Building Community

A big part of choosing an off-grid life is the notion of self sufficiency. It’s the concept of being responsible for ones own ‘everything’ without relying on someone to provide it. Be it food, clothes, building or mechanical repairs.

The reality is it’s a lot less attainable than one would like to believe. While you can learn new skills, no one person actually has knowledge of every single subject one needs to survive off+grid, nor the ability to conjure up something out of thin air.

It takes a village. A community. People with similar goals, but different backgrounds. And when we build a community, we are always stronger and better off for it.

Today, we had the distinct pleasure to meet Dexter from Krivda Creek Homestead (https://youtube.com/@krivdacreekhomestead?si=UnJ8SqytuNGyR1H-). He is (thus far) the closest homesteader we know to ourselves, and lives about an hour from us. He came over to meet us and hang out, but also to try and help us get our generator working.

Despite his valiant efforts, it would appear that the generator needs more work than he or I have the knowledge to diagnose or complete. However, we managed to sit and chat for many hours. We shared details of certain systems we had, and he shared some of his knowledge and experience.

I admit, I regret not filming much of our conversation. We discussed how, while the more removed and solitary life we both love is idillic for us, we do find ourselves sometimes in need of the knowledge, know-how and skills of others.

We discussed community and the ability to help one another not get bogged down by the noise of ‘society’ and the news, whose goal seems to be to divide and enrage. Instead, we should be focussing on the amazing world around us, and on living for ourselves and not in the pursuit of the next ‘big thing’.

Over the course of the afternoon and a meal, we discussed many subjects and shared tidbits of information, suggestions, ideas, and even some of our previous failures. But overall, we bonded over the commonality of this off-grid lifestyle, it’s challenges, and it’s many rewards.

Overall, it was a wonderful day, and while we know there is plenty of time for more deeper discussion, the connection has been made. Like with others we have met so far in person who are on similar journeys. We are building a community.

Stepping back, I have to ask myself if this is what society is lacking or has forgotten. Community. Tribe. Because, as someone who is working on building one, I can tell you this: it feels good. It feels better than any other group I’ve been involved in. Because in a community, you feel your goals are supported and your knowledge respected. And your community celebrates your successes.