The Wildlanders Family Life Off Grid

15/12/2024

A year after we built a gate on our driveway, we finally finished it with a coat of wood preserve, diagonals so it doesn't drag on the ground, and a height barrier.
In the second pic you can just see our Reolink security camera up in the tree. It's powered by solar, has night vision mode, and transmits constantly. It gives us real peace of mind when we hear burglars are in the area.
The gate would slow down or deter a burglar while we get their face on film!

13/12/2024

Hard day by the log burner 😂

11/12/2024

A new video drops tonight, how is our 40 day homesteading challenge going and what do we achieve?

10/12/2024

It's reeeeeally cold today! The van's diesel heater is still not working, we think we're getting air in the fuel line. Last ditch attempt to fix it today, if that doesn't work we'll have to buy a new one...

04/12/2024

That's the last banana pic of the year!
We're chopping off the leaves, wrapping them up, digging up the canna bulbs and mulching for winter.
Fingers crossed for fruit next year!

01/12/2024

The goal of the 5 day toilet build challenge was to get the bare bones up. Foundation, floor, walls, roof. We achieved almost all of that, but at the last minute we needed a longer ladder and longer screws so the roof is only half on!

We need to wrap our bananas and citrus for winter urgently, so we've paused the toilet build for a week. We'll be back on it soon - we need to shingle the outside, fit the door, build the box that the seat attaches to with a compartment for sawdust, fit the seat and separator, paint the inside walls and it's done!

Like my ladder setup in the last pic? That was fun to climb 😄

29/11/2024

It was my birthday on Monday, I've reached Level 44!

We celebrated with a lovely walk at the lake, followed by a takeaway lunch and a little look around the shops. I used birthday money to get a cute little coffee cup :)

This week has been spent getting the garden ready for winter and trying to fix the diesel heater in our van. So far I have fixed the electric issue, but it's still belching smoke which isn't great!

27/11/2024

A new video drops very soon (TONIGHT)

Welcome to our off-grid homesteading journey in Portugal! Join us as we tackle the challenges and reap the rewards of sustainable living from our beautiful f...

22/11/2024

The stairs are done!
The second and third pics show them as they are currently, we took out the back upright posts as they served no purpose! Rosie wants shelves behind the stairs, but that's a project for another day...
They do need oiling to waterproof and preserve the wood, we'll do that when we've cleaned up all the dust in the cabin!

Most of the boards against the wall are out now, being used as the toilet walls. The last big bit will be Rosie's desk.

When the toilet is done we have a lot of work to do in the garden, some planting and lots of wrapping delicate plants against the coming frosts.

19/11/2024

November in bloom! We have fresh raspberries and strawberries coming out of the food forest, and all sorts of flowers!

This week we're going to get the outhouse built. Wednesday's video shows the foundation being finished, plus lots of work in the shade house and new nursery beds.

Its seriously foggy at the moment though, so another cuppa tea is called for!

18/11/2024

GET EARLY ACCESS TO THIS WEEKS VIDEO:

Even for those not supporting us on Patreon, head there now to watch Weds video NOW. Thanks for sharing the love. In this weeks video we get the compost long drop toilet started, we have to deal with the mice in our kitchen AND Dom gets a load of plants planted in the nursery garden.

Our Patreon supporters get early access most weeks as well as exclusive behind the scenes videos every week JUST ON PATREON :)

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13/11/2024

A new video drops this evening our journey to self sufficiency. We finish our off grid cabins stairs, we plant many bananas to test which provide us with the best and most fruit next summer. And we knock down our old cabin base to start our new rustic composting toilet block build. 🚽

Video at 7.30pm gmt. Link in the comments

13/11/2024

Mulberry tree!
Its been sunny lately, but freezing cold this morning... It's a hats, scarves and coats kind of day!

09/11/2024

The new nursery area! Beds made, trees planted. We have 3 oranges, 2 pears, 3 apples, a mulberry and a ginkgo. Also, redcurrants, raspberries, a gooseberry and a pineapple sage (last pic). These are partly for food, but mainly for the health of the soil and to bring in pollinators.

The shade structure is also up, we'll add the shade material next year, and we've planted passion flowers to climb up and over. We'll keep potted plants under there, and plant the rest of the beds with things to grow on such as comfrey, yarrow, bananas etc.

08/11/2024

We're halfway through our 40 day challenge!
We've made excellent progress in the cabin, I'm really pleased with the new roof and chimney by the shadehouse, and all the plants in the new nursery area are looking perky!

Today, Dom starts work clearing an area for our outhouse compost toilet, and I have a ton of sanding to do on the stairs...

06/11/2024

A brand new video drops tonight at 7.30pm gmt on YouTube. We have a few fails in the new nursery garden and we reroof our outdoor living area.

All part of our 40 day homesteading challenge! 🌞🌱🪴🌿

02/11/2024

Rosie's Jackolanterns! She carved a butternut squash because my pumpkins didn't grow at all this year, and there were no carving pumpkins to buy in town! It looks super cute though 👻

31/10/2024

A beautiful parasol mushroom from our land!