Greenhill

I don't know why, but every time I see talk on here about chickens and this rural-living malarky, I get reminded of this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd1KfrlI0mU

By the way, it contains some very rude words. The post might even get deleted by a mod. Click it quick if you don't wanna miss out.

markw97

Re Home Slaughter is it legal in NS.
Probably not but i do it as does most of the rural community where i live. I dont sell any home slaughtered meat its all for personal consumption,however a black market exists for many things. I hear its also been known for individuals to grow their own weed and "give" it to their neighbours allthough god knows what they do with it as its illegal to smoke it!

dbd33

Er, OK.

Greenhill

I looked at the costs of going off-grid and figured it would be far cheaper/easier to stay on. For example, windmills are expensive to buy, expensive to install and apparently cost more to maintain per annum than I currently pay for electricity.

Fishing is also a bit restrictive, unless you have your own stocked trout pond (or don't care what you eat). River fishing is only between April and September (give or take a few exceptions), Salmon fishing is restricted (and you'll likely spend more on the gear and licenses than the equivalent supermarket cost of the fish you catch). During spring/summer, you might get lucky and find some good spots for brook trout. Cleaning them can be pretty tedious though, especially if you have a number of small ones.

Greenhill

What do you do with all the blood and left-over animal parts?

markw97

Chicken/Lamb blood goes into compost
Beef/Pork blood=Black pudding allthough only need a fraction of what is ahem produced.
Animal parts get dumped in the woods to feed the wildlife amazing how quickly its cleaned up.

markw97

Agree with you re fishing allthough living on a river brooktrout are abundant allthough small.
Managed to bag approx 80lb of cod last year which sat well in the freezer,Mackerel exists in abundance and if you know the spots you can beach fish and catch as much as a normal person can eat. Fresh scallops and lobster are widely available at inexpensive prices (that black market again)

RE offgrid have also looked into it but i use too much leccie (2 freezers and a fridge)to go down that route allthough i am fitting solar water heating this year.

dbd33

We put our chicken entrails into the green bin, the only use we've made of it. Do you hunt? We don't but we eat lots of vension which we get in trade for eggs or weed or whatever.

markw97

I dont hunt yet as i have to take the relevant courses and have yet to find the time. Hunter safety/aquisition etc aim to do that this year. Like yourself have lots of venison in the freezer which is given in return for other favours. Hunting is big round here as free food is very much valued in rural communities.
PS love your blog have looked at it many times.
Green bin? do they collect that or is it a sealed composter for animal waste. In this local no compostable material is collected everyone has too compost allthough household animal carcasses (cooked chicken carcass)are general garbage. Not sure they would collect beef entrails lol.

dbd33

Thanks!

They do collect it. They don't collect garbage but every week a truck comes for the green bin. The politics behind that is, of course, a simple tale of corruption. In the city we used the bin heavily, any kind of scrap meat or vegetable would go in it, but here, there's hardly anything chickens or dog won't eat and most of what remains can go in the compost.


(Pardon slow reply, hungry horses!)

rach_woz99

I too live in rural NS, and whilst I haven't got any further than a veggie patch myself, I know plenty of folks that do almost what you describe - live off the land spring - Autumn and only go to the supermarket in winter, apart from milk and butter as most don't have cows.

i think many rural Nova Scotians would be amazed by people on here saying it is not possible - people help each other out and swapping goods is the norm, food I have for food I want etc.

I don't know many off grid though I must say, although I think there is a company Digby area that helps people with just that - sorry don't know the name

that's why we love it - away from the consumerism to a large extent. 22k in UK money is more than enough as long as you don't want to keep up with the Jones's - not that anyone here is interested in that sort of mentality!
Except of course if you have a mortgage, payments on a car etc it might be hard. If you can get set up as Chumley says with savings etc you will be fine

good luck

AlexInBC

Ooh - so are we! It's actually going to cost us less in $ than we were being quoted in GBP when we still lived in the UK After all the rebates (Provincial & Federal) and a discount on the labour cost because my husband has offered to help the guy install it it'll only be around $4k, which I think is pretty good.

chumley

entirely agree rach

you and me both live it we speak from experience!!

you are so right re keeping up with the jones's anyone would be laughed out of town and rightly so

magenta sky

Wow guys.......thanks for the witty banter and repartee,lots of divided opinion then???
We are planning to;

1) Buy our own place

2) Buy a vehicle

3) Support ourselves and contribute to the local economy

4) Live peacefully and abide by the law

Some of the reasons for our intended move include facts such as here in the U.K-even in the rural countryside-folk can no longer enjoy much from the land/sea/waterways as people would have done even in our lifetime pre Tescos.....for the simple fact there aint nothing left to take.Industry has made the rivers and land devoid of all life-except for intensively farmed livestock-plus if you even dare to dangle a piece of string in the water without permits or licences they whisk you away fine you 2.5k and give you a police record.....I dare say there is a by-law that states your first born will be sacrificed to the Great God of Commercialism for daring to contemplate eating something that isnt wrapped in plastic....actually my first born is a pain in the butt,soooooo....!

People are not "allowed" to gather kindling/firewood without a licence.

If you drive late at night you are likely to be pulled over by the police,asked what you are up to and searched,it is enough for them to write "justifiable cause" on your ticket,I know coz it happened to me....my own son-yep the pain in the butt-got stopped and searched at 10a.m whilst in school uniform for daring to run up the village high street coz he was late getting to the barber for a trim.....

Need I go on?

All we are looking for is a beautiful place where it is o.k live a quiet life and go about without fear and with a smile on our faces.We are still hopeful that there is somewhere left in the world that this is still possible.....

Atlantic Xpat

Can't comment about NS but here at least, you require a licence and there are strict seasons for fishing rivers and lakes. Sea fishing is strictly verboten except for a 6 week food fishery. It would not surprise me for similar regulation to exist in NS and elsewhere in Canada.

Generally a permit needed for this too if from Crown Land as opposed to your own property.

Canada enjoys petty regulation every bit as much as the UK. The plus side for your 'Good Life' experience is that there is more land and less people. The downside is Winter.