Extreme Simple Backyard Living

[sky]

https://youtu.be/hsuWmeu2FvY

It must be nice to be able to live in this type of climate, outdoors almost all the time.

I like the way he has arranged his water/sewer/electric so as to not need city utility services. If his garden takes off, he will even have a salad or two every day, living on sunshine.

[SimpleLife]

While cool and even fun for a short while, I wouldn't want to live like that long term. How would you bring women back to your place? Also, I think that guy would have been better off moving to a lower cost of living area of the country to live in a normal house. You can buy a house for 30-50K in some parts of the country, many of them in decent or good areas.

Living in near poverty conditions until you die isn't living IMO. Retirement is great, but social quality of life is also important, otherwise you're just hiding under a rock waiting for death.

Again, I think it's admirable how independent he has become, would even find it fun to do for a while, but not a sustainable lifestyle for decades IMO. Even if you managed to tough it out like that for that long, I doubt you'd have a high qualify of life.

[sky]

He has been able to eliminate many unnecessary things. Why would he want a normal house? There is no great virtue in conforming to normality. Most people that own houses hide in them from social interaction.

He may be wealthy. You can't tell from the video. He has what he needs, as far as I can see.

[C40]

How would you bring women back to your place?.

He has that building basically dedicated to it!(he said himself: "All I do in here is sleep, read, and "cuddle" "). That is a SEX SHACK! I bet he's doing plenty well for himself in that department

[tommytebco]

I love the dream, but, once again note, the live small approach comes down to "How to Squat". The house and equipment require SOMEONES land. There are not too many who will give up their back yard or "north forty" for you to live on.

Here in Florida, land starts around $10K per acre for larger tracts. And zoning here prevents urban camping

[SimpleLife]

How would you bring women back to your place?.

He has that building basically dedicated to it!(he said himself: "All I do in here is sleep, read, and "cuddle""). That is a SEX SHACK!

I'm certain this guy has no problems. As long as he's able to find the kind of women that appreciate him, (or they can find him)
I'm sure he has zero problems in this department. I'd bet he is doing very well in that department

Though protest awfully much.

You're right, women love to hang out at the "sex shack" as you called it, wiping their ass over a bucket of their own crap that they just covered with leaves in the great outdoors.

Some of these women even have teeth!

[Riggerjack]

Simplelife, you are missing the hot hippie chick demographic. That is who the video was made for. Dude just made a video demonstrating that he lives by "earth code, not city code", pushing all the politically correct buzzwords into his sales pitch.

It all looks fantastic, as a single person, with occasional company, setup, since it doesn't really have to work. By that, I mean 165 gallons of water to get between rainfalls is a reasonable reserve, if when it runs out, you refill from the hose. Maybe not if your survival depends on it.

Humanure composting works, but I would want a bit more time and space than he has set up. In fact, the whole setup seems like it is good for display purposes, only. The garden is too small for anything but a display garden and a salad to feed your guest.

For those that want to give this a try, every city has lots that can't be built on, (too steep, to close to a stream/gully, unstable soils, flood plain, etc.) These are usually fairly cheap. But hard to sell. I don't think it will work long term, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

[Riggerjack]

And for those that think they can make this work, every planning dept has exception policy built into their code. Put together a plan and submit it. Approval means it would be allowed, until a neighbor complains...

[chenda]

I was quite impressed by his set up. Wouldn't suit me long term but he seems pretty adaptable and I'm sure he'll be fine...

[Dave]

I consider stories such as these to be examples of different ways of life. Would I want his exact setup? No. But it is interesting, and one more example lifestyle setup that could be drawn upon.

[sky]

There is an interesting back story to this video:

http://robgreenfield.tv/timeline/

[GandK]

He has that building basically dedicated to it!(he said himself: "All I do in here is sleep, read, and "cuddle""). That is a SEX SHACK!

I'm certain this guy has no problems. As long as he's able to find the kind of women that appreciate him, (or they can find him)
I'm sure he has zero problems in this department. I'd bet he is doing very well in that department

Though protest awfully much.

You're right, women love to hang out at the "sex shack" as you called it, wiping their ass over a bucket of their own crap that they just covered with leaves in the great outdoors.

Some of these women even have teeth!

I'm sure C40 is right. Off Grid Dude is a young, good-looking guy who's reasonably intelligent and smiles more than he frowns. That's all that's really required for that sort of thing: enough attractive characteristics to render him desirable to the average single woman he meets. My guess is he has no problems at all.

You're right that most mainstream women would not find his housing situation desirable. But I doubt he's looking for mainstream women, just as most people here are not. In fact, I'd say his lifestyle is an excellent mate filter. Women who are not on the same page with him will leave pretty much immediately after sex.

Maybe at a run...

[zarathustra]

idk when i lived in my van, my partners thought it was awesome/fun and it's not like we could only make it happen in my van! you can always go to their place too, you know!

[7Wannabe5]

"Whole Body Massage" is 1 of the fewer than 20 interesting books on his shelf, and he has a smaller than .8 waist to shoulder ratio, with likely IQ in the 130 range on mini-test. Verdict: Definitely do-able, although a bit too young for me (sigh.)

[BeyondtheWrap]

He collects rainwater, so it must rain often enough in that area. I'm wondering if that creates a problem since he has his kitchen and bathroom outside? Doesn't important stuff get wet?

[sky]

Here is an example of "backyard" living in a wet, cold climate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_N-xxGTb_g

[Riggerjack]

"Here's an example from a wet, cold climate."

Yes, but it is new. The unprotected OSB still looks new. That place hasn't seen its first winter. And it has less than 3 inches of wool insulation. And that canvass may last 3 years. I think he invited the camera crew as soon as he moved in his futon.

I like independent, eco friendly building. In 25 years, all that will be left of that is the concrete blocks. Archeologists wouldn't be able to figure out what it was from what is left. That's not my idea of eco friendly...

I am assuming that he is somewhere in the UK, and he won't get a serious snowload. The steep sides will help, but there is no way that supports the 35 lb/sq ft code requires in lowland Puget Sound.

This guy has built a nice looking, and warm tent, and that is the kind of lifespan it'll have.

[Riggerjack]

He was right about power, though. If you are going off grid, 12 volt is the way to go.

12 bolts means no inverter, and your appliances are built for running off of a battery, so they are either very efficient, or at least low power. Thanks to RVs, LEDs, and eBay, you can get a 12v version of anything you need.

[chenda]

@riggerjack - I think its in Spain.

[JamesR]

http://robgreenfield.tv/TheTeenyGreenyFAQ/ He's got a girlfriend. It's interesting he only keeps $7k on him, sounds like he's donating most of his income etc.. I wonder if he'll switch to ERE as he gets older.