39 Years Off Grid Homesteading: Time to Move On

Reader Contribution by Ron And Johanna Melchiore
Published on January 23, 2019
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After what seems a lifetime, 39 years of off grid homesteading in Maine and Saskatchewan, we decided to move on. We’ve left our ultra remote homestead in northern Saskatchewan to move to a more accessible site in Nova Scotia; one that is on the ocean. You really didn’t think we were giving up on this lifestyle after all these years did you? This is a way of life for us and it’s much too late for us to tie in to the grid and become dependent on society. I know it’s been quite a spell since we last wrote so let me bring you up to date.

We were blessed to have lived in the wilderness of northern Saskatchewan for 17 wonderful years. You might remember that we wrote many Mother Earth News articles over a year ago about living ultra remote. Access to us was by float plane only and as a general rule, we didn’t see another human for 6 months at a time. Every 6 months, we chartered a float plane and did our shopping, picked up mail and took care of any appointments. We sure loved that feeling of self-sufficiency while living deep in the wilderness.

Nineteen years ago, we were faced with the daunting task and logistical challenge of flying by float plane, our worldly possessions and all the building materials necessary for a 2 story house to our remote lake homestead site. Although the house stayed when it came time to move to Nova Scotia, it was still a major chore to pack up all our belongings and appliances along with all of Johanna’s kitchen cabinets, lug everything down to the beach, fly all of it back out and ultimately drive everything across the country for a new start in Nova Scotia.

That was hard! Sure, it was a physical ordeal, but the real hard part was saying goodbye to a place we cherished. A site on a remote lake 100 miles deep in the wilderness which was all forested except for a small plot we had cleared by hand for our homestead. Hockley Lake will forever have a special place in our hearts.

Ever since we finalized the decision to move from Hockley Lake, our life has been total chaos. Most of our possessions were boxed up and much of our stuff remains in boxes. Talk about frustration. We need an item. We know we have that item. But which box holds the magic trinket we are looking for? 

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