Living off the grid - homesteading and self-sufficiency

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For anyone interested or already living off the grid, anywhere in the world.

Homesteading
Solar systems
Water management
Animal husbandry

And how to live and thrive off the grid

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foxtrot

hey, welcome! let's introduce ourselves (self.off_grid)

submitted 1 year ago by foxtrot to c/off_grid

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Welcome everyone. Are you already homesteading/working on self sufficiency or just interested? I live off grid in Spain on 3 hectares, with a small house and a few animals :)

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We just bougbt around 1500m^2 in Belgium between 2 cities where me and my girlfriend work.

A street next to a forest which is nice, so it is a small community. The back part of the property is forest with around 15 trees. Big renovation project though!

I wish I could go off grid, but in Belgium we don't have the money for the space or a heat pumps ystem for the winter. Just 1 hectare is around 300k€ without a house at all and a 20% house building tax (unless you get agricultural ground which is much cheaper at around 53k per hectare, bit you can't build any structures on it.

But we have trees, a workshop, a decent sized house, what feels like isolation because of the forest on one side and our own mini forest behind the house.

Not enough for animals besides some chickens amd ducks, but plenty for a big garden 😁

[–] foxtrot 1 points 1 year ago

Hey, that's so cool! Here in Spain I have a LOT of Belgian neighbours, believe it or not, haha (and Dutch!) As you say land is quite expensive over there so I guess that's why they come here :) So is your place off grid or just hidden? I totally understand the struggle, I have an orchard and a forest around us but heating is still very complicated. We have a wood stove but there's not enough prunings from the orchard and we're not allowed to fell trees, besides pine is not great for burning. So every year we have to work something out ;) Having a workshop is also super important, I think a lot of people underestimate how many tools and other bits and bobs you're going to need when you want to homestead! But most of all - congratulations, must be super exciting!