Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa

I saw somebody posted the Mike Reynolds Garbage Warrior video in one of the other threads. I'm glad they finally made a documentary about Earthship construction and have enjoyed watching that a few times.

Here is another documentary about a different kind of community centered in the Taos, New Mexico area (which is ground zero for Earthship construction). The approach in this Two Peaks Mesa (Carson Estates) community is quite different from the Earthship approach (which I guess you could say the latter is more environmental oriented), but some might find it more appealing if you are of a certain type.

Note to those who have not seen the documentary: As with all documentaries, the creators felt the need to 'spice things up' a bit to make it interesting. There are lots of supposedly normal people in this community. They obviously cherry picked the people that are more 'colorful.'

 

There are a lot of interesting people in the world.

 

The Nowhere Kids sound like wannabe communists.

I think people like that are cool. They remind me of my childhood and all the hippies in the desert of CA. There was a little bit where the guy said peoples words mean something and I wish they would have expanded on that. That is the whole point of everything. You could do a pretty good comparison with the way people in the city are and how they give their words all the time and people in communities like this give their words and actually mean it.

 

You can still buy land in this place. I remember going to one of the real estate sites that sells plots of land in this place a few years ago, and there was what amounted to a "Go away: danger, Will Robinson, danger" message in bold red letters which warned prospective buyers that if they go to visit this place alone, they do so at their own risk and that it is not advised because the authorities and medical services were an hour or two away. I thought that was hilarious for various reasons (just one of which is... that's a hell of a way to sell property by chasing off prospective buyers. I was never sure if the were serious with that message... or if they were just trying to chase off scaredy cat and city slicker types who don't belong there).

To some people (who like to be left alone), that would be viewed as a good thing. I suppose it keeps away the looky-loo suburbia types who want to feel like they are buying a remote place, but yet they still want to drag all their suburbia mentality and expectation of government services with them.

 

Arizona has very loose Adverse Possession laws. You only need to find a place and live there for a year without anyone kicking you off and legally its yours. Why buy?

 

There's a place in a remote area of southern California called Slab City where you can set up shop and live for free. It's been an RV'ing mecca for decades, but it has long attracted a variety of other types looking to get away from it all.

Slab City - Wikipedia

It used to be a military base decades ago, but when the military left it became no-mans land, and to my understanding, no government agency be it federal or state was keen to lay rigid control of it (as they do with everywhere else) because it's such a devoid wasteland that they apparently don't much care, and so have just left it to the people to do with as they please.

The old people who travel their country in their RV stay at The Slabs for winter and spring while the temperature is more tolerable. Then, when summertime comes around they back their RV and head up north to colder temps. Some people brave it out and live there all year, though.

 

Yeah I've been to slab city. There are better places you can go and CA doesn't patrol the deserts. You can pretty much do what you like just so long as you stay out of the military areas. I spent much of last summer in the desert with my girlfriend.

 

I swear there was a thread on here about a Monkey that had their land squatted/sold. I seem to recall it took place in Arizona. Anyone remember this?

 

I have worked in a wrecking yard that was cleaner. And the employees shot better too.

 

Well the good news is its exceedingly easy to get the land back. The bad news is its easy to lose again...

 

I don't understand how they can haul enough water for all those pigs and goats. It's one thing for me to conserve water, quite another to convince a thousand pounds of pork not to drink so much in the summer heat.

It just does not seem very sustainable to me, but obviously they make it work.

 

Not sure where the specifically fetch their water from, but I think they are located very close to the Rio Grande River which has many tributaries branching off it. I know some of them go down to the river to soak in the river during the warmer months (saw it on YouTube video of some locals).

 

I once hauled water for 25 Cows. Every third day I would fill a bunch of random containers, put them in a 4x8 trailer and use the tractor to haul them to the 8 watering tanks, that were 55 gallon drums cut in half, a mile way. Problem was I did this at 2am since I was working a night shift. Boy was I glad to get the fence finished that allowed the cows to reach a pond. The same pond that I dipped water out of. Talking about relief! I felt drunk with joy for the first week, what with the extra sleep and all. Some of those cows are still producing 14 years later. Homestedin' is all FUN!

 

For what its worth, some videos of the place:



- This persons channel has a lot of videos from the place.

- Yes, it is a derelict craphole.


I hate the desert, but I find such a place sort of like hell and heaven at the same time. I like any place that has mountains and remoteness (and also 'green,' lots of green... but 2 out of 3 isn't too bad)... but deserts... not my thing. I like the idea of a challenge... I'd just prefer to do it someplace greener.

 

The desert is great if you are used to it. There are a ton of things you can do there but you need to make sure you can keep yourself alive. Once you have water all figured out everything else is not so bad. If you have a well and/or rain catchment you can start doing all kinds of interesting things. My sister is in the middle of nowhere with a well and she has pine trees growing in the desert. Its really strange but they do great. She also has 32 horses and a bunch of other animals. Shes completely self reliant and loves every minute of it. Its not fancy but there are several houses and enough room for everyone she knows to stay there at the same time.

I would not want to be any place where there is a "community" unless they were all self reliant and not barely scraping by. I just don't understand why people would go there to struggle. You can struggle anywhere. Make it a nice place and use all the technology you can to get off the grid. There are ways to build a thriving community but these guys seem to like the trashy aspect. What a waste.

 

I think this guy is in the same area perhaps. Less nutter and less clutter. THIS I could go for.

 

I just finished watching the main video. I just don't know what to think. There were so many different thoughts while watching it. I would stop and start. The patriotism, love for America was something that kept surfacing in the video.

 

Love the one guy saying he does not want to have to pay for it for the rest of his life

 

I live here in 2 peaks and it is certainly not as bad as it's painted by people. Sure, we have some ruffians but not nearly as bad as you'll find in so called civilization. Avoid buying land here from a Realtor as they will often forget to tell you that there is no chance of getting title insurance or any form of real estate financing. Want to buy land here, go to the taxation office and buy a tax lean for a couple hundred in back taxes where someone abandoned their lot's. Mind your manners and respect others and you'll do just fine. We are a funny lot and like our privacy but most of us are also sociable.