Off-Grid Fears & Animal Communication

What happens when a woman living in cities for 30 years, moves to a 160 acre wilderness ranch in Canada? I share my fears, challenges, and struggle to grok this whole new reality involved – especially as winter is fast approaching!

Have any of you gone through – or are currently in – this experience? I’d love to hear about your challenges and the most useful thing you’ve learned…

And if you’re someone contemplating the shift to a more self-sufficient or off-grid life, what do you predict would be the aspect you would struggle with the most? Where would your biggest challenges lie?

13 Comments

Bill November 2, 2022 at 1:48 am - Reply

I’m always contemplating doing something like that. My feelings of living in nature with the scenery and wildlife, communing with nature, growing in my own power and peace iof mind…..coming from the city? If you have had any experience with nature then you know what you need and require to grow. One can always get their fix of city hustle bustle, pollution and mild craziness whenever your other side has a craving for it.
- JINI November 3, 2022 at 5:59 am - Reply
  
  Yes good point Bill about still being able to go into a city whenever you want. Of course, what usually happens is the more time you spend in nature, the less you enjoy being in cities! The trick is to find a spot with a REALLY small town nearby. So you can still get your groceries, hardware, have a coffee, a meal – but in a place with no traffic lights and one main road. Ah now we’re talking!
Linda Miller November 6, 2022 at 3:08 pm - Reply

Jini, I would suggest the following:
1. Have your outdoor wood boiler serviced before the snow flies so it’s in good working order for the winter. While the technician is there, ask them what to look for if the system goes down and how to fix it. Use your phone to record their explanation so you can refer back to it if a problem occurs.
2. Get a portable solar panel system to recharge your phone/electronic devices. Investing in a whole-house system might not be practical at your latitude but there should be enough sun light for a small system.
3. An easy and cheap way to cook food without electricity is a tin-can rocket stove (there are directions on the web for making one). If you want to get a real feel for cooking without electricity, prepare all of your meals without electricity for a week. Research recipes on the internet and create your own cookbook of meals that you like. You can also also keep some cans of hearty soup in your pantry or get “prepper” food, which is easy to prepare and has a long shelf life.

I hope this helps. I get wrapped up in my head too and the vast majority of the “disasters” that I imagine never happen. However, making some basic, common sense preparations is prudent – Mother Nature prepares her creatures for winter so you’re following the natural order of things.
- JINI November 6, 2022 at 8:24 pm - Reply
  
  Excellent advice Linda! I have already done point #1 – I have videod EVERYTHING on this ranch actually and have an entire archive of tutorial videos – thank god or I would not be able to remember a thing. NOTE to anyone else buying a property: The owner can assure you they will be around to help, and give you all their contact numbers, email, etc. but plan for them to go completely AWOL (like mine did) and not be available to answer a single question once the sale completes.
  
  If I didn’t have a good backup generator, I certainly would do point #2. I might do it anyway, just to learn/experience more options. And luckily for me, I lived in Tokyo for 2 years and cooked everything on a single hotplate! So I already know how to cook if I have to use a rocket stove etc. Thankfully, I also have an indoor fireplace here that is excellent so could bake things in the coals easily. But I love all your advice here for others who might need it – thanks so much for sharing your wisdom!
  
  I suddenly had an epiphany a couple days ago: EVERYTHING responds to vibration. So I have changed my vibration (thoughts, feelings) of dread, thinking about what might go wrong, to a vibration of gratitude for this wonderful house where I have repaired and restored everything so all can now function easily and without any glitches. I am grateful for the roster of experts and awesome men I can call up if things go wrong – who have shown me they will come and help as soon as they can. I am so blessed and looking forward to a winter of flow and getting my new animal communication book written :) See what I mean?
  
  My masculine has done all the work/prep, so all the physical/logistical stuff is done and I can now move back into flow and a vibration of ease and peace.
  
  The other thing is realizing how much these ‘glitches’ allow me to experience the blessing of community. When you live pretty much off-grid, people need to pull together, because you never know when someone might need help and in this climate, it’s a serious situation. The latest one is my wood supply. I had found a guy who seemed excellent, he delivered two cords and said he would be back the following week with 10 more… and… crickets. Went completely AWOL. So I have been experiencing how the absolutely WONDERFUL people in this community have rallied around to find/get me wood! Such a beautiful experience – and I would not have experienced it if everything had gone smoothly. So again, I get to choose my story and the vibration I hold around these events. It’s all good and I’m learning!
Sharon Blume November 6, 2022 at 3:22 pm - Reply

Thanks for sharing this Jini… the reality of life can be quite different than the romanticized vision. Having lived off grid, now closer in, on grid…. yearning to be in a wilder more remote spot of nature… knowing the impracticality of doing so solo with 6 horses, 3 dogs, etc… Searching for potential “community”- thoughts/ideas with existing friends- yet knowing how immensely challenging that is…. Loved the part of needing 4 years of university to have the skills to live an off grid (independent!) life. So true! Those skills need to be taught in schools to kids of all ages. Unfortunately it’s not on “their” wage slave making schooling agenda. I am still trying to find that perfect “spot”you describe in the comment above to Bill. With the climate/economy changes going on, this adds another element of difficulty choosing where to go. Having lived in CA my whole life, it’s no longer feasible to stay here in the lifestyle I need to maintain to care for a herd of horses. Not sure where there is to go! Thanks for your insight & words of wisdom. I’m enjoying the Apprenticeship program of the Singing Horse Herd. Sharon
- JINI November 6, 2022 at 8:35 pm - Reply
  
  Ah you are in a place of full-spectrum transition Sharon. Remember that creating your next place begins at the vibrational (thought, feeling) level. So you don’t need to decide where, you only need to decide what you want to FEEL and experience, what you want your daily life to look and feel like in your next place – leave the where and the how to Source. You just focus on and hold the vibration your heart desires. There’s a wonderful tutorial from Kaliah in the Apprenticeship where she shows us how to hold this vibration of what we desire, in the midst of intense forces against her. And another tutorial where Cobra and Makah really come forward to show us again what this looks like and how each of us can express it in very different ways (according to our personality), but the intention/vibration/space-holding is the same.
  
  And yeah, the community part is perhaps the hardest challenge – been listening to tons of podcasts on the topic as more and more people try to make communal living work. It’s super hard and requires VERY structured procedures for dealing with people’s shadow elements and a mediation/conflict-resolution protocol. I think it’s kind of like what we experience in our nuclear family – now expand that out to more people!
Roopal Khokhani November 6, 2022 at 4:43 pm - Reply

Really enjoyed your post, Jini, someday when the time is right I will be on a similar path…so it’s great in the meantime to live vicariously through your experiences.
- JINI November 6, 2022 at 8:36 pm - Reply
  
  Awesome! We’re lucky because not only do we have the internet, but we have tons of people sharing their off-grid or homesteading journeys. It’s an exciting – and challenging – time to be here and create the world we want to live in.
Katya Ivers November 9, 2022 at 7:53 pm - Reply

We’re not off-grid at all, but this is the first winter since I was a child where I actually feel at peace with it. I’m able to appreciate the way the light and the silence change when the snow falls, the serene new surface in the morning covered in bird tracks. Having worked very hard to create a wardrobe that truly keeps me warm, while being soft and in pretty colors, has allowed me to open space for this season that has so wounded me with its cold and darkness. I’ve also been embracing holidays from any culture that celebrate the light. It’s good to be at peace. I wish you the best of luck with your winter, though it sounds like you have made very reasonable accomodations, and I feel that if you are missing something, either the land or the horses or another person will let you know. <3
- JINI November 10, 2022 at 12:52 am - Reply
  
  Oooh Katya, PLEASE provide lots of details on this:
  
  “create a wardrobe that truly keeps me warm, while being soft and in pretty colors”
  
  would LOVE to know what you put together! xo
  - Katya Ivers November 10, 2022 at 10:51 pm - Reply
    
    Happily! I picked fabrics like flannel and minky so they would be nice and soft and warm, like wearing blankets. I invested in good underlayers. I took a long, hard look at what made me sad about winter (the lack of vibrant colors, the sleeping plants with no leaves, the lack of sunshine) and applied that to my wardrobe; it’s now full of vibrant rainbows, sunny colors, greens, and reds (but not Christmasy), and animal and star patterns. Where I did choose blue fabrics, I sewed sparkly crystals onto them. It’s not at all a practical pioneering wardrobe, but we’re city slickers! I do have ski clothes and warm winter boots for when I want to go do some pioneering, as well. ;)
    - JINI November 10, 2022 at 11:24 pm - Reply
      
      Oh that’s awesome! I did the same thing too about a decade ago living in rainy, grey Vancouver – where everyone wore grey and black! Entire bright colors and tie dye :) I did not add any sparkly crystals though – love that idea! I also just started doing a Ring of Fire meditation from Dr. Norm Sheely (part of a course he did with Caroline Myss) which activates your internal heat, burns off emotional dampers, and increases DHEA. I’m going to do it daily and see if that makes a significant difference. Fingers crossed.
      - Katya Ivers November 11, 2022 at 12:41 am - Reply
        
        Oo, I hope it’s wonderful! I’ve heard of the Whim Hoff Method, but not Dr. Sheely!

About

JINI PATEL THOMPSON

I am. an international bestselling author, health product formulator, horse listener, earth singer, mother, entrepreneur, medicine woman, fungi friend, elephant acolyte and regenerative farmer.

I value friendships, loyalty, community, compassion, authenticity, health, vibrancy, strength, courage and truth-telling. More…