Unit 2, Listening 2, The Truth about Living Off the Grid

The Truth about Living Off the Grid

Nikki:             My name is Nikki van Schyndel. I’m a wilderness guide and author of Becoming Wild, Living the Primitive Life on a West Coast Island, the book I will be talking about today. In it, I describe my journey of wilderness survival and the self-discovery that transformed my life.

For me, work is fun. I love working hard at everything I do. It makes me feel alive. I don’t really have a tipping point between work and fun anymore. Becoming wild has taught me never to sacrifice my happiness, my passion, or my values for anything. Period. Especially work I cannot find the joy in.

Becoming a great survivalist is knowing how to love all situations—and that’s whether living in a city or wilderness.

I lived off the land in a run-down shack[1] for a year and a half. And believe me, there were countless times I should have rode myself home because the work was too hard and the hardships[2] too great to deal with. But I wanted to stay, and it forced my mind to laugh and find joy in such little things like a comfy rock to lean against or a dry spot under a tree in the middle of a rainstorm. This is what creates a life worth living. Life is about passion, dedication, and following our heart’s biggest dreams.

Now I live in the coastal community of Echo Bay. Population eight and falling. It’s situated in forested islands off the east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

I’m a forest dweller[3]. I am blessed to live in a beautiful log cabin on an island in the wilderness. A row of solar panels line the front porch, a black hose carries water from a distant creek, while a welcoming trail of smoke rises above the stove pipe. My cabin sits on top of a cliff surrounded by trees. Bald eagles[4] come to my call for fish—I feel their whoosh of wings on my face—nothing goes to waste. The breath of humpback whales[5] and white-sided dolphins[6] send me running to my porch.

Oh, it sounds awesome all right, but believe me, you have to be a little bit crazy to want to live here. The truth is, living in the wilderness is just hard work a lot of the time.

I love living this wild life, most of the time, but I didn’t always. I grew up as a fashionable privileged city girl, living the American dream life. It wasn’t until Nature began showing me the real magic and mystery of the natural world that I became curious of the green world. Hearing whispering trees, spinning rope[7], touching wild animals, quickly compelled me to seek the heart and truth of the wilderness. I ventured out to the wilderness 12 years ago, to survive off the land and sea with primitive tools and technology.

In my book Becoming Wild, I wrote, “I rubbed sticks together to create fire, hunted game, harvested[8] wild salads, and cured[9] injuries with plants.” I tested my abilities beyond what I believed I was capable of, mastered the primitive skills in a world of depleting[10] resources, reawakened lost senses and abilities, and rediscovered the truths of our universe. I survived and thrived[11] for 18 months. My whole being was transformed by the experience. I became wild, in the purest sense of the word.

I returned to the city for a while, but then I followed a new dream: to build a “getaway” log cabin. My off-grid home is beyond my original vision, and I miraculously built it mostly myself from a how-to book, a couple of YouTube videos, and the miscalculated[12], start-up philosophy of “How hard could it be?” My estimated six-month plan took three and a half years. 

Like primitive survival, becoming an off-gridder instills[13] the knowledge that you can do and become anything you need. Let me give you an example. Building my log cabin required a whole new set of modern skills I never thought I would need or care to learn. I now hold many jobs such as a log salvager[14], carpenter, mechanic, plumber, electrician, furniture maker, welder, organic farmer, commercial fisherman, YouTube channel blogger, and Internet repair woman.

Living off the grid is also a huge inconvenience full of mayhem, madness, and misery. We have two unique terms in Echo Bay:

·         One is haywire—the state of a finished repair or construction project that has been engineered with ingenuity[15] due to the parts or materials available, but which also causes trouble later.

·         And two, The Fahrenheit Effect—All projects or repairs, no matter how modest or minor, are repeatedly frustrated by unpredictable random events. It is parallel to the temperature conversion[16] formula F=9/5(C+32), where C is equal to the amount of time, energy, and money that would ordinarily be expected for the task, and F is equal to what it takes us in Echo Bay. We always double it and add 30. It’s only when you’ve accumulated[17] enough tools and parts to classify yourself as a wilderness superstore that you can calmly overcome disasters such as the sudden door falling off, a frozen waterline, or a showerhead that one day decides to spurt out[18] only a few lines of water.

I’m often seen sweating, bleeding, and flinging my face and greasy hands to the sky, sighing, “Why am I living like this?” And then, I follow the order of survival; I take a deep breath and laugh. Deep down I know I love the sacrifice, hassles, and hard labor of this chosen lifestyle because immersed[19] in it all, I feel truly alive.

I don’t cook on a wood stove or generate hot water from copper tubing wrapped around my stove pipe because I believe it is a sustainable[20] way of life or a means of saving our earth. Becoming wild is not about returning to the old ways. For me, it’s about merging the best of our new technologies with the spirit of ancient wisdom.

Living wild helps me become a better person and illuminates[21] my true source of power within. What’s your dream?

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[1] run-down shack: noun a small wood building in bad condition

[2] hardship: noun a difficulty in life

[3] forest dweller: noun someone who lives in a wooded area

[4] bald eagle: noun a large bird of prey

[5] humpback whale: noun a large sea mammal with a raised back

[6] white-sided dolphin: noun a small sea mammal with white marks on its sides

[7] spinning rope: verb making rope from spinning plant material

[8] harvest: verb to gather food

[9] cure: verb to make healthy

[10] depleting: adjective becoming reduced

[11] thrive: verb to succeed

[12] miscalculate: verb to plan incorrectly

[13] instill: verb to gradually make someone believe

[14] log salvager: noun someone who gathers large pieces of fallen trees

[15] ingenuity: noun the ability to solve problems in new ways

[16] conversion: noun the act of changing

[17] accumulate: verb to gather or collect

[18] spurt out: verb to suddenly flow out

[19] immerse: adjective to become completely involved in

[20] sustainable: adjective able to continue for a long time

[21] illuminate: verb to make clear