Day Five of Life Off-Grid

Setting up a place to live in the woods of Upper Michigan

The view as I looked above me this morning when I woke up in a new super tent.

Dear City Dwellers, friends, family, loved ones:

I am now on Day Five of living off the grid in the wildness of the woods of Upper Michigan, USA. Out here, I have one bar via AT&T. There is no elecrity. No running water that I’ve gone to yet. My eight-year-old Great Pyrenees and I slept the first four nights in a pup tent. We’ve cooked two meals in the campfire.

And despite inquiries about “shouldn’t we give this up,” I have no intention of doing so any time soon. There is tons I’m learning about life and what it takes to get self sufficient. Things you might want to explore a little yourself given what’s going on in the world.

So what have I learned?

• Food
• Water
• Shelter
• Air
• Expenses
• How much we rely on plastic

Food in the woods — dangerous to keep considering Yogi is around

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says there likely are bears in the area around my sylvan hideaway. Maybe coyotes, foxes, and wolves, too.

We’ve not seen any. No evidence of any of them being around either.

But that makes keeping food near the site a little risky. I have a cooler that stays near the fire. I probably need to move it further away.

Day 2 we had thin rib-eyes for dinner. Desert consisted of the best strawberries I’ve ever eaten.

The second night in the woods, I made two twin filets of steak. For desert, I ate a box of strawberries from Walmart. One of the best meals I’ve ever had.

Last night I made hotdogs. Those got shared with Maycee.

We have food for breakfast. I need to get more dried wood for longer fires. I’m just not there yet.

LESSON: Finding dry wood that you’ve not cut is not easy.

Bringing in my own water, so far…

I bring water in via 1 gallon jugs from Walmart. They are $1.08 each. The 40-packs of…