Is a totally self sufficient lifestyle possible in 21st century America?

Is a totally self sufficient lifestyle possible in 21st century America?

It is possible but in order for the average person to pull it off, you would have to break several laws. Like you can't just buy land in the middle of the forest and build a house on it. You could probably just go for it and hope nobody reports you or cares enough to enforce anything.

not even Thoreau pulled off total self-sufficiency. But you can still live a comfy innawoods lifestyle like him with relative ease

Yes if you are willing to abandon all creature comforts and qol conveniences

Yeah, just find the nearest animal dugout and crawl into it

Self-sufficiency hasn't been a thing since trade existed. Those mountain men riding west brought guns and knives from New England and blankets from the south on the back of horses from Tennessee.

Thoreau lived in Emerson's backyard 20 minutes away from his mother's house and went to town on an almost daily basis.

It's not necessary to actually do so, all you need to do is make sure you COULD do so

Is there a way to do it legally? Could you save up enough money to pay off property taxes on a small plot of land without working? Are there too many restrictions on hunting and growing livestock for one to live in total isolation?

Why is this question accompanied by this book?
Did you even fucking read it? He goes into town all the time. It's an American social and economic critique, not a survivalist novel.

kind of

>Self-sufficiency hasn't been a thing since trade existed. Those mountain men riding west brought guns and knives from New England and blankets from the south on the back of horses from Tennessee.

This. Humans naturally form communities. Being a hermit is a special calling that belongs to few; living as an isolated family is not tenable, because how are you going to perpetuate the family without incest?

If you want to stretch things their probably are ways you could do everything legally. You would just need money to buy viable land to grow crops. You would also need certain licenses to grow specific crops and raise specific livestock. Especially if you want to sell anything for some extra cash. You also need permits from the city to build pretty much any structure that the type of land you bought isn’t initially registered as. So if you bought industrial land and you want to build a house you need a permit, if you bought agricultural land and you want to build a shed you need a permit etc. It would just be much more practical to do things illegally. Maybe take advantage of squatters rights if you country has them.

nigger thats not what the book is about reee

My dad has a lot of acreage out in the west coast, population 150. He keeps chickens and a garden, uses solar panels (though he has a hookup for electricity), satellite internet, and pays about $1200 a year in property taxes. Its a cozy life.

Also, he paid about $150,000 for the land

What is it about?

This

Yes and no. Very few people have ever set out into the wilderness and lived alone. Most had plots set up, family to help, community to help with resources etc. It's a lot of work, more than anyone thinks, and you need to ask yourself what skills you have.
Do you know how to cut wood with an axe in the order of a cord a day? Are you in good enough shape to do that work? Do you know how many calories that would take? Do you know how to care for an axe, including hanging, as well as other tools? Do you know how to tend a full garden and save seeds? How fast can you boil water? What level trapper and hunter are you? Do you know how to care for livestock? Can you train a hunting dog?
Mors Kochanski says that a person should try to farm all the food they need for a year before ever trying to live off of wild edibles. That really highlights what work is involved and how hard it is to live off the land. And unless you are a skilled hunter and trapper, and in an area with plentiful game, you'd still find yourself in trouble now and then.
Not to discourage you, there are ways to do it, it's just the transition is the most difficult part for people today; we are just so reliant on the system. Having goats and chickens would be your best bet, and agriculture based on the three sisters.
Keep in mind that people used to go into the woods with these skills in hand, so you should be prepared to do the same. Anything else is suicide.

greentext what happened

>mad mongo man found in forest
>people don't like mad mongo man
>mad mongo man arrested
How did i do? (i don't know the actual story)

Even hermits tend to depend on handouts. Humans are not solitary creatures even though some of us like to pretend we are.

He was a burglar who lived in the woods. That’s nit self-suffiency, just common sense if old timey bandit tactics

>you can't just buy land in the middle of the forest and build a house on it
You can in Alabama. Just be inna boonies and do what you want. Only concerns are septic tank perk test and well location. I know folks deep in the piney woods built a cabin, no permits, no inspections, nobody cares.

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