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Anyone living Off the Grid or wannabe's?

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  • 11-10-2013 5:12am
    #1
    Wildquill
    Registered Users Posts: 15 ✭


    I was wondering as to whether there were many Off-Gridders riding the forum. Personally am doing so in New Zealand and have done in several other countries with little or no money (sometimes not willingly).
    Am researching the feasibility of doing so in Ireland.

    Could you share your experiences, pit-falls, joys in living as such in Ireland?

    Onward in the quest!

    Wildquill
    Tagged:


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    #2
    mawk
    Registered Users Posts: 2,738 ✭✭✭mawk


    Biggest problem is probably the lack of large tracts of land you can publicly access.
    You either need huge capital to buy a suitable area or permission to be on other people's land, to cut their wood, set snares, access their water..

    Ireland is very owned.


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    #3
    Wildquill
    Registered Users Posts: 15 ✭Wildquill


    There are comfortable ways to turn that issue into a positive for the off-gridder. There always seem to be scenario's where the landowners don't have the financial or physical ability to repair/upgrade/build and are open to old-fashioned trade.

    An example : Farmer has an old stone building without a roof - someone comes along and offers to repair and put a log upper level and roof on it at his own expense in exchange for a few years tenancy... win-win.

    A key to this being workable is not wanting/expecting ownership or long-term rights, and be willing and able to provide a service/trade that exceeds expectation - must be a win-win scenario.

    Ideally for me, it's about the journey, as opposed to a goal. Different strokes for different folks though.

    I can say there is no freedom like being mostly self-sufficient, in spite of the physical demands it often incurs.. gotta love it.

    Cheers for the input.

    Wildquill


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    #4
    Danpad
    Registered Users Posts: 273 ✭✭Danpad


    Purchasing land isn't as expensive now thanks to the recession, however, the gods of planning law have not made it easy to set yourself up on such land. Although with a little thinking outside the box and holding them to the exact letter of their laws there are ways around it ;-)


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    #5
    Nearly~November
    Registered Users Posts: 28 ✭Nearly~November


    Hello - Would anyone have any advice on where to go i.e. initiatives, groups etc... for advice re: planning and such, and connecting with others who are hoping to head down a similar path?

    Transition Networks have been suggested to me by a friend - & I was wondering if there is some organisation that I've missed who could signpost a few things?

    Cheers,
    S


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    #6
    CamperMan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,835 ✭✭✭CamperMan


    we tried to live off grid in Ireland but the council didn't like the idea and insisted we were connected to ALL the services.. so we left and went to Sweden


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    #7
    Stovepipe
    Registered Users Posts: 2,979 ✭✭✭Stovepipe


    Insisted? How? what's to stop anyone with their own land having a septic tank or a reed bed system or a wind turbine/solar panel,etc,etc?


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    #8
    aaakev
    Registered Users Posts: 3,088 ✭✭✭aaakev


    Stovepipe wrote: »
    Insisted? How? what's to stop anyone with their own land having a septic tank or a reed bed system or a wind turbine/solar panel,etc,etc?

    Yeah I'd be curious about that too.... I remember a few years ago a guy I know was building a house in a field that had access from the road but he got a huge bill from the council for his entry from the road! They also wanted a huge amount to be connected to the sewerage system, don't know what happened with that in the end


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    #9
    Pat Mustard
    Registered Users Posts: 9,554 ✭✭✭Pat Mustard


    Stovepipe wrote: »
    Insisted? How? what's to stop anyone with their own land having a septic tank or a reed bed system or a wind turbine/solar panel,etc,etc?

    You need planning permission for a septic tank, which won't be given without conforming to rules re minimum distance from water supply, etc.


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    #10
    Reillym
    Registered Users Posts: 20 ✭Reillym


    Nearly~November wrote: »
    Hello - Would anyone have any advice on where to go i.e. initiatives, groups etc... for advice re: planning and such, and connecting with others who are hoping to head down a similar path?

    Transition Networks have been suggested to me by a friend - & I was wondering if there is some organisation that I've missed who could signpost a few things?

    Cheers,
    S

    Yeah I was wondering about this sorta thing too...


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    #11
    Xantia
    Registered Users Posts: 682 ✭✭✭Xantia


    Some people are doing this already in Europe.
    Off Grid


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    #12
    lostHorizons64
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4 ✭lostHorizons64


    Xantia wrote: »
    Some people are doing this already in Europe.
    thejournal /photos-of-people-living-off-the-grid-1626052-Aug2014/"]Off Grid

    Well the thing is, depending on the country, its to

    Other:
    - Remember, all over the world you have tribes. etc


    Here's another cool example: (I apologize that its the dailymail, but it was the only news site that came in google relating to him, I forgot his name,etc so search results were limited.)
    dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2459151/Hobbit-man-lives-tiny-house-5000-year.html

    Video:
    youtube.com/watch?v=R6Ocu5XSc7k


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