and that land had no water, no sewage, no house, no not one thing on it, and you had to purchase a quantity for that price) A home, that's money! God forbid solar power! I cant even imagine what that would cost... I'd much rather not have any electric than have to figure out the cost of solar and wind powering for all the modern comforts of life...

There are going to be different levels of self sufficiency, and different opening budgets for that same self sufficiency.

Unless of course we are talking about different things when we say "off the grid" because... not everyone has 50,000 - 250,000 to go "off that grid" Some people work hard just to afford the land, and then go out on it and do all the work, house, lagoon, well.. by hand the best they can.. and live "off the grid" earlier - because rich they are not.

Others are rich, and they go the rich man's route.

Not everyone is the same.. and not everyone is well off enough to afford being "off the grid" in luxury. Though I'm certain everyone might like to... it would be nice. It's just not everyone's reality.

I fully believe in living off the grid. Maybe its just myself but if I have to wake up, forage, hunt, chop wood, do repairs/build, care for crops/livestock, I probably wouldn't be the cleanest person either when a random backpacking photographer walks onto the land I call home, people lived off the land for centuries, and we all technically still do seeing as we shred the earth for its resources day after day, they could go to local shops. Barter is still very much alive today. Its about being your own. You need heat make a fire. Food go find it. I've seen people build there own small wind turbines to charge cell phones and small electronics. they get the real food, but its easy for us to go to walmarts and mccdonalds for food. We even have a link on this website for people who want a more self sufficient lifestyle. But if I'm living off the land and have all that to do. I'm sure my trusty throw away razor wouldnt be a necessity, besides it looks cold and I'm skinny



but point made I think lol. Or did I just kinda ramble ?

a reply to: FaceLessRebel

Oh you rambled but it was a great rambling!

I never lived quote, "off the grid" Since that entails no touch with the world in the sense of not having utility bills and mortgages. I had a mortgage, and I had electricity although our heat source was wood - had a nice wood burning stove which heated the whole house..

But I had every modern convenience... running water, electricity - washing machine and what not.

My children took a bath every single day, most days twice...

yet we were always dirty. There was nothing clean about being on a farm. Between birthing the occasional cow, chopping wood to get through winter, clearing out brush, feeding chickens and cattle, weeding the garden and all the things gardening entails...

God we were a sight to behold! I had no choice but to go into town once covered in blood and # from the birthing I was in the middle of! Coveralls on... ohhh I looked and smelled wonderful! But I had to grab something for the cow, and I needed it right them!

My son got hurt once, and I had put him and my daughter get into the car... we were so far away from the hospital there was no calling for an ambulance... so we got into the car, immediately upon him being hurt... and went into town to go to the ER...

that was an even bigger sight! I was dirty, my daughter had been at the creek making mud pies and didn't even have shoes on... and my son was dirty from working outside and was now injured!

You couldn't have told we were only a few hours since our last bath! hahahaha

What I see a lot of in this thread... are people who don't know the first thing about the meaning of work, or being out on some land... on OR off the grid. It''s not a clean process... lol

What an entertaining thread to read!

I just recently moved back on grid after being off of it the last four years or so. I was living on the farm of a lady who has been there for the last 35 years. An inspiration and a story that is for another post. She bought the land when she was 20 and has lived there ever since. I now live about 20km away from her on grid. This is in the Yukon, not the most forgiving place.

'Off grid' to me does not mean hermitting, nor does it mean being outside of/rejecting modern living and civilization. It simply means that you are literally off of the grid. There are no power lines to the farm (solar gives any electricity needed) no sewer lines, or any other lines or connections that you can think of (other than a road).

The owner of the farm makes her money selling art in town once a week at market as well as hosting farm tours/education for the schools in town. There is also supplementary income provided by a small amount of produce and meat being sold as well as a great deal of bartering. She grows enough food that she doesn't need to buy any other than spices and a few staples and luxuries.

She has spent the last 35 years building/evolving her farm/practices into something that is amazing. There were hard times where she was barely scraping by, but I know (because I asked her) that she would not trade any of it for a life elsewhere. I can also attest that the happiest and most fulfilled I have ever been in my life was when I was living there.

What drew me to stay there? The simplicity of life, the relaxed pace and the fact that the only thing I ever had to answer to was my own survival (and hers, yes). The most wonderful thing for me was the fact that while there were a LOT of things that needed to be done, life had a way of deciding what needed to be done at any instant. Sheep broke a fence? Better fix it. Weeding needs to be done? Better weed. Need firewood? ... Tool broken? ... etc...

I am back on grid to fulfill some of my dreams. I am now close enough to our firehall to be an active member, I can make more money (something not really needed in any large amount out there) so that I can save towards building materials and tools.

Oh yeah, and for the hygiene people. I spot cleaned myself whenever there was a need for it and sauna'ed two or three times a week. Ive never felt cleaner or healthier. Sauna is the most amazing way to get clean, provided that there is fresh water to jump into/rinse with.

Thats all I got for now.

originally posted by: OpinionatedB
a reply to: RunForTheHills

I'm curious what off the grid means to people...

Because if it means basic self sufficiency.... not everyone is wealthy enough to go "off the grid" with a well and solar power. Digging a well... I had mine dug, years back and it was over 5,000 dollars. Just for the well and water softening and pumps etc... the land, that cost too, about 1800 per acre.(there is no free land...and that land had no water, no sewage, no house, no not one thing on it, and you had to purchase a quantity for that price) A home, that's money! God forbid solar power! I cant even imagine what that would cost... I'd much rather not have any electric than have to figure out the cost of solar and wind powering for all the modern comforts of life...

There are going to be different levels of self sufficiency, and different opening budgets for that same self sufficiency.

Unless of course we are talking about different things when we say "off the grid" because... not everyone has 50,000 - 250,000 to go "off that grid" Some people work hard just to afford the land, and then go out on it and do all the work, house, lagoon, well.. by hand the best they can.. and live "off the grid" earlier - because rich they are not.

Others are rich, and they go the rich man's route.

Not everyone is the same.. and not everyone is well off enough to afford being "off the grid" in luxury. Though I'm certain everyone might like to... it would be nice.

It's just not everyone's reality.

Not wealthy, they are living off small paychecks. they are buying a small partial of land on contract, Cost of the well is approx., $2,500. (cash), Cost of the solar power is 7 to 8,000. Cost of building lumber (free) he is working for free in the sawmill as of now for his wood. They are putting every penny they can back for the price, plus family members are taking our campers down to help them with the construction of their small 3 bed room house. I too thought it was just a pipe dream but they are actually making their dream come true.

a reply to: OpinionatedB
I think people have different pictures in there head when they mention the words "off the grid"

In truth I think unless you were going totally hermit there is not real off the grid. Even in the OP's link the guy traveled through Europe and in between small villages to find those people, and considering that most of them I would bet already come from those small villages or even maybe even from the major town, and from some of those pictures its pretty close to what completely off the grid would mean.

Just looking at that one little brick house you can kind of tell that either somebody did it by themselfs or they found an old building and just added upon it, but it looks like something somebody by themself just put up, even if they have a solar panel on it, they may get some electricity but the place will be leaking during a storm, two or three people working together with the right materials and right tools they dont even have to be fancy could build something better then that in days. Even that picture of that latrine out by a slope and covered with a yellow bedsheets looks like it was built, but hey I have seen shoddier buildings, in fact I even remember using a few latrines out in the countries in Europe like those, but considering what its for its not like it needs to be fancy.

In fact I used one like that before, I remember once looking in there and you would see nothing but # and maggots inside and it was pretty deep, the only thing I remember thinking was. "When you got to go, you got to go" But it was pretty nasty, and this was on a small farm in Romania which was my moms aunt who raised her who lived there. I would not say it was all that bad, infact there they dont take regular showers like here, but they do all have an outdoor sauna room, and it was like you would see in old movies, complete with those fragrant leaves/branches they they hit themselfs with for whatever reason, and more importantly it got the job done, you sweated in there because it was hot, but it got you clean alright.

And there was everything else as well, pig pens and chickens everywhere and even rabbit cages and place in the back, I would not say she has been living off the grid completely because you could get electricity there, but she has been living like that for longer then I have been alive ever since her husband died more then 30 years ago and she gets on by herself to, even with neighbors. From what I heard the loneliness of being by yourself like that is more dangerous then the whole lifestyle and off the grid of it, so much so that after a while when you get to old I think they go live the rest of there days with relatives.

But anyways "off the grid could mean lots of things" It does not necessarily have to mean no electricity or running water or any of that, I seen people who had there own windmills which they got electricity from in fall and winter and solar panels for summer. But ya it costs money, but its not like it cant be done, and most of those things eventually pay for themselfs, besides its not like your going to be spending all your days inside surfing the net, so you dont necessarily need a whole hell of a lot of that. In fact there are companies who make and sell wind turbines all over the place, in Europe I think there is a German company that does it and ships them everywere, but they are not cheep going from 5,000 to over 20,000, and whats even more you can build most of that stuff yourself if you wanted to, had the know how, and the incentive you can build them for a fraction of that money, in fact you can even check it up online even on youtube they have some vids on how to build small wind turbines, some I even saw they built them out of old stop signs and parts you could find in any general store.

So ya it all depends on what exactly you mean by off the grid. I mean if you had the money you could do a whole lot of things, but even without it its far from impossible to get at least some of the commodities you would find in big cities. Most of those living off the grid still have things they do to get money, its just they dont need it as much as us, and most of there time is spent doing chores and things they need to do, and like I said in my other post I have seen people or whole families leave for work or jobs in cities or other countries and come back with the money they saved and just build up there former homes and improve them a whole lot. It all I think is just a different lifestyle that's all, I could not say which is better or worse, and considering that there are old people in those small villages I been to who I seen and may outlive me yet or any other modern living person, and there practically living like back in the dark ages. Well, so much for modern comforts eh.

So ya, off the grid. Just another meaning that has no clear definition, but in most peoples heads I think they would get the picture of what they seen on the TV, and most of that is a little thing I like to call, not factual information. Somebody linked a link to Dick Proenneke, I think people like that are few and far between, and even he was I think was pretty educated and smart, it even says in his wiki that after the navy were he was a carpenter he became a diesel mechanic and worked in Alaska for the fish and wildlife service, so its not like he just up and went to live in the wilderness one day, he pretty much spent his whole time in and around those areas and learned all he needed to learn before leaving and living by himself in Alaska, you can bet he even studied the wildlife and the migratory seasons and everything else there was to know before taking off. And though his mechanic skills may have not been all that much use, his carpentry skills if you watched the movie or read the book were used on a day to day basis.

So ya again! If your going alone off the grid. Well it may take more skill and work then if you were a high payed or skilled worker in whatever trade in any city out there but only if you were going alone like Dick Proenneke did, but most people I think go in groups, there even are groups like that doing that and living that lifestyle right now, some were even on ATS years ago talking about it and preparing, by now there probably to busy to comment about it on the net. And well there is always something like the Amish. I mean would you consider them off the grid?

Like I said it all just depends on what people mean by it because it can have any number of meanings and all of them would be valid meaning for going off the grid. From rich people who spent fortune to life that lifestyle, to even a single guy who did that and more with his bare hands, to groups of people to everything and anything in between, even a farmer or even those big giant farming communes would be considered of the grid in more ways then one.

a reply to: Shoonz
So...See any bigfoots up there in them wilds of the Yukon yet? I heard Bigfoot is quite a celebrity up there, supposedly they all have a story of Bigfoot, or if not then at least a story of a story were they heard from a cousin of a cousin who heard it from a drunk guy one night.

a reply to: galadofwarthethird

lol. I think I heard more about bigfoot when I was living in the city than out here. Don;t think anyone has even mentioned ol' hairy out-of-focus-man yyet since Ive been here...

I also want to add my two cents on the $$$ thing. Going off grid can be expensive. But that's only if you want to transfer from a comfy life to a comfy life. The other option is to start small and build. Life in the first 5-10-15 years might not be quite as comfortable as many of us have been raised with, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is any less pleasurable... Edit: it will probably take almost as much money, just spread over a much longer period. Also, obviously doing more stuff yourself makes it cheaper