The off-grid/homesteader community is one of the most helpful, giving, friendly, and least divided communities I’ve ever been a part of. If you’re an off-gridder, homesteader, or aspiring to be one you should definitely get involved in this community. You’ll find many people willing to help, share, teach, and encourage you along your journey.
Some of my articles contain affiliate links. Click here to learn more.
Contents
Where to go to get involved?
- Online
- Social media
- Forums
- Blogs
- Local groups
- craigslist
- Libraries
Get involved?
- Join groups
- Get involved
Summary
The Online Community
The easiest way to get started is to start joining online communities. They’re easy to find nowadays.
As we all know there are a lot of online social networks designed to build communities. We’re all familiar with the big ones like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TicToc, and who knows what else by the time I’m finished writing this article.
There are multitudes of forums and blogs out there in the digital world. . Get online and start searching for a community you feel at home in. I’ll be sharing my favorites in this article to help get you started.
Social Sites
I think the easiest way to get started is Pinterest. Pinterest isn’t really a social network site. It is a visual search engine. In the same way that YouTube isn’t a social site.
Pinterest is a good place to get your toes wet because it doesn’t require any interaction to get going.
Pinterest is a great place to find inspiration for the things you like. It’s also a place where many great websites in the off-grid life and homestead space are publishing pins to get your attention by showing you all the things they’re doing.
Thousands of how-to pins about off-grid projects, skill development, philosophies, and lots of other useful information can be found on Pinterest.
Creating your own account is super easy and free. I suggest you sign up and start searching for Pinterest accounts focused around off-grid living and start following them.
Then create your own boards and start saving pins that catch your eye. You’ll find that it’s a lot of fun.
Click my Pinterest link to take a look at my account and follow me on Pinterest
YouTube
There are so many great channels on YouTube that center around living off-grid I couldn’t begin to list my favorites, but I am a little partial to The Off-Grid Maker. For real though, YouTube is a great place to find other people who are living off-grid and showing everyone what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.
Go to YouTube and search off-grid channels and check them out. While you’re there subscribe to The Off-Grid Maker YouTube Channel. I put out new videos every week.
Of course, Facebook can’t be left out of this list of places to find a good community. Personally I don’t use Facebook for philosophical reasons, but that’s not to say there aren’t some great groups to be found there.
MeWe
If you’re like me and you prefer a social site that doesn’t track and sell your information to advertisers, protects your privacy, and doesn’t continuously show you ads then you’ll love MeWe. This site has basically the same features as Facebook without all the personal intrusion and advertising. I’m involved with several great groups there. Here’s a link to my MeWe profile.
http://mewe.com/i/offgridmaker
Check it out, message me and I’ll share all the awesome groups I’m engaged with so you can get started there.
Forums
Although forums aren’t as popular as they use to be since social media sites came on the scene, they’re still a great source of information. Forums are also a great place to find other people who are on similar journeys to yours.
There are a lot of great forums out there. Here are a few of my favorites for you to check out.
https://www.survivalmonkey.com/forums/off-grid-living.59/
https://diysolarforum.com/forums/off-grid-living-advice.13/
Blogs
What is a blog? A blog is just a website that focuses on posting articles about a specific topic. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of blogs focused on off-grid living and/or homesteading.
Of course, there is this blog www.offgridmaker.com that this article is posted to, and I’m so glad you’re here. As a side note if you’d like to sign up for notifications anytime I post a new article you can do it at the bottom of this page.
The reason I like blogs so much is they’re usually a personal website. Typically they’re published by an individual who is living the lifestyle they’re writing about. The posts are written from personal experience and point of view. Many of these blogs post about very similar topics, but the experiences, opinions, and information can be vastly different.
Here are some of my favorites you can check out.
Local Groups
Finding local groups to be a part of can be helpful in ways that online groups can’t. Local groups can have meetups and get together for socializing, skill-sharing and training. This allows you to meet like-minded people face to face and form personal relationships.
Unlike online groups, you won’t be able to join dozens of groups. You might be lucky to find just a handful close enough to you to be able to be active in the groups.
Here are some ideas for places to look to find some near you. Craigslist will have some local groups in their personals section. You may be able to find local groups on Facebook simply by doing a local search. Your local library might even be able to point you to some local groups.
If you can’t find any local groups don’t be afraid to start one on your own. Chances are there are people in your community that would love to be a part of such a group.
Get Involved
Now that you’ve found some groups and joined them it’s time to get involved. Get active in your online groups by commenting on posts, asking questions, sharing ideas and experiences. Re-post other people’s comments and content to spread the ideas of off-griding and homesteading and help to grow your community.
Attend events hosted by your local groups. Get out there and meet other people like you and form relationships built around common interests. Lend a hand to help others in your group and they will do the same for you.
Summary
You’ll find that joining this community of helpful, genuine, sharing, knowledgeable and all-around great people will give you great inspiration, and encouragement. You might even form some lasting and meaningful friendships. So get out there and find some groups to join in this great community. But, don’t stop there, get active and have fun doing it.
0 comments