Off the Grid and Loving it

Need I say more ? Off the grid and loving it ? What ARE the benefits and what makes us want to do it ? Well, I could go on forever about the benefits of skipping the city, scrapping gridlock traffic, ditching close neighbours, petrol fumes, the noise pollution, the consumer mentality but you know all that don't you ?

What you really want to know is how the heck to do it. We once quit the corporate life and went back packing in Australia, everyone said we "were brave" - everyone that is, that wasn't into alternative lifestyles, freedom, and non-consumerism. I reckon they are the brave ones, day in day out, trudging round and round the wheel tied by the nose to the giant wheel of their mortgages, the expectation that they have to keep on keeping on to "get there" - but where is "there" ?

OMG, this is turning into a philosophical blog already :))

Some of the catalysts that galvanised us into action to head off:

One Sunday, we were sitting attempting to read the paper - with non stop traffic whizzing up and down, the kids next door smashing a ball bounce, bounce, on the fence, sirens screaming non stop, the neighbours dog barking furiously, and we flicked on the telly to try to distract ourselves. What should be on but Escape to the Country.

Well, what else would it be ? Synchronicity ?

Nah, forget it - should we cook an amazing tea, or phone for a pizza ?

If we were in the country we might have a pizza oven, maybe, fresh veggies, chickens and fresh eggs, perhaps a cheese or two, this naturally led to another discussion on getting off the grid and out of the city.

Work the next day was no better, I encountered in my work that day a lot of people who wanted to relocate to "somewhere rural" where they could live more sustainably and grow their own food, shop locally and get out of the rat race and get into some more earth friendly living.

Grrrrr - was everyone in a conspiracy ?

Work was slow, I decided to buy a book to look at, surprise !

What do you think was in it ? How someone downsized and relocated to someplace "off the grid" and of course, lived happily every after , well, we don't know that yet do we ? I made that last bit up, but you get my drift - it was all heading in the same direction.

OK, maybe we were slow learners but it took some time to make the transition, mainly in our heads, and mindset, to actually give up the income, , the lifestyle in the city and we kept on plodding round and round the wheel until suddenly, after one too many coincidences we made a split second decision to quit the city life and move to the country.

We did it and we are loving it. Instead of traffic, we have birds, instead of queuing in supermarkets, we "shop" in the garden and our rush hour is the mad rush of chickens queuing for food.

Meet the Chickens here http://thehenhouseonline.blogspot.com/