It's quite amazing you're able to do that. I've only known a few city people who ever went totally off the grid and they spent a few years learning the back woods, hunting, fishing, carpentry, electrical, ranching, farming, and other skills needed.
in the early 70's we decided to get out of the city (SF) so drove around for months looking for the right place. found eastern oregon to our liking. took employment that would teach us the type of skills we'd need to live a remote lifestyle (we worked as surveyor, architectural draftsman, realtor, construction, USFS inspector, map maker, sporting goods sales...), purchased some very remote bare property, worked double shifts for 12 years to pay the mortgage off while on weekends we built the tiny cabin we now live in, and once it was paid-in-full, we give up city life and moved up with no savings/income/jobs... nothing but a few hand tools and a 20 year old truck. no electricity, no phone, no refrigerator, no indoor water, no toilet, no generator, not even an access road, and of course, no world wide web!
so we learned all those skills you mentioned as we went, lived hand-to-mouth, took any jobs we could find (construction, logging, fence building, day-riding, magazine writing and photography, criminal investigator, etc) while continuing to live on the place and getting things in working order.
we've been here almost 30 years full-time now and we know we made the right choice, for us. it hasn't been easy but its always been exciting, interesting and challenging. and yes, we still use an outhouse.
fyi - for the last ten years we've run an internet business (
Wild Dog Studios), plus patti still day-rides moving cattle in the wilderness, pre-dawn to dusk, alone all summer long. she's the more impressive of us.
anyone who's handy, likes to do things themselves, has some self-confidence and drive, not scared to take chances, and willing to do without, can do what we've done. if you're of that sort of mindset, don't put it off, just do it. life is too damn short to put anything off, really.
