Anarchy | Empowerment & Freedom Through Off-Grid Living & Permaculture [TribeSteemUp Question]

in #tribesteemup6 years ago (edited)

What Does Anarchy Mean to You?

In pondering this biweekly @tribesteemup question, I considered all the ways I make choices in my lifestyle that support values such as freedom, autonomy, sovereignty, justice and equality. These values are not a philosophy, but a lived reality. I don't mean to say I uphold these 100%, but that the drive behind much of what I do and how I live is fed by a desire to act in accordance with these universal values.

Photo of me building a composting toilet out of natural and salvaged materials with hand tools. This is before we had set up our solar system.


Anarchy for me is about personal orientation.

It's about how I relate to the world, how I show up and what approach I take with life.

What I choose to spend my time and energy on.

Cutting firewood on our homestead. When we take care of our own needs and relate with the land in sustainable ways, we are less likely to be dependent= controlled by outside forces.

This has manifested itself as a land based life as my partner Wren and I homestead 18 acres in southern Missouri. We live off grid where we grow food, practice herbalism and employ many natural building and permaculture techniques and design strategies. For me anarchy is about listening to the inner voice that guides me and connects me directly to Source without need of a centralized system or cultural framework for how I should live.

Anarchy is the desire and resulting actions to live out my full potential as a human unfettered by limits, constraints or boundaries. The desire to be free and sovereign individual leads me to grow food and medicine and directly work toward meeting my own needs rather than work to pay for things I need.

This is the best approach I've found that makes any sense for living my life fully and freely.

Saved Japanese Burdock seeds. Seed saving is an act of empowerment and resistance. If we have the seeds, we can grow and share food (and seeds) and live out our innate freedom as humans on this beautiful abundant earth.


Anarchy is all about connection. To place, to self, to needs, to values and most of all to FREEDOM. I see anarchy manifesting in many ways for different people in different situations, but I have chosen to remember my core essence as an Earth being and literally radicalized my life by returning to the root.


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Homestead after our first year on the land. Gazebo in process. Food growing, Butts showing!

Anarchy is an individual choice

Because anarchy is a peronsal orientation, I cannot begin to define it for others.

I do know that for me it means living a life I can really believe in. A life where I can make my own choices, co-create the reality I want and live as a sovereign human.

Even the term anarchy is a response to that which is oppressive, centralized and controlled. We as individuals can choose to participate and uphold a current centralized model of oppression in the social structure or not. Not choosing to participate in it is not often presented as an option, nor are the skills easily learned in school. After all the school system is a great way to condition the masses to a conforming standard.

The core message is one of responsibility where individuals take control over varying aspects of their life and make choices accordingly.


Honey from bees on our homestead. Aligning with natural forces.

Homesteading and creating abundance through diversity are two ways I live out anarchy.

By living in this way, I am working to decrease my reliance on systems that do not support freedom or equality and increasing my dependence on natural cycles, patterns and decentralized community structure.

I am grateful to have been raised in a diverse city and had access to public healthcare, education, sanitization. I know how easy it is to go along with "the way things are", but I've peeked behind the curtain and am not happy about what I've seen.

In unpacking the food system, I've learned about the damaging practices and unequal distribution of wealth and power.

In looking at ecology, I've seen that the most heinous and destructive practices or policies are choices made by centralized institutions. I've seen vast inequities and met folks trapped in cycles of debt. This awareness as well as years of experience has taught me that the way I want to live out anarchy is by living with the land and working towards meeting my own needs as much as possible.

This doesn't mean doing it all or doing it alone, but one key factors is decreasing reliance on the centralized grid of politics, social order, energy, laws and medicine.

Herbal medicine is people's medicine and one of the foremost ways we can nourish, heal and empower ourselves and each other.

Anarchy is lived out by living off grid.

It's fairly simple in concept, but becomes increasingly complex in practice.

One thing is for sure; I wouldn't trade this life for anything. It has its host of challenges on the mental physical and emotional planes. It certainly has its ups and downs.


The core of this life for me is living autonomously where I make my own choices and decision and allow for spontaneous expressions of life to unfold and uniqueness to blossom. Day in and day out I am guiding my life, living an empowered life in relationship with natural cycles and becoming less and less dependent on centralized institutions. To me that is anarchy.

This is my response to @tribesteemup's question: What Does Anarchy Mean To You posed by @trucklife-family. Check out more responses at #tribesteemup.

What Does Anarchy Mean To YOU?

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Heck yes! I'm reading No a brave new world and am drawing stark parallels between huxleys work and modern society. Live free and share that passion!

Huxley would approve, of that I have little doubt.
Long time Huxley fan here. Have you read "Eyeless in Gaza"?

Great post by the way. I agree pretty much across the board, being a fellow nonconformist.

WHAT a refreshing and honest post!!

I wish I had started my journey to homesteading earlier on life.I'll be 50 in three months and I always think... how much more could I have done if I had started earlier.

No regrets dawne, better late than NEVER!

SO true... my thinking is... I have to do more and work a little extra, but that's ok. I love being outside and working in the soil

Working with soil keeps us sane!

Working with soil keeps us sane!

Well, you're doing it now and that's all that counts! Thanks for the great feedback. There's always tomorrow, and the next day... You're awesome!

Still SO much you can achieve @goldendawne - i totally here you but no use thinking like that my love!! xx

We all start from where we are, and that is where the joy comes in.
Everything is happening in its own perfect moment. ;)

Thanks so much for writing this!! So refreshing! My anarchy looks different, but it def revolves around stepping out of the web of centralization and educating others on why that matters so much. I love seeing the act of homesteading and off-grid lifestyles placed in the context of anarchy.

I'm also a digital nomad and I see that lifestyle as a way of revolting against the system too, even though as a nomad, sometimes self-sufficiency is difficult to achieve. Our footprint is lighter as a nomad and we operate outside of many of the social norms that are driving society off the cliff.

Thanks for the article!! Fabulous writing style!

That's great yours looks different. The beauty and strength of anarchy is in diversity. We all must address how enmeshed we wish to live.

I've certainly done my share of nomadic living, and I agree it can be tough in certain ways. on the other hand it's liberating and light to not be rooted. All things in their right time...

Thanks for the high compliment, and happy you read and appreciated it.

yes, I love the way you put that, "how enmeshed we wish to live". That's perfect! Homesteading is on my list at some point, when my nomadic feet stop getting itchy. Thanks for the fabulous article! Digging your writing!

Thanks for you kind and enthusiast words! It heartens me to hear from you.

I had itchy feet for most of my 20s and still get a hankering now and then. Enjoying mobility while you have it. Homesteading is a lifestyle that requires so much of you, and I find myself overwhelmed and reminiscing of the more footloose and fancy days ;) blessed be

Awesome!

This blog reminds me of Walden, a book written by Henry David Thoreau.

Thanks. That's a compliment, I've read it twice. He has a great way of poetically expressing the beauty of Nature.

Anarchy is the desire and resulting actions to live out my full potential as a human unfettered by limits, constraints or boundaries. The desire to be free and sovereign individual leads me to grow food and medicine and directly work toward meeting my own needs rather than work to pay for things I need.

Kudos to you for seeing the way much earlier than I did. I was 47 when I started to make the changes and moved to another country for that to happen. Obviously, the only regret I would have is not starting in my twenties!

Tanks for the supportive comment. The important reality is that you DID realize it, and have since adjusted your life. So happy for you! No matter when we come to these choices it is important and beneficial.

When I was 19 a man in Cambodia told me (at 65) he had been waiting his whole life to do what I was doing. I knew for sure there was no way I would end up wishing I did this or that...

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Great article! I like how you kind of go Beyond the politics of it and focus on a deeper level. I believe we won’t find better modes of living merely through theorizing but through experimenting to find new harmonious ways of interacting with each other and the environment.

yes exactly!! we must get beyond theories and just experiment with differing ways of life. on board with that!

The requirement of the state is for the people to need it. The goal of the state is to make people dependent. Freedom requires self-sufficiency. I love your vision of anarchy.

Well said! Nothing to add, other than happy you appreciate the post.

Great post sir! Its really cool to read peoples versions of anarchy and what it means to them :) One thing that we all have in common is that we like to do everything without asking or paying someone in someway to be able to do it. Self sufficiency = FREEDOM!

Thanks! So true about being self directed, it's all about freedom to be, live and choose. Thanks for commenting,

Anarchy is the desire and resulting actions to live out my full potential as a human unfettered by limits, constraints or boundaries. The desire to be free and sovereign individual leads me to grow food and medicine and directly work toward meeting my own needs rather than work to pay for things I need.

Here here Ini. Loved this post - so articulate and encapsulates what you and Wren are doing so well. A gorgeous picture of Wren and your butt in that picture by the wway, well worth my upvote haha.

Freedom to choose the life you want to live. Freedom to work at a life you want. And you're doing it - absolutely magic! xx

Haha, that's what my version of an anarchist butt looks like ;) that pic of wren still gives me tingles. She's always looks that beautiful I dappled light.

Thanks for the high praise and expressing your resonance. I make these choices, and often think of why others don't. There's a lot of sweat and intention and patience behind this lifestyle. I'm trying to find a balance where more self care is prioritized and WORK isn't the most important aspect to life. A worthwhile journey indeed!

Thanks again for sweet comment <3

@mountainjewel: Beautiful post. Beautiful life! 💚🌱🍐

Glad you enjoyed it @erikaharris. Thanks for reading it.