Unplugging for society is something that is becoming more and more popular. Maybe part of the reason is that we live in a world in which we can’t survive without our phones, our entertainment and luxury of simply flicking a switch for that which we need like light, water, heat and many other things. Yet to get all these things we have to work hard and pay the pills and in the process we lose sight of something much more precious: our connection with the earth. In today’s age we simply don’t need to pick up a book to read it, we have things like iPads and kindles that allow us to read without actually using books. Using a printed dictionary has become a thing of the past. We get our information through search engines rather than from experience. Nobody can answer whether its good or bad, maybe it’s just different. Regardless, there is a big social movement happening today that is making people leave the comforts of society and go back to nature, to freedom, to understand.
One way to unplug from society is to go life off the grid. The term has become more and more popular recently. Basically to life off the grid you have to give up the utilities we take for granted in modern life like water, electricity, sewer, heat and natural gas. To live in an off the grid home it means you need zero assistance from public utilities. There are different ways to do this: live in an urban homestead, live in the desert or maybe go high up in the mountains.
There are great role-models who have inspired many to take on this lifestyle. Henry David Thoreau taught us self-reliance in his writings in Walden, while Rickard Proenneke lived these thoughts. Dick built his own cabin with homemade tools in Alaska and lived there for more than 30 years, making the documentary Alone in the Wilderness and inspiring many in the process.
One of these many people inspired is David Herrle from Westbrook, Connecticut. He and his wife wanted a more sustainable life so he gave her that by building her a cabin in the forest.
The main materials for constructing the 11×14 foot cabin were mostly recycled and scavenged. While it might cost a lot of money to create cabins out in the wild, David managed to build this adorable cabin for just $4,000 and he did it in just six weeks. To keep warm the home comes with a kerosene heater and a composting toilet to remove the need for a septic tank.
A amazing gesture for his wife, no doubt about that. Who knew that his life would lead him David here, he didn’t start out as a professional carpenter. He was stuck at a desk after finishing college and eventually realized he hated his job and his position so he decided to hike the entire Appalachian Trail back in 2007 where he found out his true purpose: to live a simple life. After that he made his home in the Wee House, where he learned about the benefits of making things by hand, which inspires him further into reaching his ultimate goal: true self-sufficency.