Posts by — veg-head

Not exactly spoiling the area

A family in England who built a home in the woods without planning permission which remained undetected for four years have won the right to stay there. . As a result they were able to avoid zoning laws (planing regulations) which prevented them from living there had the local Board (council) found out about it.

DailyMail.co.uk is running a story about Daniel and Jessica Brown, together with their three children, have been living in the house concealed behind the trees near the village of Westcott, Surrey, without the authorities knowing.

I is a case study in successful evasion of the restrictions on building homes in remote rural locations, which would-be off-gridders should study carefully, and apply in ways that suit themselves. But there is also a downside. The Mail story dwells on the fury of local residents who had been befriended by the Brown family. (more…)

Better to bury it yourself

Knowing where to legally dump wastewater is an important part of living in an RV, especially for dry campers, a.k.a. “boondockers.”

If you prefer remote natural settings to developed campgrounds your choices are either to dig a hole, or to dispose of your waste legally at a later date.

State campgrounds in the US charge a day-use rate, usually between $5 and $10. This allows RV owners to empty their holding tanks, fill a fresh water tank and take a hot shower.

What if, however, you discover there are no open RV campgrounds or the local highway rest stop has closed its dump station? How do you find one while traveling? (more…)

A new series on Preppers is attracting lots of attention. The series will air on NatGeo but even ABC Nightline just gave it a plug.  Here is the transcript

DOOMSDAY PREPPERS,

BILL WEIR (ABC NEWS)

(OC) People have been predicting the end of the world since the beginning. But this year, doomsday predictions seem to be unusually urgent and widespread. And whether you blame the Mayan calendar or melting ice caps or teetering currencies, tonight we meet a diverse collection of folks who aren’t just sitting around waiting for the worst, they’re getting ready to live through it. Here’s ABC’s David Wright.

GRAPHICS: PREPPING FOR THE APOCALYPSE (more…)

Base camp for gadgets

Some survival gadgets are on display at CES, and a handful of them are surveyed in this report from outdoor website Gear Junkie.
I love a gadet as much as the next guy, but I notice my own list of must-carry gear includes things that need no battery or charging cable, so don’t qualify for CES. Here’s the top ten – what would you add? (more…)

What harm could this do?

“Proud to be a hutter”, is the slogan of a new campaign called A Thousand Huts which has sprung up to champion and revive hutting as a way of life. Widespread in Scandinavia, its supporters say hutting promotes low-impact, ecological living and rural regeneration, and puts city dwellers back in contact with the countryside.

In 2012, hutters, landowners and environmental activists will launch a new Scottish hutting federation to spearhead a campaign aimed at reforming planning and land rights laws, to give hutters proper status in the planning system and protect them against eviction and exploitation by landlords. (more…)

As the housing crisis continues to inflict havoc on families across the USA and Europe, the option of living in a vehicle is sometimes the only one available.

For a good, reliable intro, check out Roll Your Own: The Complete Guide to Living in a Truck, Bus, Van, or Camper.

Matt Howe’s web guide to Van living is refreshingly practical.

His key advice: stay organized. “Nothing is more frustrating than trying to find something you desperately need and not being able to because your van is a mess.”

A YouTube film features a guy who lives in a Walmart parking lot going over the details of his van conversion, from carpets to extra lights.

(more…)

The pile is taking shape

The Glennon family’s next home looks like a stack of shipping containers of all different colors from the outside.

That’s because it is a pile of shipping containers.  Once it’s complete, it will be a sprawling, 5,000-square-foot, four-storey building – two levels above ground, a walkout basement and another level below – with four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a games and media room, garage and workshop, and two enclosed decks.

It will cost about $150 per square foot –  well below the (more…)

Cruel Nat Geo series even makes fun of children

This TV show first aired in the US last summer and arrives in the UK this wednesday on an obscure cable channel.  It is the latest in a long line of attempts by the mainstream media to poke fun at anyone who chooses to live off-grid because of the fear that the system may be on the verge of collapse.

Watching Doomsday Preppers, one soon realizes that the use of the term “doomsday preppers” is somewhat misleading. None of these families indicate they believe the end of the word is at hand. Instead, they plan and prepare for anticipated large-scale, near-term disasters, natural (CME) and man-made (EMP strike, financial crash). This use of “doomsday” is like the situation with Apocalypse PA, in which having “apocalypse” in the title was merely a marketing ploy. (more…)

This event is a real bonus

Outline of Today’s Public Hearing:

• 09:45 Guests and Panel are seated
• 10:00 Introduction to A People’s Hearing, Tony and Sandra Nurse, Occupy Wall Street
• 10:10 Opening Statement, Dr. Cornel West
• 10:20 Background of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Chris Hedges
• 10:20 Witness Testimonials
• 11:00 Proposal of Verdict
• 12:00 A Call to Action – March to Goldman Sachs

Liberty Square, NY — Today (Thursday, November 3rd) the People, the 99 percent, will hold A People’s Hearing of Goldman Sachs in Liberty Square Park and march on Goldman Sachs.

The people will bring to justice perhaps the single most egregious perpetrator of economic fraud and corruption in the United States. (more…)