Our first year starting an Off Grid Australian Homestead
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- For the last 10 months we've been working really hard on transforming this little slice of rugged Australian bush landscape into a thriving, productive homestead.
In this week's video we tell the story, starting from when we packed up our home at the beginning of the year through to now, and everything we've achieved in between.
If you like this kind of content and want to see more 'Behind-the-Scenes' as we build our off grid Australian Homestead, then be sure to check out our Patreon Page:
/ rusticspiritsco
Finally an Australian homestead
Great to find Australian homesteaders. Plenty overseas but not so many here.
There are actually heaps here in Australia 😊
@@honey-bee-farmstead can you upload some links. I'm keen to find other Aussies. I have a few like self sufficient me and Weedy..but would love to find d some smaller channels
@ not so many on UA-cam that I’ve seen 😊
@@wildpeace me either
Yes!! I agree, love watching Aussie farm renovations 😁
Good on you guys.
I’m about to start life again at 58.
New mortgage, new beginnings, scary but exciting at the same time.
Just me, 3 dogs, 1 horse, 2 pigs on 120 acres raw canvas living in a bus totally off grid. With Years of permaculture self study and years of hands on build knowledge and trade.
Now to find a new career plus what is going to work on this tied land for income.
Thanks for the inspiration 😊
Similar here, scary but feels like the right thing to do.
You're most welcome.
Good luck. I'm doing the same but I'm 61.
We have been off the grid 10 yrs in the bush 40 ks outta Coonabarabran NSW we love it and this year we’ll be 75
At 65 you left the city and started a new way of life?
Hey guys. Great to see Australian "Homesteaders" here on youtube. Our conditions are so different compared to all of those American homestead channels.
I've been homesteading for 11 years in WA and just moved from 100 acres to 8 acres and now almost completely offgrid. I do have solar but still hooked into the grid. Everything else is generated on the property. Bought my goats and chickens with me, but starting veggie gardens and orchard feom scratch again.
Looking forward to watching you develop your little piece of paradise.
❤
Thanks. Wow, sounds familiar. And tbh we’re probably only using less than 5 acres at the moment. It’s amazing what you can do with the space you have hey.
@reganperry so true.
Just found you and loving what you are doing and acheiving. Takes me back to the early '80's when my family were doing the same thing on a 10 acre property in Western Australia. Hubby was away working for the first year and the two kids and I did a lot of the work together. We were living in two small caravans, hand washing, building a shower recess out in the open, heated water in black containers on top of the caravans, started a humungous vege garden, had goats, sheep, chooks, ducks etc etc..... Oh it was an amazing time.
If I can share a tip for working in the heat. I use a cheapo beach brolly zip tied to my gorilla trailer that holds all my garden tools, etc when planting. This way I have shade everywhere I work, I too am in my late 50s so I feel the heat more so than in my younger years.
We have had a similar journey! Wishing so much joy for you in the years ahead. It is about the journey not the destination!
we bought 23 acres with a single room mud brick home. No flushing dunny, just a short drop on the edge of the bush, with no roof, an umbrella if raining. It has been 20 years and there's so much done and still much to do. Good on you guys.
Awesome….love this!
I dream of doing this. You are both inspiring me to keep the dream alive. Thank you.
What an amazing couple, living the dream I have had for many, many years. You have been brave enough to back yourselves and have done an admirable job and I can't praise you both enough. It is also awesome to see that you both share the same dream and are an awesome team together. Keep up the good work as I will now be following your experiences and suggestions. Maybe one day my dream of living of grid will eventuate, that is if I haven't left my run too late. Cheers to you both, Wayne.
Our family started a off grid homestead last summer! It has been hard but we love it!
@@onthehillhomestead207 it’s so rewarding hey!
Sub’d to your channel. Good luck with it! (the homestead AND the channel 😁)
@ Thanks me to your channel as well we’re trying to learn all we can!
Your video really resonated with me. I’m actually living a similar lifestyle in the bush here in Queensland, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s been such a rewarding experience to be more self-sufficient and connected with nature. When I was building my shelter, I used a tractor from Achilles Machinery, and it made a huge difference. It’s incredibly durable and versatile, handling everything from clearing land to hauling materials with ease. Highly recommend!
Thanks! A good reliable tractor is a must hey!
Only just found you, looking forward to following you through the next year. I like your presenting style. Talking direct to camera is no easy task! Happy new year to you all.❤
We’ll be doing all this year now. You’ve just set out our year for us! Ours will be a much smaller scale but I can really get behind your excitement ! Thanks so much for this great video!
That's so cool. You're most welcome. Enjoy the journey,
I respect those prepare to have a go, guts and persistence are undervalued in our culture these days.
We bought 33 acres three years ago. It had a basic house on it. But the land was bare and barren. Have worked hard and set up multiple acres of food forest etc. pretty well did it with no budget. I pruned some grape vines for people and as payment I took the cuttings. I grew almost 1000 grape vines from them. Got all the posts free from a neighbour where a bush fire had gone through. Had grapes 12 months after planting, can use for table grapes or wine.
I grew up in the south Burnett. Great to see a homestead channel so close to home!
We're loving it out here!
@@reganperryis that where you are? I'm out near Imbil
We just stumbled on your channel and love what you’re doing. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for explaining about the container house. Couldn't see the footings and I was like? Nothing underneath. Best way to decide where you want the house and different things is to stay there. Walk around with your coffee and look and feel. I had to move back to the suburbs for the last 5 years to nurse my mum. I'm now going back to live off grid too but I'm older so like you, I'm not rushing because I need to make things as low matineance. I've lived off grid a big portion of my life so I'm used to it. I also want to get Starlink.
Great advice. We spent about a month out here camping (on and off) before we picked the spot
Ive just found your channel and love it! Have subscribed and were going to binge it now 😊
🇨🇦❤️ Australia 🇦🇺….. We bought The Ole Church with a cemetery and 5 Acres of very raw woodland,near the Atlantic Ocean!
Hi guys,
I just came across your new UA-cam Aussie show and it's great. I'm from Victoria and your show will help alot of Aussies to do what you guys are doing. By the way, where in Australia are you. It would be interesting and helpful to know.
It seems we have a similar story haha. Love seeing your videos and the progress you make. It helps motivate me with my own projects 😊
How good is remote Aussie living?!? When you find your spot of land, you just know it and you’ll stop at nothing to achieve your dreams. Keep up the great work!!
Thanks! I just checked out your channel. Great stuff. There's nothing quite like it hey!
Have a wonderful new year with all your new projects
Your experiences with the power system sound like me on my father's cattle station after he passed on. It was a learning curve!
Thanks for sharing. Look forward to next years increase and accomplishments.
Wow, just discovered you guys. Great work in such a short time. That's a lovely looking piece of land. I have 40 acres in SW of WA. Just recently reduced my daily job by 50%, so I can finally build my vegie patch and other jobs on the list. I'll be watching on with great interest, hopefully picking up some ideas. Have a wonderful 2025. Cheers Shayne
Thanks Shayne! It's a great feeling to start on your own homestead, good luck.
This is awesome, it is a huge undertaking and good on ya’s. I hope you, really consider the weeds and spread. Whipping grasses, dealing with cacti and so on can get out of hand easily. If it is an area you whip, you need to continually knock it down before it seeds or you a just spreading it, cacti can disperse from spores from just agitating it. If you plan to run cattle etc. weeds will become a massive problem and I would assume, from a sand mining point of view, this was not on their radar. Just keep it in mind guys. I wish you the best and I am honestly envious of your situation.
I would love a video on how you have incorporated Grant Witheridge's advice about soil management into your land management and future plans.
Interesting to hear about your progress. I will say one thing up front and that is you have one thing right and that is moving out to start your project while you are reasonably young. I have had my farm for nearly 60 ears and it is still a project in progress and I have never managed to actually go to live there. I have a shed that now has a couple of rooms in the end and a couple of caravans and I have slept there many times but never actually got around to live there. Now due to illness and hospital visits etc. it is too late in my life. It is not that I don't get anything out of it as we go for weekends and I have a camera so that I can have a look at what is going on every day. This coming weekend we plan to go there and then I will see our latest Alpaca cria that I have only seen on video.
I used to have to cut the grass around the shed a few times every year but no more. We now have 55 alpaca's doing the mowing. They do need a little extra feed but mainly they just live of the grass. The advantage with alpaca's is that they put their manure in a common heap so nothing to walk in right next to the shed. We also have hay equipment so that we can cut some grass to make to hay every spring (if there is any).
The snakes and the spiders we have too. Except for the tiger snakes in spring that may be be a little aggressive (they don't really attack but will stand their ground) then if you don't bother them they won't bother you. They may run over the toes on your boots but they will usually just try to get away. You are much too big for them to eat. You may have bigger ones that may strangle you and attempt to eat you but not down here. We also have the snakes in Melbourne's suburbs as our house is backing on to a park with a creek. They have been in the garage a few times and once even in the mosquito door in the back entrance. It followed the evening sun up the door. We have never been bitten.
Having a farm you will never truly get time off unless you arrange for some body else to stand in. There will always be some thing to do. What you must do is to enjoy it as much and as long as you can. Life is short and things can happen very fast. I had a very bad pneumonia that could easily have killed me when I was 65 and I became paraplegic in 2 days due to the Shingles Virus attacking the nerves in my back when I was 70. I can now walk again with a walker and I enjoy life. Come to think of it I was in a bad car accident when I was about 18 and there has been other occasion's I could have been killed later so I am probably immortal.
My recommendation: Enjoy life while you can but don't forget you may still be alive to morrow and next week, year decade or sentry so stretch out the enjoyment too. I plan to do that. I plan to be 112 years old. Sadly 85 has been more common in my family but my sister is on the way to break that and I intend to do that too.
Happy New Year and have a happy future.
I wish you well and hope you get to spend more time on your block of paradise. It is funny how we don't spend enough time chasing a peaceful enjoyable life. Although I am only on 2 acres it does take a lot of upkeep as it mostly garden but we will get there. Like you we have plenty of snakes etc, Tigers around the house and Browns and red belly blacks across the road around the dam. We can never be built out as we are surrounded by a large farm. Isn't it funny when you think back on your life about all the things that could have killed you that you forgot about. In my life many motorcycle accidents, 1 where I watched the front wheel just go past my head (helmut on) as I slid across the road in front of it. Hitting a horse at midnight in the middle of nowhere, wrote the car off. And so on. But now it is like being on holiday all the time.
@@steveout6971 Thanks for the wishes and the same to you. Yes there has to be some thing about that you only have to go when your number is up. Thanks God for that as if it always went bad I don't think it was possible to live long. Changes have to be taken because other ways one couldn't do any thing. I don't know if it goes 50/50 or what but even now at 78 I have both good and bad breaks. There are enough good so that I enjoy it.
Hi guys I've just found your channel just popped up I'm from Australia too 😊
Enjoy the break guys it’s well earned. We love sitting down as a family and watching your videos. Living off grid on our small 12 acre property is our end goal and seeing what you guys have accomplished is a huge inspiration.
Cheers 🍻
Well done, you 2 make a great team, I just subscribed, this is my first viewing, and I enjoyed it very much, thank you for sharing❤
Thanks Sue! you're most welcome.
you guys are sorsum well done thankyou for your time i love it and will keep watching your progress
Thanks for the support! 😊
This video popped up in my feed again so I have now subscribed to help with that new chain saw. HA HA HA. So our 2 acres is nearly all garden which was set up with no thought to maintenance, it takes me about 3 hours to mow the lawns/grass. We downsized when our daughter got married and moved out. So we went from 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, formal lounge dining etc to 2 acres 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms etc. I lost a bathroom but the wife really loved the house and I got a 12m X 10m full height shed, 3 phase power etc (previous owner was an engineer who worked from home). So I reluctantly agreed although I would have loved a lot more land. The part I love about the house is that it is entirely lined with Radiata pine that has never been painted and until we sell never will. I don't know if you get time to watch other you tube channels but one I watch is "Farm Learning with Tim Thompson", recently he has shown a number of properties where they are doing interesting things trying to return their pastures to productive land using old farming methods, installing swales etc and so on. Anyway thanks for the video and now to go back and look at your past videos.
You're welcome. And yep, Tim Thompson is my go-to, especially for anything fencing. I reckon I learned 99% of my knots from him. 2 Acres is just perfect. Our first little "homestead" was just a rented 1.5ac house block and we got so much achieved on it and I reckon we didn't even use half of it.
Oh now I have to stop everything and watch all your videos! I’m so happy to see how your plans are coming together!
Hosanna definitely isnt the same without you guys. Now I’m thinking “where are you building our cabins?!” 😂😂
❤
Giddy up well done guys! And yes finally Aussie homesteaders and not too far from us (Jiggi, NSW) looking forward ti watching more and more cheers
@@sharongeyer303 I’ll admit to having to look up Jiggi 😁, love that area!
As a Builder I always said “Live it before you made decisions “. You are right it’s hard and expensive to change “.
I recently came across your channel (thanks to the UA-cam algorithm I guess), I subscribed and I am working my way through all the videos.
I just want to commend you on how you speak and present the content. It’s informative but also casual. I really enjoy what you’re putting out and watching you build your homestead.
Keep it up and all the best for 2025.
Thanks!
Here in North Queensland we have a definite dry and now back to wet where grass grows behind the mower
Haha, it sure does!
Haha...it sure does!
Wonderful!
You've done sooo much already.. Most of us that've subcribed understand how time & labour intensive homesteading is.... especially in the first few years.
What about fire/flood management? Look forward to hearing about that.
Thanks. Yep, it's a lot, but SO rewarding. Flooding isn't a big issue for us. We're on a kind of a knoll of land and there isn't really a history of flooding here.
Hi, just found your channel and will binge watch your videos, I live in the South Burnett (Wondai) love it here. cheers
Ahh beautiful country - very similar landscape
I watch Max and Occy as well. Delighted to find you!
Thanks for this video. Enjoyed it a lot 👍❤️
Nice work.
Thanks Alan! Much appreciated ☺️
So much already well done
Hey guys - loved the "Lets have a yak" u-tube. Really great - you are so " for real" . Very proud of you all. B & S
Great to see, good aussie homesteading and offgridding from scratch, up there with some good american channels like justin rhodes, alot of work starting from a clean slate, i have enjoyed following the journey so far, interested to see how much time and return for your channel so far, our property settles in a month but we went for a little more established property in victoria, i have similar plans with permaculture theories but have a log cabin to start with, id like to run a channel too and am interested to hear more on that side, you seem to have alot of knowledge and have obviously been planning and researching for some time now, keep up the great work guys 🎉
Oh wow - what a comparison. Thanks! Have to admit, he’s definitely one of our heroes. I’ve been thinking for a while now that we might do the occasional video on the UA-cam side of things. Break the fourth wall so to speak.
Well done on what you have achieved. Happy new year and enjoy your time off. I will soon be starting my own homesteading journey, and you guys are inspirational! Looking forward to 2025
That’s awesome! There’s nothing quite like it.
Hi guys I’ve been watching for a while now love the videos .I’m moving to the country next year looking forward to it .have a great Christmas and new year
Fantastic guys. I look forward to seeing all you continue to achieve in 2025 😁
Thanks George. Bring on 2025!
You guys had an instant house! We are actually in a tent haha no power no water, building up slowly the house is coming along nicely though!
@@6inthestix True! We built the tiny home about 18 months beforehand in anticipation. A bit of lucky timing, a bit of forethought. Not everyone gets to do it that way I guess. Good on you guys though, one step at a time - it’s an adventure after all
Well done, you have both achieved so much! Be proud of yourselves. You definitely have a new subscriber here.
Have a wonderful deserved break
That's awesome! We appreciate the support.
Merry Christmas n happy new year. Totally enjoy your channel.
Thank you 😊
having had a container as you have when you get time fit a roof over it ,a skill ion is easy weld angles along each side, used 50X,50 each side with bolt holes, on second side ditto BUT lower to get a fall ,4x2 cross timbers and then battens length wise ,cover with corrugated sheets with foil under or other profile if you so wish,fit a fascia and guttering ,bingo water for the house,and cooler and the container top is protected as they do rust ,if you so wished could extend for a porch on the entry side,like you had 150 sandy acres with erosion ,sorted that first ,,check if you have land care in your area have no idea where yu are in AU,they were a great help sorting the gully's out and ended up with zero just level land, planted native grass in strips across the slopes this spread and slowed the run off and costs were cheap,and money back which was a surprise,good luck with your efforts also Electric fences faster and cheaper to do beats barb wire and having had a couple snap and one curl around me fitted a Pel400 does 400klms of fence .
That's definitely on the cards for this year, including a roofed deck off the front.
Been loving your videos. I found you mid november when I came across the video on how to buy cheap land. I then binge watched all your videos, although I think I missed a solar one over two days. And yes tiny homes in a shipping container can be moved. I went to one tiny house festival one year and volunteered at the next. Saw lots of transportable homes.
Thanks Narelle!🙌
I am in Victoria one hour west off Melbourne on one acre of land on my own. Sitting here watching your vlogs trying to work out where you are in Australia, it would be great to know as I am in a very frosty area as well. My food forest is going great guns but I’ve learnt the hard way losing many plants to the frost. My biggest challenge are the native birds eating all my fruit before I get to it, I don’t mind sharing, but hey leave some for me. Love what you are doing but please do tell what area you are in!
You must be pretty near me!
I can almost hear the cicadas behind you as you talk........they are really noisy at this time of year. We're in the South Burnett, so not that far from you. It's hot and humid and we're hoping for rain soon. Enjoy your family break and we will all catch up in the New Year.
Haha wait until the next video - I reckon they’ve quadrupled in numbers since this!
Loving your channel and journey. Would love to hear on what's needed for container homes, regards to what council require as I'd love to get one myself but out of my depth for what's what.
It’s so different from region to region, but it’s something we get asked a lot, so we’ll be sure to go into it more in the coming year.
Hi Guys! Wonderful to see your new chapter! Where is your new land compared to where you were at Hosanna?
Somehow your video came up on my feed today.
Interesting to watch what you do in the future. Now I will go back and watch the previous videos.
You may have said somewhere but I wondered where your homestead is. Not specifically of course, general area.
I'm on the Fraser Coast.
That’s awesome. We’re in southern Darling Downs.
@reganperry I watched part of an earlier one where you said that. Makes sense when I saw the prickly pear. I used to drive from Brisbane to Theodore years ago and remember seeing a lot of it along the way.
About your gardens. Do you have problems with possums. They are the most problem here on the east coast. Alright sort of in a small town but even a klm out of town you have to literally cage your vege garden. Bower birds love tomatoes lol
@@patriciafisher1170 we’ve been lucky so far that the only issues have been with king parrots wanting wheat and cockatoos wanting sunflowers. Other than that even the dozens of wallabies we have don’t seem interested. And no possums so far. 🤞
Sorry I am adding a second comment, we too have snakes to worry about. I have photos of a Tiger snake about 5b foot long in the kitchen window box. Anyway we have Tiger snakes around the house, across the road around the dam there are Browns and red belly blacks, so I don't go over there unless I have to. It is neighbors property anyway. But what are worse, snakes or swooping magpies?
Just a thought having watched a short where you are running a swing sawmill, have you thought of getting or making a Logosol style chainsaw mill attachment that you could attach to your other sawmill to slab logs vertically or horizontally.
Yeah, we've got some nasty snakes out here too. I just keep the grass short around the house and walk heavy whenever I'm out in the bush.
What kind of grass have you got on the block? Is it native? Looks very green and lush.
Hi guys, just discovered your very interesting and informative videos and searching through specific topics. How did you choose that land? What were all your considerations? 😀
Our biggest considerations were it had to have a water source (dam or river, not seasonal creek), it had to be 80+ acres. It had to be reasonable level land and it had to have the ability to produce (timer, gardens, livestock, etc).
Hi guys where are you in Australia?
Yeeeeyaaaahhhhh.💚
🎉😁
Hi, just found you. Will go back to the beginning. Where in Aus are you located?
Awesome viewing
What part of Australia are you located in?
Darling Downs region
Cheers I was trying to pick the area. We have recently bought 8 acres in South Burnett Region- we wished we could of bought more land.
Love ya UA-cam channel
Keep the content coming
Question? Are you able to number your posts? Enjoying you channel though youtube mixes up your posts, at least for us. Anyway well done. Cheers Billy and Glenda.
How did this work with council?
What's your land zoned classified?
Please help us too empower us through knowledge. we can beat the system
don't fall for the 4 inch reinforced concrete con. done my shed floor 80 ft x 30 ft 1 1/2'' thick with chicken wire, i am always generous with my cement and it is very strong. if you are just walking on it why would you build it to suit trucks driving over it.
Where in Oz are you? Do you guys work too?
With how much money? You seem to have everything.
Oh man, I wish! Doing this on very little startup money and an incredibly tight budget at the moment. We’ve made some smart choices over the last 10+ years that have helped us prepare, but we’re running on the smell of an oily rag to get started.
Since when did we start calling it Homesteading in Australia?
I think it's definitely an American 'adoption' 😁
What state are you in?
Why did you build such a big outdoor bathroom?
This might answer it for you 😁 :
ua-cam.com/video/4rjkzDc6t9g/v-deo.html
Where are you located can't find anything showing it.
@@osmopocket69 southern Darling Downs
@@reganperry Thanks
How come it's called homesteading it been called hobby farming for 60 years look into the prickle farm old abc radio series.
One of those language evolution things I think. I'm not mad - hobby farm makes it sound like it's not real work 🤣
Thanks - I'll check that series out!
Oh if you want milking goats I’ve got Anglo Nubian babies coming In about a month
@@sharongeyer303 oh wow! Really. I’ve only had Nubian’s once before a few years ago and absolutely loved them! Would definitely be keen to chat - want to flick us a message on FB?
Which srea of State are you in, please?
If there are ĥorse racing stables near you, I used to be able to get free, what was cleaned out of the stables and compost it before putting it on my gardens. It must be mulched and considered a soil conditioner rather than a fertiliser. If there are shearing sheds near you, the partly composted manure from under the sheds is a great fertiliser with very few weeds in it. Some Graziers are happy for you to remove the droppings from under the shed for your labour only.
Have you looked into companion planting? I have found it very beneficial in the past & still employ it now.
I hope 2025 brings you health, wealth and happiness.
Thanks Keith! Southern Darling Downs region. Yes, we’re big on companion planting. Check out some of our gardening videos.
This is awesome, it is a huge undertaking and good on ya’s. I hope you, really consider the weeds and spread. Whipping grasses, dealing with cacti and so on can get out of hand easily. If it is an area you whip, you need to continually knock it down before it seeds or you a just spreading it, cacti can disperse from spores from just agitating it. If you plan to run cattle etc. weeds will become a massive problem and I would assume, from a sand mining point of view, this was not on their radar. Just keep it in mind guys. I wish you the best and I am honestly envious of your situation.