11 Comments

Hi Sophie & Luke

I missed your stories Sophie :)

Luke mentions something very important "If the electricity went out, the supermarkets shut their doors, or the taps stopped giving me water, I would be in trouble very quickly."

Most of us live in this strange reality where we're simultaneously more comfortable and more vulnerable than any humans in history.

We trade stories on smartphones but have forgotten how to tell them around fires.

We can order anything with a click but can't grow our own food.

We're connected to thousands online but disconnected from the land beneath our feet.

The most powerful part isn't that Luke and his family moved to the woods.

It's that they're rediscovering something our great-grandparents took for granted:

Real security isn't about having more.

It's about needing less.

Thank you so much for sharing :)

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Wow, I missed this comment. "Real security isn't about having more. It's about needing less." 🫳🎤thank you for sharing so thoughtfully!

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looks like I missed it too! Thanks Neela for your always thoughtful comments! And I agree, that's what stood out most for me from Luke's story, that realisation that on the one hand we have all the comforts we need, on the other hand we barely know how to look after ourselves anymore

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So inspiring! I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop enjoying my latte reminiscing about the trials of our 2-week camping trip where I got a taste of this lifestyle and fell in love with nature. I couldn't agree more with every principle of off grid living, especially about community and having our elders be the storytellers to pass on their wisdom. Still so very attached to warmth and luxuries. Also, haven't successfully let go of my book collection and leisure time to go all in....yet.

I'm so grateful to have stumbled upon Luke Miller's Substack. His work has been life changing for me as a writer and hopefully one day as an off gridder.

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I have about 500 books haha! And a sauna! But no hot shower yet, I am looking forward to the next time I have one of those!

Thanks for the comment :-)

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We've got one of those RV gas water heaters by the way, works like a charm. I couldn't live without hot showers!

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We have a bucket and cold water. Very cold now as winter is slowly creeping up.

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You're a stronger person than me 🤣

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Just letting know that you can totally have warmth and some luxury when living off the grid 😁 I was literally thinking yesterday, looking back at how we started: very much cold and not a lot of luxury. But now more than a year in we have everything we need a, including a decent kitchen; and currently building a new bathroom as well. It's possible, just takes a while.

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I love reading about off-grid living. I’m glad that you are bringing us these stories so that even if we can’t do it at this time, we can live vicariously through them. And who knows, maybe someday. Although I doubt that I want to try it in northern Canada. It’s -17 C today, snowing, and I am fully on grid.

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I saw a video yesterday of people living in a yurt in the snow and thought that was pretty brave! I will see if I can find someone to interview who is off-gridding in the snow 😉

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