I love hearing about your upcoming adventure. It is so brave of you to consider living in the camp, as you call it. Will you keep time sharing after you move? Time sharing will really be a vacation for you then and also a snap back to the outside world, depending on where you own your time shares. It will be interesting to hear how living without running water goes. Do you have electricity there or will that come with time? What about toilets?
I can relate to not wanting to tell your family about your plans yet. Sometimes I reveal too much to my family and they criticize me too. They do not understand why I travel. My father says I just get pretty photos to post. Now I am self conscious about posting so many photos because I wonder what my FB friends and family think. I used to post a lot until my father criticized me. But I am trying not to worry about what people think and starting to post more photos. I can‘t wait until this Covid thing is over and we can travel again. I did not expect this to last so long. Now thinking it could go into 2021.
I don't know about brave, but I would apply that to my friend. Few people set out to live on undeveloped land all by themselves, far from everything.
Yes to timesharing. It will indeed be like plush living! I am taking her to Myrtle Beach in Oct, 2 br, 2 ba, full laundry. It will be culture shock for her!! It will be good to bail out periodically in a days of rain situation to indoor living with full amenities.
Toilets are currently composting toilets. Literally a bucket with a toilet seat, then cover your stuff with sawdust. That empties a couple times a week into main compost area. In the full bathroom she built, the bucket is hidden, a great normal toilet seat on top. Shower is solar, the 5 gallon bags are less shower than I would normally want, but enough to do the job. If it is not sufficiently warm or sunny, water can be heated on a propane stove to add hot water.
No electricity. No hookup to grid planned, although one of the potential homesteaders thinks it would be easier to hook in first, and solar later. I don't think so, it would be thousands for that hook up, and then whatever $ to set up solar.
Right now, she has 2 solar panels and 5 portable batteries. I was not a heavy user of lights nor plug in for gadgets so I didn't have to charge them but once over a 2 week stay. Because there are many modern conveniences I will want, my investment in solar will be much larger than hers, but, I can get by on the portable battery method for quite a while. She'd like to build a main solar collection site that could be hooked into from the various buildings. But, 30 acres, that would be a lot of wiring. My eventual home will be fully solar, wired in. Before that, I am likely to pop for a solar fridge (around $1200).
Water is currently coming from church next door that lets her use their outdoor spigot. We made several fill up trips for mostly one gallon jugs but a few larger. She then has pretty water dispensers at sinks that get refilled. Buckets under the sinks collect that water that either goes onto compost pile or the 'mushroom logs' (pre-spored, waiting on mushrooms to take off). So, most every product needs to be earth friendly - soap, shampoo, etc. Trash is either garbage or compost, have to take stuff to the dump.
I'm sorry you would get criticized for posting pics! I don't get why some people jump to ridiculous stuff like you only travel to post pics?!?! My sister accused me of "running away from my life" when we first started timesharing. Seriously??? Like I don't deserve vacations??
I'm good with people having their own thoughts on whatever, but I draw the line where they decide that what I'm doing is wrong or foolish or whatever. myob. made easier by not revealing my business. I told no one I was leaving town. No one was looking for me so that was easy.
I get that it is unusual to go join someone building a camp. Live there without modern conveniences for a while. But, it suits me, even if it would not suit masses of others. Including my family. Long ago, before Asheville became the booming metropolis it is now, I wanted a cabin in the mountains above it. Weird to have these notions from the past zoom forward to where I can actually have a cabin in the mountains. I can have everything I need immediately, and eventually have everything I want, what I have here, as we invest in it or build it. I have no idea how much solar battery my little oven would use, but I am keen on finding out. Ditto my portable washer/dryer.
We are not sure if we'll need multiple wells, multiple septic systems... it's going to depend on how close our eventual Homes go vs the rentals we're currently standing up that will remain 'primitive'. Running water is high on my list in order to remove the water hauling chore. We could buy a storage tank and hire a water truck every so often, but, I'd rather tap some of the springs and channel those to storage tanks. There could eventually be many storage tanks. So much not yet known, but, for me, that's part of the charm - I like being there Early, being part of it all taking shape. The teepee "riverside" will likely have a water collection tank filled with spring water. That would be ideal, as the water hauling up and down a hill is not something we want to deal with long term, even with a hardy ATV. Would of course stock their kitchen with bottled water for drinking, as it will be a while before we can ensure potable spring water.
I plan to make a rain collection system to feed veggie garden. It would be best to have a soaker hose as part of the garden and just turn the spigot when it needs drinkie.
Covid has put all of us off our game. For whatever reason, that makes the off grid living even more palatable. My expenses will be food, fuel, building supplies and entertainment. Cheap and easy. I think it will take 2 years to start building my actual home. I don't yet know if that is kit or Amish labor (they stood up a great workshop with loft for her since I was there last - it is good to have super handy neighbors that work for reasonable rates - that workshop + loft cost her 800 total).
I found a way to make my premature exit from the rat race affordable. If I can forever more avoid having A Job, I would be very happy. It will be up to me to extract $ from what we do there, so, like always, work for pay, just in a very different way. I would rather sweat and get dirty every day vs long boring conference calls or ridiculously shifting deadlines and requirements. Hauling produce to a farmer's market sounds like fun to me. That would be after my greenhouse is built, massive expansion of garden space, and rain collection system to keep them fed. Hope my old overalls fit.
I am getting near to telling my friends of my plans. My friends are very supportive of most anything I do, so that will be easy. If it makes me happy, they are all for it. I think they will like having an interesting place on the map to visit. My mother won't want me farther from her, but, hopefully will motivate her to do her exercises, get better on her feet. I think she would very much like a short stay in the yurt.
