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Could You Do This?

2K views 26 replies 22 participants last post by  pollypurebred39 
#1 ·
It says nothing about electric, running water, a toilet. And 2 1/2 acres for $9000?! I wonder what the property tax is a year? If they have animals?


Thinking Small
 
#3 ·
My guess is they have something for internet.
They are selling a video of the sourdough bread that they make.
Unless they run to a library maybe.

I saw no mention of a toilet but it could be a outside privy or a sawdust toilet. Not sure what state they are in.
Water could be a spring. Or a well with a handpump.
Cistern was mentioned.

Real easy to live like this.
Use less, want less, need less. Real simple.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the post. I definitly want to live more simply but not quite that simple! LOL But I do really admire them chasing thier happiness. So many people dont live intentionally, just going through day to day life and never stop to enjoy things or even to question what life is all about. I am trying my best to do that. Over the past two years I am examining things in my life one by one till I get to the point where everything in my life has "true value"
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
This was my fathers dream. He was working on building it. It was going to be were he retired too. My mom thought it was going to be a vacation home. LOL They did spend many a weekend out there.

He made a sleeping loft for us for when we came to visit.

He did tell me how many things worked like the water purification system he made.

I loved hearing this plans and dreams about the place. This makes me miss my father so much.
 
#7 ·
Thanks Polly, what a thought provoking couple and lifestyle. I remember reading about them years ago. Love their insight on health and food.

Here is a follow up on their site :

EarthStar Project-12 years and still making it


We are planning a big garden again this yr, trying to utlize our whole yard, love cooking from scratch, do sprouts and bake bread , the other not sure about. I love some of my luxuries and big antiques...lol but you do have me thinking...
 
#8 ·
I could definitely do this. The only thing I would change is I could not have a loft. I couldn't get up there in a few years with the way my back is but I love that simple life and it is what we are trying to do here as much as we can.

Thanks for sharing! :)
 
#9 ·
Wow! They sure have adapted to a lifestyle I could never embrace. I'm all for reducing our electric and heating bill by having solar power, and growing our own vegetables. Maybe even having chickens and rabbits some day. But whew! I can not imagine not having the security of insurance or a steady job. Not having a steady job these last three years has been a nightmare. I can not imagine doing it voluntarily.

You've got to admire their hootspa. It really takes someone really brave to venture out into the unknown.
 
#10 ·
Very interesting article. I truly admire them, but I could not do the physical work involved in raising one's own food. I don't think I live in an area that would support a bread business either.

DH and I built our house as we went, so to speak, using paid labor for some of it, but it's a conventional house with electricity, county water, etc.

Even if I could do without many of the things they have given up, I would hate to be without internet. It's my main connection to the outside world these days.
 
#11 ·
We actually do want to work closer to that type of lifestyle and that is our plan...but the house won't be like that at all. We already have land and will build a house this year. Since we won't owe anything at all on either I think we can do it. We want to get where dh can quit his job.
 
#13 ·
I'm impressed with all of you here who are thinking on living like this. I'm weaker stock, that's for sure. My ancestors are probably rolling over in their graves!
 
#14 ·
I would love to try....but it is not something I am willing to do alone. I am most likely single for life so I will do the best I can in a less rural and less risky atmosphere.
 
#15 ·
I have absolutely no interest in doing that. :laugh:

It's cool though. Just not for me.
 
#16 ·
Nice story,but I wonder when I see a website to order a recipe video for making bread @ $35.00.Makes me wonder if the whole story is to lure people into thinking this wonderful life can be theirs,by selling bread too.
I read they gave up the internet,but he takes orders through his website?
 
#17 ·
I don't think I could do this at their level!

I could live without most of my electricity. Lights for example, could even trade in my oven for a wood cook stove. I need my hot water heater and PC though. TV not as much, but I do need it.

Minimum toilet would have to be an outhouse.

It said they had a cistern for water which was underground. I bet they have a solar panel to run a pump. My understanding is that in the 1800's it was not terribly unusual for houses in the south to have cisterns built into the floors between the first and second floor. When it rained they filled the cisterns and then had gravity fed water on the first floor. I could handle either situation there.

I could handle growing a garden easily enough, but what about clothing? What about wheat? Surely their 2.5 acres isn't enough room to grow all the wheat they need, the firewood they need and the food they need, is it?

All in all I could handle living smaller or simpler, just not quite this small.
 
#23 ·
They buy their wheat berries in 50 pound bags and grind it themselves. Not really sure what all they grow.

Interesting concept none the less.
 
#18 ·
:shake: No way. I'm claustrophobic and talk about cabin fever. I'm all for learning survival skills and doing what I can to be self-sufficient but I have my limits and that goes way beyond them, and I'd have to do it on my own. My DH is a musician and has to have lots of room for his instruments, that place wouldn't hold his amps.
It was nice reading their story though.

Cat
 
#19 ·
Put me in a Saxon Round House! I'm there ....

..... of course we would need internet for Greebo. hehehe
 
#20 ·
You'll need a proper house for Greebo. Greebo likes his room to move around.
 
#21 ·
I'm trying to simplify our lives so that we can enjoy what we have without all the clutter or mess. I'm getting rid of junk, aiming toward more self suffiency. I'm cooking more from scratch along with eating a more healthy balanced diet, I grind my own wheat and make some of our own bread. We already have a small house (880sq. ft.), I raise chickens for the eggs, we have a garden, a few fruit trees and fruit bushes. My aim now is to get us out of debt and not to incurr any new debts.
 
#22 ·
Nope, couldn't do it............and wouldn't want to.

I REALLY liked the line about "live fearlessly without health insurance"...........okay...........let's check back in with them when they are knocking on the door of 50 or 60......see if they still feel the same?

I WATCHED farming and hard work take the toll on my father AND MOTHER..........I have seen what it can do to your body over the years...........but they DID enjoy it. So guess the ultimate question is.............what will make you happy? (thought this article 'glorified it' quite a bit and was wondering what they were selling...........)
 
#26 ·
I truly admire them. I am not sure if I could scale down to that level. I definitely could not make a living baking bread, I am horrible at baking bread.

I would love to live in a small cabin, have a huge garden, some animals, solar power, and live far out in the country. I do not think I could drop health insurance.
 
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