Aging Homesteaders: stay the course!
Your rural retreat is designed to be almost entirely self-sufficient and self-contained – it’s isolated and remote for a reason. Based on the most recent US political and societal trends, it is probably a wise course to stay put and live out your life on your beloved retreat. It certainly won’t get any better in the city or suburbs where big government has made the “new normal” unpalatable for most of us.
We recognize that not everyone is suited to tackling or maintaining the tasks required for self-sufficiency at an isolated retreat. Advanced age — with physical handicaps, lack of trusty family or friends, and/or chronic health conditions -- could make it difficult. If that is your situation, I encourage you to visit your nearest city of 100K population or above. That ought to scare you enough to be really glad to get back to your retreat. You probably saw that you didn’t miss much, and are happy to be out of the fray.
Can you improve your retreat situation to extend your time at the beautiful place you’ve created off-grid? Of course, you can, and you will probably want to consider some technological improvements that can help you sustain your living arrangements at your remote retreat. Generally, isolated retreats are more suitable for folks under age 60, but technology, and certainly your personal tenacity, can significantly extend that retreat residence period. Let’s consider some “life extension” for you and yours at your rural homestead.
Tech for Isolated retreats
Recent technology innovations have made isolated retreats much more realistic for a wider cross-section of mature homesteaders and preppers. Take a look at these tech items and see if they appeal to you as “adjustments” you might consider making to enjoy your remote retreat much longer than others expect.
The expansion of Starlink high-speed satellite Internet service to the fly-over states is a great boon to connectivity for rural retreats. This low earth-orbiting satellite service can bring broadband connectivity into really remote areas that have clear Northern sky access.
More families are homeschooling. Due to the failed WOKE education system, common CORE curriculum and critical race theory classes pushed by brainwashed socialist teachers unions. Rural broadband access makes this a reality.
Many more people are working from home – telecommuting – since the Chinese Wuhan Red Death. We don’t recommend selling your retreat these days, but you must recognize that tele-work offers many more buyers an opportunity to live in a very remote area, as long as they have off-grid electricity and access to satellite broadband service. High demand for rural real estate incrementally increases the value of your remote property, even in areas where jobs are scarce and unemployment is high.
There is federal talk that cellular phone coverage may expand into rural regions but I’ll believe it when I see it on my scope. If you live at a rural retreat, you know that talk of getting cell service has been hot air for many years, but we remain hopeful.
There have been improvements in photovoltaic power systems, with a much lower cost per watt USA-made solar panels and far more battery options, including Nickel-Iron, Lithium-Ion, and LiFePo4.
Drone/camera technology has become relatively inexpensive. In most weather, having drones greatly reduces the need to conduct short-range security patrols for your retreat under dire circumstances.
Electric ATVs (such as the DRR Safari & Pathfinder; Textron Prowler Pro) and e-bikes are now available. These can be charged with your off-grid solar power systems.
Improved electronic security systems and inexpensive webcams can help improve retreat security.
Introducing any of these technology advancements at your remote homestead property will likely improve your quality of off-grid life and probably extend the length of time that you can retain your rural retreat lifestyle. For more information and off-grid lifestyle tips for aging homesteaders, visit www.basiclifetraining.com.