I’m a sucker for these kinds of stories — and of course, a part of me would like to live exactly as they do. But this finite planet isn’t big enough for all that many wilderness dwellers. Instead, we must turn inwards, look to what we can do right here, at home, with what we already have. And, it turns out, all we need do is change perceptions rather than build new infrastructure. It’s all here, in place, everything we need. We just need to view our world, and our neighbors, differently. Rather than endlessly emphasizing “individualism,” think togetherness, community. Each one offering his or her utterly unique skills, talents and experience up for the common good.

From what I can tell, this couple needs less than $10,000 per year to live. (Hmmm. Seems like a lot to me. I wonder why they even need that much.) They make that mostly with hand-hewn canoes.

We’re moving towards self-sufficiency here too, as a two-house eco-pod, but in town! We envision ourselves eventually, linked like mycellium, to other eco-pods in our Green Acres neighborhood, and in that manner gradually transforming the entire neighborhood into an ecovillage. For our vision, see www.ganecovillage.org.

To make of our homes — and our villages — centers of production rather than centers of consumption. That is the goal. As the old, debt-with-interest, fiat “money”-system falls apart, we ecovillagers arise from within the ashes everywhere, new sprouts of vibrant life.

Couple Lives Off the Grid in the Woods Near Lake Superior