the idea of living off the land might sound romantic however reality bites really hard on the rear end. The Learning channel did a documentary drama for several couples re-enact 1900 rural life. Those people suffered a great deal of hardship in the drama. They became really ill from the flu and they had to be evacuated to hospital. They lost a lot of weight as a result of building the wood cabin.

We aren't equiped mentally to deal with the stress of living off the land.

Interested in building an earth home eh? Cool...and clearily you've done some homework on the subject, I've built two of em' in my younger years, ain't much to them really, alot depends on the amount of $$ that you want to sink into it, as materials vary, Our first one was built out of cinder blocks, coated the outside walls with plastic emulsion, [tar] and slapped 2 in. bead board on the walls and backfilled. Didn't put dirt on the roof though, R-Factor wise, I framed the roof on top and put in R-30 insulation, [equivilent to about 3 foot of earth I believe] Second earth home was a small two room one, took plywood and built half-wall forms with re-bar, then a wheelborrow run ramp with a small cement mixer.. only took a week to get all the footings & 10" walls pours, wife had the job of hammering on the walls filled with cement to compact it, but it was a hussle-hard working days until done... then tared the outside walls, put cross-ties as a solid slanted roof, covered also with tarpaper, tin and tar, and backfilled... the backhoe that backfilled it was sitting right on top of the roof... [strong enough to support a train actually..] Though I should have put 2" beadboard on the roof too, as twice a year when the wide temps swings, there was signs of condensation on the roof, so had to keep painting over the stains on the drywall... Straw bail houses are very simply and easy to build too, with a 60 R-Factor... It's the R factor that's reallly important, unless you're wanting a nuke shelter, and that can always be built into about kind of home structure. Hope this help.. God bless!

Hello Picard, Sorry that you have not "experienced" the bliss and freedom that comes with the "programming" that this way of living is an awful miserable lifestyle.. Let me tell you about a little old lady, who has lived back in the mountains without indoor plumbing, running water nor elect for over 40 years now, her name is Armenta, she lived about one and half miles from out last mountain-living adventure... She is over 70 year old now, still living alone, and can walk up to the top of a mountain faster than either my wife or I could keep up with, she sure taught us alot about sheep sorrell and some other wild herbs of the mountains, also how she keeps the bears ran off with the noise from her cook pan and a wooden spoon, and she always seemed to "know" that we were coming up her mountain for a visit as she'd already have places set at her table with a hot pot of tea "waiting" for us to arrive... Soft spoken, and as sweet as you'd expect any Angel from heaven to be like...
I'm sorry to hear that you have heard terrible stories about mountain living, but as with nature, you can harmonize with it, or become subject to it, attitude makes a bit difference... God bless

There are some of us that feel more comfortable living off the land. We are not only able to survive but we thrive. When I'm outside, that's where I find my discovery channel and my learning channel and sometimes even my travel channel. There's a real sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with taking care of your life and your needs. It's not for everyone, but for some of us it's home.

I can't survive without electricity. The winter will be a real [censored]. I would have to do alot wood chopping to keep fire place burning. What about my gadgets, toys? <img src="/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />

I would only live off the land under exceptional circumtances.

Like I said, it's not for everyone.

Every now and then I stop and think about how easy we've got it in today's society. If I want to wash my clothes I simply find an open laundromat. If I need food I just find the closest grocery store. How different life must have been 100+ years ago. Heck, we probably don't even need to go back that far!

Mtman thanks for the interesting posts... it would be really neat to see some pictures of your setup at some point.

My dream is to have a nice cabin tucked back in the woods where a person can go and enjoy themselves without the nuisance of cell phones, 24 hour-a-day news, and battling crowds at the mall.

This reminds me of a guy I was talking to a couple of years ago, true story: for years he did not have a telephone. Lived in a pretty remote area of California. So finally he decided to get a phone -- he ran a cell phone into his property by placing the antenna waaay up in a tall tree to get a signal. He powered it up... and lo and behold... the first person to call him was a telemarketer! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I prefer the phrase 'living with the land.' Living off Mother Nature sounds like a deadbeat boyfriend. The 1970s saw a post hippie era 'back to the land movement' fueled largely by Mother Earth and RODALE PRESS, publisher of countless and frustratingly short print run books on countless related subjects. Socially it was partly usurped by the survivalist ideology that imploded with Ruby Ridge and that brilliant academic but social moron and plagairist the Unabomber. But lots of people are doing this, many modern homesteaders in Alaska, practitioners of 'the primative movement'- which I first thought was going without TP, and countless others.

Speaking of builiding a log cabin, this book is a good read. Guy retired from his job at about 50 and had himself flown into a remote lake in Alaska. All by himself he build a log cabin, food cache on stilts, all of the furnishings in the cabin, you name it, he built it. While he did not live completely off of the land (a friend flew in some supplies from time to time), it is still a fascinating book. He lived the dream I had as a kid...

Thanks Chris K. for your thoughts and pointing out the difference in Living with or off the land, very interesting observation and concept. Mother nature, providing all our basic needs of life, one can justly say that they life "off" of her, as we take trees for building and drink of her fresh waters as her springs provide, and listen to her music as the birds sing her songs of harmony.
However, I do see the need within this viewpoint that one also needs to protect the provider too, and preserve these balances of Nature with the upmost respect.
Don't know about the Ruby Ridge or Unabomber, but heard about them and even saw the movie about the Ruby Ridge family, but tend to see that even with the mountain-minded folk, that there are a variety of different mind-sets and beliefs, just as there are within the mass social structure of cities and etc.
I do believe that the enviroment of the mountains and country sides, the "Natural Lifestyle" of living with or off of mother nature, or at least in harmony with her, is the "ideal" for mankind as a whole, as the mind is more easily cleared of it's thought-clutters, the senses are elevated with awareness in stillness, and with time, the depth of ones true being emerges and finds balance.
This "balancing" is conductive to a "Peace" that must be experienced to fully appreciate and fully understand.
To know and experience this, is most difficult within the city enviorment, where one finds themselfs elbow to elbow in crowds, fighting to get into turn lanes on the freeway, and using alram clocks to start their race off with the work world every day, and where Freedom is measured with the size of their bank account.
The accumulation of which builds inner stress, tempts the morals and conductive to hightened senses and emotions and breeds unnatural behaviors and defenses within many.
On one hand, one lives for the security of a pretty house; car; power and competive accomplishments, supported by the security of green paper.
On the other hand, one lives more for quality than quanity, satisfied with humblist of roof coverings and more green leaves for TP than green-paper. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />