Is it just me, or does everyone go through a phase of thinking they need to get rid of everything in their life that isn’t required for the basic support of their physical existence and start living more in tune with the universe around them?
Okay, perhaps it’s just a few of you? How ’bout a show of hands…..
Oh, come on! Surely there’s at least one other person who thinks this way on occasion????
Fine, you bunch of liars. I’m not afraid to consider what it would be like to be without my nano (a darling little lime-green number my sugar-sweet family gave me for mom’s day). I could definitely do without cell phones and mini-vans. I lived for a decade without cable, pizza delivery or at-my-door mail, so I’m pretty sure I could do it again.
Think of the benefits! Peace and quiet. That’s a big one. No frantic digging in my purse for a ringing phone; no associated sense of guilt that I missed a call. Big effing deal! I’m busy for pete’s sake! There’s a reason they invented voicemail, right? Why should I feel guilty?? I don’t know, but I do.
More time spent with family. If I lived off the grid it would stand to reason that my kids would too. No more running all over the planet to buy the “right” kind of ________ that they decided they need today. No more fights about what kind of pizza to order.
More time to spend on my passions: writing, reading, painting, creating… I have a need for a creative outlet that is not being met. I get tiny little bits of it here and there (you’re reading the result of the latest tiny little bit) but it’s not really enough.
Nova Scotia is the perfect place to ditch the rest of the world and become a quieter person, treading lightly on the Earth. Probably not ALL of Nova Scotia is slow and relaxed and off-the-grid. I’m sure Hallifax is a modern city, what with its public transportation and its harbour and its cultural center.
But the part I’m interested in, the Margaree Valley to be specific, is the perfect speed for someone wishing to drop off the grid a bit and enjoy some time listening to the crickets and the shore birds and the sounds of the wind in the conifer forest. Plus, there’s amazing fresh seafood and vistas that you couldn’t paint in a lifetime of canvases.
When we were in Inverness, near the Margaree Valley, the pace was similar to that of Mayberry RFD in the old Andy Griffith show. Restaurants (all three of them) closed around 8pm, the tiny little grocery store stocked only a couple of choices in every section as opposed to the dozens we have here. Don’t you get exhausted at the grocery store? Just make three kinds of cereal and call it done, you know??? And then there was the beautiful beach to walk on and gather sea glass, and Ceilidhs once a week. (Okay, I checked the spelling of that word and am extremely proud to say I got it right the first time!!)
I just enjoyed the pace there; the distinct lack of need to be anywhere at any particular time. This could indicate a propensity toward laziness. Of course, the people who live and work in Inverness would say that they are busy and they have schedules too. But I am just thinking about myself here, so indulge me. I dream of being able to live somewhere that expects only the bare necessities of me and that gives back the same. Somewhere that I can create and live and interact and be a part of the world around me without feeling like the world is pushing me along like a piece of tumbleweed on the Snake River. I would rather be a leaf on a slow-moving stream. But hey, maybe I’ll feel differently tomorrow.
You get Eureka Springs with me and my girlfriend next week!!! What more do you NEED?! And if your cell rings, I’ll throw it in the jacuzzi. I won’t touch your Nano. (By the way, do you need some Journey, Styx, and Eurythmics for said Nano? You want I should hook you up. Off the grid I mean???)
Do you think Journey, Styx and Annie will play nice with Enya, Keane and Bela Fleck? I’ve also got some Beta Band, Rusted Root, Duran Duran, and Peter Malick Group. I’m a little bit eclectic… but free tunes is good.
Yes! yes! yes! I want to get out of the rat race too. I’m trying to live simply and am working hard to get out of years of debt I got sucked into when I bought the line that I was ‘worth it’. Two more years and I figure I will be clear. I so would like to live in NS. I’m going to a conference there in may. I don’t think I’ll be able to bear to get on the plane home!
I know I’m commenting on an old post, but I came across it when I Googled, “I want to live in Nova Scotia”. It’s all I think about these days. Trying to sell my business and couple of properties. Going to cut back to basics and make art. Nova Scotia has captured me. I have already picked out a small cottage on the south shore. I’m ready.
Wow. And here I thought I was the only one! The US is going to hell in a handbasket and, even if it wasn’t, I’m ready to go. I really hear Fi when she speaks about buying into the “I’m worth it.” One wonders what other bill of goods we’ve been sold?
I’ve been looking into NS, having visited a couple of times in the past. Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a place where you could actually indulge yourself in the ultimate luxury? Time. Perhaps I’m dreaming, but I’m willing to give it a go. I’m focusing on Cape Breton Island and any thoughts on this area would be welcome.
We are going back up again in a few weeks. Still no luck selling our business but if it doesn’t sell by this time next year we may consider bringing in an auctioneer sand let the chips fall where they will.
I am from Margaree, more specifically N.E. Margaree, and I am working in the BIG City of Calgary now. Its funny that I spent my whole life working hard to get out of there, and now that I have, and become successful all I want to do is go back! Im tired of the strange looks I get when I hold a door for someone, say hello, or don’t rush or let anything bother me. I was brought up much like my suroundings, calm and quiet. Give me Whale Cove on a summer night, Tompkins Rd. on christmas eve, and a kitchen party every friday and you will never hear me complain!
So glad you found my blog! I’m not kidding when I say that one day I WILL have a house in Margaree. There’s one on realtor.com Canada right now that I pine for… gotta make my writing hobby start paying. :)
I miss Grand-Etang.
My husband and I are planning the exit. We’re about to firesale our house to buy a rundown century old church on acreage in NS. Our plan; Live mortgage free, grow our veggies, paint, write read and live off the grid. We’ve been sustainable here on Van Island, BC for a while now, growing our own food and canning, solar panels and all but always with a hefty mortgage held over our head month after month, with the ever reminding cell phone of what you have to do to pay your mortgage let alone fill the gas tank and pay bills…
We want children but I want to be able to take the time to raise them right, not teaching them daily that my job, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances are worth more to me than they are.
There are options other than being a slave to the system and I guess you could say we’re opting out of the system. About to do things our own way – We’re going to take the time to live, instead of answering the latest ringtone coming from my purse.
Much much research has gone into this and we did do a year off grid in Whitehorse, so we are ready.
I WANT TO LIVE IN NOVA SCOTIA! That’s what I put in the Google bar and I found your blog. I’m a 50 year old English teacher and wannabe writer sitting on a Sunday afternoon in a UK town near the city of Birmingham, contemplating the passage of time. What chance, I wonder, of living in Nova Scotia by, say, 2014 latest?
Tread softly, for you tread upon my dreams…
If that is your dream and you are looking for a wonderful property with an ocean view for sale email me.
I’m not sure you have my contact info so you can reach me at myrna.mackayis@gmail.com
Love your post- came across it as I was researching solar power options. Nova Scotia is indeed the ideal off-grid location. My brother has lived off the grid for the past 20 years, first in Hants County, Nova Scotia and now in Bridgetown. He and his partner
own 100 acres on the North Mountain. They live in a beautiful timber-framed home and share the property with other like minded friends who have built thier own off gride homes there as well. The have magnificent views, organic gardens and a lifestyle worthy of envy.
This easter I paid the homage to the commercial world by buying into the annual Easter Bunny craze – meanwhile on my borthers off grid local they welcomed this spring event by tapping trees and making maple syrup and welcoming two new kids (baby goats) into the world. Geez- I’m kinda thinking that trumps chocolait bunnies!
Hi Nadine…I was wondering if you could possibly give your brother my contact info…I have been doing alot of research on “off the grid” living(I’ve actually made it my 10yr goal, ideally sooner) and I would love to possibly visit your brother’s homestead. I actually live in Hants County, about an hour from Bridgetown.
lorimichellerose@live.ca
Thank you in advance,
Lori
In case any of you check back… I wanted to say thank you for reading this post. I love that someone finds it every few months and it touches a soft spot in their hearts enough to comment. It has been 7.5 years since I went to N.S., and I still long for it like it’s home. If any of you have made the leap and are homesteading there – get in touch! I’d love to hear how you’re doing!