Canada: Pender Island couple vows to go off-grid after living off the land during pandemic
“We were worried if something big happened in the world we would get cut off,” said Chris Hall, as reasoning for the couple’s decision to live off the land
By Sarah Grochowski
Vancouver Sun
Apr 09, 2022
Excerpt:
Then and there, the couple vowed to take food security into their own hands — to eat as much of what they could catch, grow or raise in the future.
“We’ve been beekeeping, raising chickens, turkeys and pigs and growing a lot of things,” said Hall, including dragonfruit, kale and beets. “We also have access to lots of seafood and catching crabs, prawns and including different seaweeds and shellfish into our diet and learning a whole bunch of new skills.”
The pair, who have been back living off the land since April 1, has their sights set on achieving a greater level of self-sufficiency.
During their initial year of living off the grid, Hall was still purchasing around 50 per cent of the feed for their livestock of three pigs, 20 chickens, five quail, two turkeys and three ducks, from retail outlets. They watered their crops from a hose and warmed livestock and their home with electric heat sources.