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Comment by newyankee | Hacker News Reader

Homestead may not work if you depend on your own farm for all of your food needs. However, I feel off grid life with solar, storage, EV etc. combined with a remote job and hopefully cheaper Satellite Internet in the future may work for a lot of people. If I lived in a scenic country I would've at least tried this lifestyle, but may be that is because I am inherently introverted.

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I think you might be missing a lot of the amenities of modern towns/cities. Let’s ignore energy and internet/cell service.

* You’ll want to live close to a grocery store.

* You’ll want to live close to doctors —- not only hospitals and ambulances but also any specialist you or someone in your family mind need.

* You’ll want access to tradesmen/craftsmen. Plumbers, auto mechanics, carpenters, electricians. Things break, can you fix everything?

* You’ll want some degree of liquidity in your property. Selling a house in a town is way easier than selling a house 50 miles from the nearest town.

This exactly. The level of austerity that comes with traditional homesteading can be shocking to most Americans.

There's a reason kids sold their parents farms to Monsanto and moved into the city.

I can't speak to grocery stores or doctors, but the idea that you should be abele to fix everything in your home isn't that far fetched.

Perhaps the modern world has made things appear otherwise but even the most average adult has the capability to do basic vehicle maintenance, plumbing, simple electrical work, basic carpentry and so on. In fact even if you do live in an urban area you might be in for a a bit of regret not learning those skills when you call for a contractor or electrician but no one is available for months due to the ongoing labor shortage.

> but the idea that you should be abele to fix everything in your home isn't that far fetched

> basic vehicle maintenance, plumbing, simple electrical work, basic carpentry and so on

There’s a big gap between simple electrical work, basic plumbing, basic carpentry etc and the full range of issues that can go wrong with a house. At the first sign of a natural gas leak, or any electrical tasks involving high voltages I’m calling a professional.

Make a trip once a week or every other week into town (1hr drive) to pick up groceries.

Doctors, etc. - why do you need to be close? 1-2 hr drive for something so infrequent does not seem to be an issue.

You learn to fix your own stuff.

At least during the pandemic, housing outside of city centers have been in high demand as people seek more land/space.

You seem to be healthy with no chronic issues, which is good to hear. If you become sick or injured, and especially if you or a family member develops certain long term issues, you may need to visit a specialist multiple times a month. Sometimes these specialists are only available in major cities.

fair enough!

At the very least, you will get injured doing farmwork. I don't have statistics on hand, but I'd wager the need for emergency medical support is likely far higher than a white collar office job.

For us, we've decided that we need to be around a fair number of university-educated people (or at least people who are able to think at that level - they don't have to have a degree). So, first, we need at least a town, not to live 40 miles from nowhere. And second, we need that town to be either a college town or the kind of town where people move there after college.

That's just us. You may be different.

The first year living here was definitely a culture shock, I must admit that people in the country do think differently than in the city. I have over time come to appreciate their points of view though and TBH if I was to show them your comment about Uni Educated people they would just smile and say bless their heart!

You make very valid points and I appreciate your input as it echo's many of my issues.

I could see myself having some land out in the country. I'd still have a day job but maybe I'd have a small vegetable garden and use the rest of the land for things like hunting, hiking, or 4x4 offroading. I doubt I'd ever want to have a real farm. I grew up with family friends that had horse farms and even though I'd help out occasionally, I knew it was hard work for marginal benefits. They'd make their money boarding horses but even taking care of their own horses and land was a full time job. You had to be good at fixing things yourself or else you'd go broke trying to hire someone to do it.

I think my ideal spot is 10 or 20 acres in the mountains and a small cabin. It would be a place only a couple of hours away from my main home. I'd be able to pack a big cooler and get away for the weekend. Somewhere I can go do my hobbies and maybe pickup a few more. Because I'm not living there constantly, I don't need luxuries like nearby grocery stores or even gigabit internet.

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