The Journey to living off grid and self sufficiency
My journey to living off grid and self sufficiency, began when the children were young. I had become very aware, of how toxic chemicals had integrated into our lives. Food, cleaning products, baby and beauty products were all laden with things that could harm us and the environment.
The realisation worried me, that within a couple of generations, we had outsourced most of our basic needs. Growing seasonal food, foraging, preserving and natural medicine were all being forgotten. I didn’t know anything.. not even how to grow a potato!
There was no time to relearn the old ways…I was running a demanding business and felt helpless in a system that left the family exhausted. We took radical steps to change our lives and live more in harmony in nature. I sold my business, got rid of our possessions and took to the road with my partner, 3 children and cat. I didn’t want to depend on a system that normalises poisonous food, produces endless plastic and promotes consumerism at a detriment to nature. The only way I could see out of this cycle, was to take matters into my own hands…
Searching…
This led to us searching for a plot of land whilst volunteering on farms and smallholdings up and down the country. I was desperate to learn how to grow things, live off grid and become self sufficient. We planted trees and wildflowers from John O Groats to Land’s End. We learnt about apples and how to make cider. We stayed in communities and learnt how to cook vegan food, croissants from scratch and how to ferment. Create sourdough starter, bake crusty loaves and make kombucha. On our nature walks, we learnt to forage and made wild salads, herbal teas and elderberry champagne. We attended forest schools and learnt to cook flat breads over fire. We tapped birch trees for sap, Chopped firewood with axes and whittled wood into utensils. Harvested clay from the ground and created. Learnt to crochet and made clothes for teddies and gill nets. We lived amongst ponies and deer in the forest and identified wild birds. Raised chickens from eggs and dissected the dead ones. Guided blind sheep into fields and hid from huge turkeys. Identified mushrooms (although they still scare me)…
As my confidence grew, I offered to create no dig gardens for communities and alternative education settings. Soon, our mobile home was a travelling green house with seedlings sprouting and plants growing everywhere. That was a challenge in itself with cats that like eating soil and sitting on heat mats. Did I mention that we acquired two more cats (which were actually kittens at the time…. eeek).
The land for living off grid and self sufficiency
After much searching to find the perfect plot, we finally have our own little corner of the world! We have four acres of land to rewild and we named it Gardd y Pila-pala (which translates to The Butterfly Garden.) I’m using no dig methods to grow food and flowers and permaculture, to create a food forest. I’ll be planting hedges and trees for birds, borage for bees and bushes for butterflies…
It took a while to get where we are and of course I have documented many things in photographs. I would like to share the journey here because; 1. I need to share it, in the hope, it will inspire you to follow your dreams (no matter the obstacles). 2. I feel as though it will all fade into a distant memory if I don’t write it down.
Writing it down
The perfect example.. I was having a tech clean-up and found some written content, that I recorded during the growing season of 2024. I would never have documented this stuff into words but I was invited by Charles Dowding, to write for a regular newsletter. It was to showcase new(ish) and ordinary gardeners and for them to record their ups and downs of the season. Having a deadline was great for me, as it gave a sense of urgency to write things down and gather the photos needed. Re-reading the newsletters made me realise I had forgotten about so much! There were many ups and downs and some quite comical moments. It was a reminder of how far I have come and also, how funny some of the fails were. I learnt a lot from the “failures”. I think we always do. It also made me realise how important it is to write things down as well as taking photographs.
If you would like a laugh, or some inspiration, then feel free to take a look. I’ll reshare the content I wrote for Charles and I’ll be documenting progress on my journey. Rewilding the land, building an off grid and self sufficient life is all I ever dreamed of.
Follow the journey, past and present here.
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