Raising your own food, organic, from the land...

**Thunder Bay Rush** · March 6, 2013

I live in the bush, way up northwestern Ontario, eh. (Um, that's in Canada, for everyone down south). Off the grid... on 160 acres. Middle of frickin' nowhere. (My "driveway" is a mile long and no neighbours for miles). So, I have lots of room for a chicken coop, a pheasant coop... I raise my own rabbits too. Nothing better than fresh eggs every day. And, fresh pheasant is to die for. We don't have wild birds here, so I raise them.

I'll put in a huge garden this spring... I end up giving most of it away (I live alone) but it's still fun.

This summer I'm going to raise a hog... just one. Maybe a lamb. I hunt and fish a lot too, so a guy can only eat so much food without having to sign up Richard Simmon's "Sweatin' to the Oldies" classes. I don't wish to be on Oprah... or "The Biggest Loser."

Lately, I'm getting used to hearing in the news about food recalls due to lovely things like e coli, lysteria, salmonella, various forms of bacteria, etc., in food we buy from the store. Even in things like nuts, spinach and beans, not just ground beef or eggs! Scares the shit out of me. Up here in Canada, just last week, it was reported in the news that several major food chains were selling canned seafood that was more than one year "stale-dated." ONE YEAR!

People actually die from eating store-bought food these days.

Dude's first day in heaven...

One dead guy says to him, "So, why are you here? How did you die?"

Dude, "Oh, I ate some food that I bought at the grocery store."

Nice.

**thesweetscience** · March 6, 2013

I wish I could live as you do. While I am sure it is hard work it is probably less stressful than normal urban living. Just not having to deal with other people all that often would make it worthwhile.

If you don't mind me asking, do you have any kind of secular job? I mean I would assume that you would still need to make a little money for certain things that you can't make yourself or grow in the ground. Like taxes on your property, utility bills, that type of thing. Or are you totally off the grid with that regard?

The idea of that type of lifestyle is intriguing to me.

**Thunder Bay Rush** · March 6, 2013

Hey, I love talking about this stuff!

First, I am lucky... I'm self-employed. I work in the television industry (on-air personality and producer), so I don't have to be "in the office at 9am" every day. And, when I do need to go "into town" it's only a 40 minute drive... not too bad.

I have no monthly bills, other than that for my cell phone/Internet. Since I'm miles away from the power and communications grid, a cell phone is the only phone I could use and it works great where I built my house. For Internet, I have one of those little stick things I plug into my laptop and away we go... it's not good enough to watch videos, (I wouldn't bother anyway) but it works fine for most other things. There is a tower about 8 miles from here, so that's why it works. (Plus, I live on top of a mountain, which surely helps!)

My water comes from my well (free), my power comes from the sun (free, but I have a generator for back up), my heat comes from my firewood and woodstoves (free, as I cut it myself), I don't even have insurance on the house because it is way too expensive due to location and having the two woodstoves. It's almost not available even if I wanted to buy insurance. I have no mortgage, so they can all kiss my ass.

My property taxes is a whopping $115 per year (Not a typo). I also must pay another whopping $79 to the local roads board.

I bought a truck that is a few years old... with cash, so I have no payment. Gas costs me the most per month out of all my expenditures.

I make pretty decent money, but if things ever got really tough, given my lifestyle and situation, I could easily live on $12,000 a year. Most people live WAY beyond their means these days. I just heard on the CBC News up here that the average Canadian now has record levels of debt, NOT including mortgage. Something like $60,000 in credit card and loan debt. That is insane. Anyone who buys a house for $350,000 is an idiot. I built mine myself (it'll be 2400 square feet when it's finished this summer) for peanuts because it's rustic and simple. And, I friggin' love it! The land was cheap too because of location. 160 acres is a half mile square. I'm currently trying to buy the next 160 beside me...

I highly recommend this lifestyle to anyone who likes living in the country. If the public power grid goes down due to a storm or something stupid, I don't care. I'll always have power, heat, food and water.

And, I don't even know what heavy traffic is anymore... and I lived in Ottawa for 18 years and Toronto for 6!

Edited March 6, 2013 by Thunder Bay Rush

**Janie** · March 6, 2013

When I was a kid, I wanted to live on a farm and I still do. I've been wanting to put in a greenhouse in the backyard (have a great spot for a smallish one) for a while now. I want to grow: lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, various herbs, carrots, zucchini and garlic at the very least. I like to go to farmers markets (when I can) to purchase fresh produce. We have a decent butcher shop nearby and a great little place to pick up fresh seafood. I honestly hate store-bought food. The produce is horrible! Potatoes always seem to have a layer of green under the skin, the onions are sometimes half rotted... things are either no way near being ripe or are so ripe they are mushy. I have a hard time even buying good avocados.

Also, I rarely buy packed/prepared foods. I buy mac 'n cheese for the kids but everything else is homemade. I've been making my own bread for a while now and there is no way I could go back to buying bread.

And way to go TBR on living the way you do! I think that sounds great!

Any greenhouse advice for me? I can't have an open air garden because we live next to a wetland and are in an area where there is a lot of nature critters walking around. He have deer, rabbits, raccoons, 'possum, moles, snakes (I do not want to be picking some nice fresh lettuce to see a snake wrapped around it!), mice/rats, squirrels....

**Tombstone Mountain** · March 6, 2013

Any Skeeter's??? I'll bet they look like helicopters out that way

**Janie** · March 6, 2013

"Skeeter's"? Mosquitoes?

And yes, living next to a wetland, the buggers are everywhere! We have to coat ourselves in repellent whenever we go outside.

Seattle is also famous for all those gross, slimy "s" creatures: spiders, slugs, snails, snakes and salamanders.

**Tombstone Mountain** · March 6, 2013

I absolutely HATE putting skeeter repellent on...nasty filmy feeling...yeeassh

**thesweetscience** · March 7, 2013

If I ever find myself single again.

You power your house off solar? Is that enough to run some appliances like a refrigerator and stove or do you make due without those types of things?

**Thunder Bay Rush** · March 7, 2013

Right now I have a small solar system and the generator, which I use if I need to run some power tools or something very manly like that! Propane fridge and hot water tank, but I might go to solar for those this summer. The price of solar has come way down this last year or two... my timing is good!

For lights, I use coil oil lamps a lot of the time... I have a few LED lights that use little power. My house is quite large, but it's very "open concept," so I don't need a lot of lights for each room. One of the coolest inventions of all time has GOT to be the $12 headlamp! I use mine quite a bit... and it's so handy!

**Thunder Bay Rush** · March 7, 2013

Janie, I don't know you and there's a 99.9999 % chance I'll never meet you. But, after reading your post I can say that you are a cool country chick! And, your hubster must be a cool country dude! (Not as cool as me or anything, but still cool!)

I've never built a greenhouse. That is one of the things on my mind for this season. I think I probably will go fo it... it's gets goddam cold where I live in mid-winter, but I could keep it warm enough. I have a lot of south exposure here, so that's a big help. I would LOVE fresh herbs and tomatoes through the year. Fresh dill, oregano, basil and parsley in January... that DIDN'T come from Safeway... who'd a thunk it?

**Janie** · March 7, 2013

:banana:

I would love to be a country girl! I think I'd make a good one. When I was little and dreaming about owning a farm, I wanted my entire family to live on my farm too and I even assigned farm jobs to everyone. I think mom was in charge of the chickens and dad was in charge of the pigs. Grandpa was supposed to ring the pig noses. No one was very happy with their chore list!

You know what's funny about the husband? He is every bit my opposite! He would loathe farm life.

I've started researching greenhouses. I think it's totally doable. Every spring I usually have potted fresh herbs in my kitchen window. I go through a lot of fresh basil.

:)

**Tombstone Mountain** · March 8, 2013

Basil is tomato's best friend

**Janie** · March 9, 2013

One of my favorite sandwiches is a grilled cheese, tomato and fresh basil.

Another herb I would have to grow myself, because I use it so much, is cilantro.

**Ya_Big_Tree** · March 9, 2013

Can't wait to get my own greenhouse. Till then I'm creating my own organic garden on my terrace. It's big enough for for veggies and herbs. Really excited for this Spring. :)

**Thunder Bay Rush** · March 9, 2013

Pretty hard to beat fresh basil! And, your grilled cheese sounds pertty wicked...

Another great sandwich using basil is chicken. Tender chicken in a tortilla wrap, with lots of BIG fresh basil leaves, a little bit of ground sage (or rosemary) and a touch of mayo. Holy shit...

**HomesickAlien** · March 10, 2013

What made you decide to live in such a remote area? Many people would like to get away from it all, but you did so to the extreme. My biggest concern living so far off the beaten path would be the availability of emergency services. How long would it take the fire department or an ambulance to reach you?

And what about bears?!

Your way of life might not suit everyone, but it sounds like you're very content living in "the bush". :D

**Thunder Bay Rush** · March 11, 2013

When I was a kid, all I ever dreamed of was fishing & hunting... living in the big city made it tough to do those things on a regular basis. So, as an adult, I started slowly moving north and eventually, after several moves, I ended up near Thunder Bay (about 1200 miles north of Toronto.)

My home is not really that remote. I'm 40 miles from a city of 120,000. And, there is a volunteer fire and rescue team here and the fire hall is only 12 miles away. If there was ever a BIG time emergency, all I'd have to do is call 911. (My cell phone works perfectly clear here, off the grid.) They'd have a helicopter landing in my yard in no time. I fell of my roof five years ago, breaking a bunch of ribs, collar bone and my left hip. And in no time, a helicopter landed beside my house. The dude gave me a shot of morphine, and the next thing I knew, I was "going to Woodstock, man!"

Bears are never a problem. I see them from time to time, and yes, in my yard on occassion. Not a problem, not enough to worry about. They are normally afraid of humans, so when they see one of us, they know the drill - SPLIT! I have guns, so if I had to shoot one, I would. I did once about 15 years ago. Such a shame, but he was to close, too bold and wouldn't back off. I didn't want one of my kids to be his dinner. I hunt bears on occassion for food.

**Thunder Bay Rush** · March 11, 2013

Further, deer are more of a pain in the ass than the bears are. They make a mess of my garden. Those little pricks eat everything!! I want to plant some apple trees this season, but if I do, I'll need to put up six foot high fence... maybe higher!

**HomesickAlien** · March 11, 2013

I can empathize with your deer problem. I live out in the boonies on twenty acres (more like the suburbs to you), and deer are all over the place. I never thought of them as a problem until the first year I planted a garden. Farmland on either side of me and eighty acres of woodland across the road, but where did they come to eat? My garden. I put a five foot fence around it, but after my neighbor told me they could jump over it I also hung old aluminum pie tins on it and sprayed the perimeter with deer repellent. It's not aesthetically pleasing, but it does the job. Every time I hear coyotes in the distance at night I hope they're on the trail of some hapless deer!

You've eaten bear? :eh: I didn't know people hunted bears for food. I'm sure I'll be sorry I asked this, but what does it taste like?

**Thunder Bay Rush** · March 11, 2013

Bear is not commonly eaten. Most people hunt them for sport, which I'm not a fan of. "Sport hunters," those who only care about the size of the antlers or in the case of bears, the hide, piss me off. I only kill something if I'm going to eat it. (Or, if it's going to try to eat me!)

In Ontario, where I live, it's illegal to allow any meat from a bear to spoil. But in contrast, in Alberta, you don't have to use the meat. You can leave it in the bush to spoil... I guess other animals will benefit from it, but to me this wrong. I think it should be illegal to waste ANY game animal, regardless of which province or state one hunts in.

For taste, it's better than you might think. Not as good as deer or moose, but it's still pretty good. I normally smoke the hams, and they end tasting like pastrami. The backstraps (loin) are good as they are, and the rest usually ends up being made into sausage. I add some ground pork to the bear meat, some spices, etc, and it's good. I've fed it to people for breakfast at my house and only told them it was bear afterward... they were surprised. They assumed it was store-bought sausage of some kind.

They don't know me very well, now do they???

**Janie** · March 11, 2013

I don't agree with sport hunting either. I actually wouldn't mind trying deer. I have some great Polish recipes that call for venison. I know a butcher who shoots his own deer for food but I have no idea how to say, "Hey, next time you're out shooting deer, moose, elk... can you bring me back some meat!?"

I see a lot of buffalo meat in the stores but I have yet to try it.

**Janie** · March 11, 2013

Deer will eat just about anything. We finally put a 6' wood fence up last year and we haven't had any deer. In the front, I've planted things that deer aren't supposed to eat but sometimes they still nibble on them. A neighbor of our spent a lot of money on landscaping their front yard only to discover it half eaten almost immediately! Rabbits eat a lot of things too. The rabbits and slugs love my hostas.

**Tombstone Mountain** · March 11, 2013

For me, deer are important to keep around my property. They eat morel mushrooms, along with the turkeys. Bt following their game trails I always run into the morel during its season. Rabbits and squirrels don't show face around my house...my cat will eat them if they get careless

**tx_rush** · March 12, 2013

This is a great thread!

I eat/ harvest much of my own food. I can usually get about 60 lbs of shelled pecans a year. I am not a gardener, wish I had a green thumb :)

I also have a friend with a peach orchard, I can and freeze TONS of peaches. BTW, georgia peaches have nothing on texas peaches.

I do a lot of hunting, one thing that is EXTREMELY plentiful here is wild hogs. I could probably kill more than I can eat. Boars over 200 lbs are usually very gamey (sp?) tasting. A lot of people dont eat the hogs. I am very much against hunting if you dont eat the meat, but hogs are the one exception, I have seen first hand how badly they can tear up a field. I have no problem with a farmer shooting them even if he doesnt eat them, they are so over populated.

I process all my own meat, and usually harvest a deer or 2 a year as well. I dont buy meat from the grocery store, with the exception of chicken. I get farm eggs from someone down the road, as well as milk.

If I had more time i would probably do chickens or rabbits, rabbits are pretty easy. Right now too busy

Also lots of lakes around here, sometimes I will run trotlines on local lakes, if you are good, you can freeze 60-80 lbs of catfish filets in a day.

**JohnnyBlaze** · March 12, 2013

I'd eat bear. Winnie and Paddington too.

Apparently, bear paw is eaten in some places out here. I'm with Thunder in that NO meat should be wasted...not a fan of hunting for sport

Raising your own food, organic, from the land...

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