Off-Grid Living for Agrarians, Part 12
Worldliness is the constant, daily, selling of one's soul in exchange for carnal comfort. Godliness is a constant selling of one's carnal comfort in exchange for the good of one's soul. The grand plans of many aspiring Agrarian homesteaders crash and burn because of some mental threshold of minimal comfort that the mind both expects and demands. I would say that almost 100% of the objections raised against Agrarian Separatism and Off-Grid Homesteading have to do with COMFORT, no matter how the questions are disguised or how the objection is framed. Even when the protester denies that comfort is behind his or her objection, it is always there - lingering as the final and unmistakable truth behind why people won't leave the world behind. When someone protests that they are staying in the world for the sake of their children or grandchildren, or because they believe their "sacrifice" will allow future generations to live like God has commanded - if you just replace their entire protest with CARNAL COMFORT and you will be a whole lot closer to the truth.
Now, I have no problem with being comfortable, I like a nice bed and a good meal as much as anyone. That kind of comfort is not what we're talking about here, and the point I am making is that if we make carnal comfort the rule and we never look at what we should be doing and how we should be living - merely because the right thing seems uncomfortable - then we will never be obedient in those things we ought to do.
I have mentioned this verse before:
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. (Pro 24:27)
God's wisdom declares that we ought to live uncomfortably for awhile while we are preparing our life and living for the future. We ought to make our lands, fields, gardens, and animal facilities workable, managing all of it for our future good and for the sustenance of our families - and we ought to do these things first. THEN, when God has blessed our endeavors and our obedience to His Word, we should build our house. John Gill said this:
But what should YOU do?
When choosing to move off-grid, you should remember the rules:
Separation
Simplicity
Sustainability
Start separately and simply, even if it means you might be uncomfortable for awhile. Mine is a family of 6 living in a cabin of less than 500 square feet, with a small 1976 camper as an addition. My bedroom is the size of many people's walk-in-closet. I am typing this manifesto while sitting on a bed because I do not have a desk on which to work. If you will make sure your initial setup fits these three critical rules, you should do well.
Gill points out that we ought to expect God to reward our diligence in doing our duty. I am convinced that if the Lord wills that we prosper here, I will be able to build a house some day when my fields and animals are made to bring forth abundantly; and I believe that the house I will build (if the Lord wills it) will be much nicer, more sustainable, much more permanent, much more well built and solid, and even much more comfortable, than any I might have built in haste, with little money, before it was in God's timing. So my advice to you is to engage and embrace discomfort in the beginning - even invite it. Make yourself live with less, and prove what is good and right. By that I mean, try to live without all the stuff, and when you realize that you can do so, then you have proved that you don't need it. More than 75% of the stuff we did not sell before we came here, but put in storage, we found out we didn't need. My advice for many folks today is to sell everything except the few items you are absolutely sure, without a doubt, that you will need. Sell it all and then buy what you KNOW you need. I am convinced that most people already have the resources to begin their off-grid journey, but the money is locked up in junk they don't need and shouldn't own.
Building an off-grid life will most likely start with the soil and not much else. I have made many mistakes in my off-grid adventure, and I am willing to admit those mistakes and pass the wisdom on to you all. If I had it all to do over again, I would start with the dirt and a shovel. I would dig a hole for my root cellar as my first building project. Whatever your first project is, remember the three rules and keep it simple. Always remember that food and water are primary, and ought to occupy your time and mind for a long while before you ever begin to think about long-term comfort. So long as our mind considers the world to be a safety-net and a crutch, we will not have a right view or mindset. We ought to think that food and water production and storage are critical to our survival, because they are. If you were cast onto your land with nothing but some basic tools, how would you prioritize things? Would you spend your time on temporary comforts? or would you spend it tilling and planting?
Now, this part of the series is about building, and I suppose I ought to get to that, but I wanted to make sure our minds were right about the subject first.
So... what to build?
Remember that this is the part of the process that will take the most time, will require the most of us, and will last the longest with us. Where and how you choose to build - these are going to be decisions that stay with you for a very long time. If you choose to build in a modern style, and then a few years later you think you might want to use your farm for agro or eco-tourism, then you are going to regret your modern new buildings. If you choose to build in a place or direction that isn't well thought out, and then you learn later that you didn't have all the information, you are going to regret many of your decisions. This is why I believe that God would have us live on our land for some time, working the soil and producing food, etc., before we build our permanent home. That way we can see the way the wind blows, how the water pools and drains, and myriad of other important realities that will one day effect how we live our daily lives. In these parts, back in the old days, the folks would dig a root cellar as their temporary living quarters while they prepared their fields, pens, sheds, and barns. The house would come to be much later. That idea, as we have shown, is a very good one. If you live in a land where heat isn't as much of a problem, then you might want to build a small temporary cabin, or you could purchase a small camper or tent to live in while you prepare your fields and out-buildings. In any case, get to know your land for a few a year or two before you build permanently. You will make better decisions in the long run.
Our first "structure" was a chicken coop built from a castaway deer blind we found on the back of the property. I put a new floor in it, built it up on "stilts" and used some old fencing to fence in the coop. Next I built a second coop that would also serve as a grain and feed storage. We put in our garden and a corral as we were building our small cabin. Our cabin was designed as a temporary dwelling (5-7 years) and has grown a bit to help us do the things we need to do. We started our root cellar in the first full summer after we arrived here and we had it ready to use at the beginning of last spring. Today we literally have thousands of pounds of storage and preserved foods stored in our root cellar.
I have received dozens of questions about the building of a remote/off-grid cabin. While I do have many ideas about the subject, and I have learned a lot about what to do and what not to do, you need to remember that this series is not about "how to do" stuff. It is about maintaining a sane and intelligent philosophy and process in doing it. My advice in building a cabin? Small is fine, especially if it is temporary. You really want to go for cheap, but not dangerously cheap. Try to use resources that are free or very inexpensive. We have found folks willing to let us tear down houses and other buildings if we will just remove the materials. From these materials we have built all sorts of things, including a farrowing shed for pigs that I built completely from these re-used materials. The basic philosophy, though, is to spend some time anticipating your needs. You should always plan for thing like catchwater, storage, etc. Think about where you are going to put the stuff you need, and how to get rid of the stuff you do not need. Think about the weather, seasonal changes, sun track, where you want to sit when it is hot in the morning, and where you will sit when it is hot in the evening. How do you want to direct the breeze through your building? How much light will you need? I am convinced that I can build a good sized (but maybe partially unfinished) cabin, with a sizeable catchwater and rainwater storage, for less than $10,000, and that is using mainly new materials. If one were able to procure a large amount of free, cheap, or salvaged materials, the cost would be significantly less. I am fairly positive that we don't have anywhere near 10 grand in this cabin, and we built it in increments, as money, supplies, and labor were available.
What if I had to do it all over again (as it relates to housing). Once again, I would build below ground first. My first structure would be a root cellar, and I would live in it while I build a second, larger root cellar (larger than this current cabin). Then, if I need to put a small one-room shack over my large underground cabin, I would do so. This plan would do the following for me:
1. It would be much easier to manage the temperature swings, and to stay cool in the summers. Our expense for cooling "stuff" for the first two years probably added up to well over $200 a month for most of the year (I would estimate close to $2000 per year). This cost would be almost eliminated if we had built underground, and that money could have gone to building cost instead of waste. Even now, on this 17th day of March, it is 83 degrees and I have two ceiling fans going at full blast to cool the cabin. No such need in a root cellar or basement cabin.
2. The root cellars would be handy and easy to use from a permanent house I plan on building in the future. As it is now, this cabin will either become a guest house, or a dry storage, or a combination of both, but it will not be as easily usable once I build a house. The house I build, if the Lord wills, will incorporate a large underground or partially underground living area for the coolness factor.
3. There would be no need for us to leave the cabin and slog through the mud to the root cellar when severe weather threatens. We could put the children to bed and not worry about having to get up and traverse the hazards to get into the root cellar if a tornado is coming.
When I do build a house, if the Lord wills, I will incorporate all the things I have learned through practical experience, and I will know tons more about my land and about how to do things correctly. I will know more about wind currents, temperature changes, sunrise and sunset at different times of year, rain runoff, etc., and I pray the Lord will continue to give me wisdom and ideas up to and including when I do finally start to build my house.
Returning to our point, if we do not look at off-grid living as a complete system, with a philosophy that guides our decision making, then we will fly to and fro without any real purpose, and quite often we will be working at cross-purposes with ourselves and with our future plans. Take the time and use your mind and your creativity to envision how you want to live, and how to go about it. All the rest of your building plans, then, will fall into place, and will only require the materials, the know-how, and the motivation to get them done. Now, don't you feel better?
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
Now, I have no problem with being comfortable, I like a nice bed and a good meal as much as anyone. That kind of comfort is not what we're talking about here, and the point I am making is that if we make carnal comfort the rule and we never look at what we should be doing and how we should be living - merely because the right thing seems uncomfortable - then we will never be obedient in those things we ought to do.
I have mentioned this verse before:
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. (Pro 24:27)
God's wisdom declares that we ought to live uncomfortably for awhile while we are preparing our life and living for the future. We ought to make our lands, fields, gardens, and animal facilities workable, managing all of it for our future good and for the sustenance of our families - and we ought to do these things first. THEN, when God has blessed our endeavors and our obedience to His Word, we should build our house. John Gill said this:
"and afterwards build thine house; when, though the blessing of God upon thy diligence and industry, thou art become rich, or however hast such a competent substance as to be able to build a good house, and furnish it in a handsome manner, then do it; but first take care of the main point, that you have a sufficiency to finish it; see the advice of Christ, Luk_14:28"Now, of course, many people are going to say that there is no Biblical command for people to live Agrarian lives, despite what these verses (and many others say). They will say that these verses only applied to some other culture, long ago, that would have to prepare their fields because they didn't have a Wal-Mart. Some people really believe that modern urban industrialism is just as good and pleasing to God as Agrarianism... and I suppose if they are willing to discount or disbelieve about half of the Bible, they might have a point. So God says that we ought to live in such a way that we produce food from our own fields, and my point is that we ought to expect and even foster some discomfort at the beginning of our journey. If our countrymen had followed this advice, we would not have a mortgage crisis today. The average worldling today is unable to feed themselves or provide for themselves. They do not grow food or husband animals for their food and care. Yet they live deliciously in mortgaged castles, eating dainties that have been poisonously grown and marketed, cared for by a paternalistic beast that juggles the means of survival just well enough to make all seem right for a time.
But what should YOU do?
When choosing to move off-grid, you should remember the rules:
Separation
Simplicity
Sustainability
Start separately and simply, even if it means you might be uncomfortable for awhile. Mine is a family of 6 living in a cabin of less than 500 square feet, with a small 1976 camper as an addition. My bedroom is the size of many people's walk-in-closet. I am typing this manifesto while sitting on a bed because I do not have a desk on which to work. If you will make sure your initial setup fits these three critical rules, you should do well.
Gill points out that we ought to expect God to reward our diligence in doing our duty. I am convinced that if the Lord wills that we prosper here, I will be able to build a house some day when my fields and animals are made to bring forth abundantly; and I believe that the house I will build (if the Lord wills it) will be much nicer, more sustainable, much more permanent, much more well built and solid, and even much more comfortable, than any I might have built in haste, with little money, before it was in God's timing. So my advice to you is to engage and embrace discomfort in the beginning - even invite it. Make yourself live with less, and prove what is good and right. By that I mean, try to live without all the stuff, and when you realize that you can do so, then you have proved that you don't need it. More than 75% of the stuff we did not sell before we came here, but put in storage, we found out we didn't need. My advice for many folks today is to sell everything except the few items you are absolutely sure, without a doubt, that you will need. Sell it all and then buy what you KNOW you need. I am convinced that most people already have the resources to begin their off-grid journey, but the money is locked up in junk they don't need and shouldn't own.
Building an off-grid life will most likely start with the soil and not much else. I have made many mistakes in my off-grid adventure, and I am willing to admit those mistakes and pass the wisdom on to you all. If I had it all to do over again, I would start with the dirt and a shovel. I would dig a hole for my root cellar as my first building project. Whatever your first project is, remember the three rules and keep it simple. Always remember that food and water are primary, and ought to occupy your time and mind for a long while before you ever begin to think about long-term comfort. So long as our mind considers the world to be a safety-net and a crutch, we will not have a right view or mindset. We ought to think that food and water production and storage are critical to our survival, because they are. If you were cast onto your land with nothing but some basic tools, how would you prioritize things? Would you spend your time on temporary comforts? or would you spend it tilling and planting?
Now, this part of the series is about building, and I suppose I ought to get to that, but I wanted to make sure our minds were right about the subject first.
So... what to build?
Remember that this is the part of the process that will take the most time, will require the most of us, and will last the longest with us. Where and how you choose to build - these are going to be decisions that stay with you for a very long time. If you choose to build in a modern style, and then a few years later you think you might want to use your farm for agro or eco-tourism, then you are going to regret your modern new buildings. If you choose to build in a place or direction that isn't well thought out, and then you learn later that you didn't have all the information, you are going to regret many of your decisions. This is why I believe that God would have us live on our land for some time, working the soil and producing food, etc., before we build our permanent home. That way we can see the way the wind blows, how the water pools and drains, and myriad of other important realities that will one day effect how we live our daily lives. In these parts, back in the old days, the folks would dig a root cellar as their temporary living quarters while they prepared their fields, pens, sheds, and barns. The house would come to be much later. That idea, as we have shown, is a very good one. If you live in a land where heat isn't as much of a problem, then you might want to build a small temporary cabin, or you could purchase a small camper or tent to live in while you prepare your fields and out-buildings. In any case, get to know your land for a few a year or two before you build permanently. You will make better decisions in the long run.
Our first "structure" was a chicken coop built from a castaway deer blind we found on the back of the property. I put a new floor in it, built it up on "stilts" and used some old fencing to fence in the coop. Next I built a second coop that would also serve as a grain and feed storage. We put in our garden and a corral as we were building our small cabin. Our cabin was designed as a temporary dwelling (5-7 years) and has grown a bit to help us do the things we need to do. We started our root cellar in the first full summer after we arrived here and we had it ready to use at the beginning of last spring. Today we literally have thousands of pounds of storage and preserved foods stored in our root cellar.
I have received dozens of questions about the building of a remote/off-grid cabin. While I do have many ideas about the subject, and I have learned a lot about what to do and what not to do, you need to remember that this series is not about "how to do" stuff. It is about maintaining a sane and intelligent philosophy and process in doing it. My advice in building a cabin? Small is fine, especially if it is temporary. You really want to go for cheap, but not dangerously cheap. Try to use resources that are free or very inexpensive. We have found folks willing to let us tear down houses and other buildings if we will just remove the materials. From these materials we have built all sorts of things, including a farrowing shed for pigs that I built completely from these re-used materials. The basic philosophy, though, is to spend some time anticipating your needs. You should always plan for thing like catchwater, storage, etc. Think about where you are going to put the stuff you need, and how to get rid of the stuff you do not need. Think about the weather, seasonal changes, sun track, where you want to sit when it is hot in the morning, and where you will sit when it is hot in the evening. How do you want to direct the breeze through your building? How much light will you need? I am convinced that I can build a good sized (but maybe partially unfinished) cabin, with a sizeable catchwater and rainwater storage, for less than $10,000, and that is using mainly new materials. If one were able to procure a large amount of free, cheap, or salvaged materials, the cost would be significantly less. I am fairly positive that we don't have anywhere near 10 grand in this cabin, and we built it in increments, as money, supplies, and labor were available.
What if I had to do it all over again (as it relates to housing). Once again, I would build below ground first. My first structure would be a root cellar, and I would live in it while I build a second, larger root cellar (larger than this current cabin). Then, if I need to put a small one-room shack over my large underground cabin, I would do so. This plan would do the following for me:
1. It would be much easier to manage the temperature swings, and to stay cool in the summers. Our expense for cooling "stuff" for the first two years probably added up to well over $200 a month for most of the year (I would estimate close to $2000 per year). This cost would be almost eliminated if we had built underground, and that money could have gone to building cost instead of waste. Even now, on this 17th day of March, it is 83 degrees and I have two ceiling fans going at full blast to cool the cabin. No such need in a root cellar or basement cabin.
2. The root cellars would be handy and easy to use from a permanent house I plan on building in the future. As it is now, this cabin will either become a guest house, or a dry storage, or a combination of both, but it will not be as easily usable once I build a house. The house I build, if the Lord wills, will incorporate a large underground or partially underground living area for the coolness factor.
3. There would be no need for us to leave the cabin and slog through the mud to the root cellar when severe weather threatens. We could put the children to bed and not worry about having to get up and traverse the hazards to get into the root cellar if a tornado is coming.
When I do build a house, if the Lord wills, I will incorporate all the things I have learned through practical experience, and I will know tons more about my land and about how to do things correctly. I will know more about wind currents, temperature changes, sunrise and sunset at different times of year, rain runoff, etc., and I pray the Lord will continue to give me wisdom and ideas up to and including when I do finally start to build my house.
Returning to our point, if we do not look at off-grid living as a complete system, with a philosophy that guides our decision making, then we will fly to and fro without any real purpose, and quite often we will be working at cross-purposes with ourselves and with our future plans. Take the time and use your mind and your creativity to envision how you want to live, and how to go about it. All the rest of your building plans, then, will fall into place, and will only require the materials, the know-how, and the motivation to get them done. Now, don't you feel better?
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
posted by Michael Bunker at 3/17/2008 01:03:00 PM
1 Comments:
Worldliness is the constant, daily, selling of one's soul in exchange for carnal comfort.
and
Godliness is a constant selling of one's carnal comfort in exchange for the good of one's soul.
Say's volumes.
Webster's 1828 says: Worldliness - A predominant passion for obtaining the good things of this life; covetousness; addictedness to gain and temporal enjoyments.
A whole lot like what you said.
Thanks again. Good stuff.
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