If you don't mind, I wanted to ask you: did you own the land for your shack, or rent it? The latter is cheaper, but not independent. I recall Thoreau didn't own his shack.
Then I bought materials in cash and built a little cabin, which meant it was also paid for. I was entirely debt-free, which I regarded as essential (and still do).
I started a little garden and had lots of free time to think. The rest, as they say, is history. :)
I guess you must have been relatively near civilization - at least a town. Can I ask how much money it took... and how much you think it would take today?
I think it depends a lot on the land, which seems relatively expensive here in Australia; if you want water, electricity and sewage utilities. I get the impression there's very cheap land in some places in the States.
I built a small cabin at first -- 12x24 feet -- and this is where I wrote Apple Writer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Writer), while relying on a very long extension cord for power.
Later on I bought more land and built a larger house, but still with the idea of living cheaply firmly guiding my actions. Then my income went over a million dollars a year and I decided to do something completely different -- so I bought a sailboat and sailed solo around the world (http://arachnoid.com/sailbook).
> if you want water, electricity and sewage utilities ...
I chose Oregon because it rains a bit, and I had previously built a cabin in Colorado where it is very dry -- I decided that was a mistake. In Oregon, for water I walked up the hill behind my cabin and dropped a hose in a creek. If you choose the right altitude difference, you can duplicate normal household water pressure. For sewage, I built an outhouse.
It really was quite primitive. But it freed me from having to pay rent or needing much money, which meant I could think about anything I wanted. Then I acquired an Apple II, which ironically enough I probably wouldn't have done while working for NASA a few years before. I had this fantasy that I would write some cool programs and people would buy them, and I could just live in the country and people would mail me money.
The weird thing is that this is exactly what happened.
How far were you from a town, for food, construction materials, etc and a PO (I guess biking distance)? I guess you had a friendly nearby neighbour for the extension lead? [I've been thinking solar, which I actually used for a hp200lx, using 4 rechargeable AAs, but today's netbooks need a gruntier, more elaborate setup: large solar panel, lead-acid battery, transformer etc. Seems error-prone. Maybe a kindle-like ARM+OLED/e-ink/LCD will change this.]
I'd like internet - either wired or mobile (we have rural mobile coverage, and the govt just reelected campaigned for more) - instead of a PO, but I'd still need a local town for food etc. It scares me a bit to be too far away - but that's where the peace/silence is that I want/need.
Just to collect figures and conversions for reference: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%243000+1975
$3,000 for 5 acres = $12,000 today
$40 per month = $ 160 today
@ 10% = $20,000 invested
1200' ext lead = 365m
Oregon 44N; Tasmania 42S
Another conversion:
5 acres = 20,234 m^ser...how's that? What did you connect to?
The "temporary" box was located near the road, about 1/4 mile from my cabin, so I simply ran a very long extension cord through the woods. This arrangement lasted for years.