Spotlight: Ellen McPetrie shares their experience working off-grid! Part 1

Ellen McPetrie, FE Sustainability Representative (SU Executive Committee)

20/3/25

“4/2/25 Arrived at TB. Cold, laughed with mum about how dark it all is here. Muddy, spooked the horse with my torch. I’ll see what it’s like in the morning.”

From the 4th to the 20th of February, I lived in an off-grid intentional community in the UK, where the community predominantly makes their income through sustainable forestry practices. I went with the aim of expanding my knowledge on self sufficiency and off-grid living, as well as immersing myself in community life, and seeing if it could be something for me. I also went with the aim of developing my understanding of wood as a medium, as prior to going I’d been learning how to use the wooden lathe at AUP (which, if you’re a wood worker you’ll know, begins with somewhat wobbly spindle-making). Over the few weeks I was there, I kept a sketchbook and journal, recording what it was like to live amongst community, to work in forestry, and how off-grid living really works in the current world.

“5/2/25 First full day! Fencing, banging in fence posts and moving mulch (which is some thatchers old thatch) onto the veg beds. Feeling tired, a bit like my feet aren’t quite on the ground yet. Greased my boots with animal fat.

6/2/25 Learnt how to use a bowsaw in the morning! And used a slasher in the afternoon to smash through bramble in the furthest garden field, cut some logs earlier for the fire in the guest house, moved a load of bottles a guy delivered from a healing communal living space in GY to the apple pressing house. Pie for dinner with CHEESE!”

As it was an off-grid site, there were no power tools for the community to use. Everything was done through people power, from the cutting of the grass in the orchards to the felling of the Douglas Firs’ in the woods. And supplies were limited - most things were bought in bulk from Essentials, an organic wholesale whole foods co-operative based in Bristol (hence my excitement for cheese). Getting protein whilst I lived there as a vegetarian was hard at first - the typical sources of protein I’d become accustomed to such as cheese, beans, yogurt and eggs suddenly weren’t accessible - which I struggled with when coupled with physically intense labour.

“7/2/25 Split a log today! Very tired…Worked with G, which was very cold, hung out with Rd and K in the bike shed for a bit before dinner and went in the sauna after where I met a very lovely person whose name I can’t remember.”

Dinners and lunches were always cooked by a member of the community, and called Domestic. As well as cooking lunch and dinner, a Domestic would include cleaning up the Roundhouse (the main indoor communal area), and making bread for everyone. There were about 12-14 people living in the community when I stayed, with various dietary needs, which sometimes made a Domestic day a bit hard - typically each resident and most of the long term volunteers would take on one Domestic every week each, so the work was evenly split.

“8/2/25 There is a wasp in the room. It is noisy and scary and my face is covered with a scarf as I write, it is the start of February, it is cold and wet, what is it doing?! I slept in until half twelve today, hung out at the seed swap for a bit and met M, K’s partner.

9/2/25 Sunday! Yesterday I stayed in bed until about 12.30, today I lied in as long as I could before restlessness kicked in at about 11ish. Re and O are on Domestic today (it’s O’s first time on Domestic) - they’re making baked beans (homemade), roast veg and roast potatoes. I made some spiced beans yesterday, loads of them, ready for next week - protein!! I think I may have made too many.”

Whilst I was there, my week was split into working and non-working days. I’d work on the land from nine until five Monday to Friday, and have the day off on Saturday and Sunday. The first week I stayed I was absolutely knackered - I had an arts competition on the Tuesday that week, which meant I arrived Tuesday evening and worked Wednesday/Thursday/Friday - only half a week! And I still absolutely collapsed into a comatose of sleep that weekend.

“10/2/25 Had a collllllllld shower today. Yesterday I walked about two and a half hours then got to bed late - stopped at the pub (called prince william / duke? ). Forestry work with predominantly Rd and B today. C’s back! And Z was on Domestic today, made leek and potato soup for dinner which was yum. Earlyish night tonight, I’ll do my sketches and get to bed. P has a cold, and Re headlice. A was tired, O might still have her cold.”

All of the water on-site came from a spring upstream in the woods. As such, all the tap water there was clean, but cold! Though there was one hot tap in the kitchen, which was not for drinking, cooking or washing. By day seven I was grubby enough to force myself into the cold shower out the back of the sauna, and dig my feet into the mud as the strikingly cold water hit my head. Over the weekends, I’d go out for walks in the surrounding area which was really rather beautiful. The first Sunday I had there I picked a direction and walked in a straight line, until I hit a local enough pub where I stopped for some water before turning back and wandering up the crest of a hill back to the woods I was living in.

“11/2/25 Today was garden work with K, A and P who slept in and turned up a bit later. S was on cooking today. Mulching with the rotting thatch from a local thatcher, slashing/clearing brambles in the garden along the fenceline. I like mulching. Sketched outside doing my 5, 20 minute, saw Z briefly and he looked through my sketches. Played with O in the evening after dinner, and she tried to get me to eat poo! (imaginary poo)

12/2/25 Domestic was really good today, I enjoyed it a lot. And I saw the steam engine in action!”

Each working day, one of the residents would take responsibility for the short term volunteers (those staying 2-3 weeks). Occasionally, other residents or long term volunteers (3-6 months) would join, and we’d all work together. The youngest resident there, O, was 6 - her work was playing with the chickens and going to a small home-ed group once a week. I did work with A on a Domestic day the second week I was there, which felt like a brilliant insight into what extra responsibilities are taken on when living in community besides the immediate given ones, such as creating a culture of care and keeping communal spaces clean.

A static steam engine was used to process the felled trees from the woods, as there weren’t any fossil-fuel fueled power tools to do so. A wood fire powered the old static steam engine, which created energy for a bandsaw to be powered, and as such logs were rolled along a belt and pushed through the bandsaw in order to be cut and processed. It was a hugely impressive sight to see and hear - the noise was immense, but not in a sharp dismantling way like a chainsaw or hammer drill; and to see billowing steam coming from the carriage of a stationary steam trains’ engine was pretty surreal.

“13/2/25 Looking forward to discovering less male-centric folk songs. My chin is all scratched up from slashing brambles, I look super gnarly. Today was with Rd which was sweet, in the afternoon I crashed a bit and felt super achey - C suggested I could be coming down with P’s cold. She said to eat some ginger if I could find some (to paraphrase) so I did, and ate it skin on, whole, raw. It was unpleasant. G made salty herby slop for lunch which was very nice, and it’s the talking stick tonight for three monthers and the residents. Slashed brambles and cleared the space behind the pressing house more again today.”

The pressing house was a large shed in which the apples from the orchards were pressed in summer, and either bottled as juice or turned into cider or vinegar. All three products get sold at local shops, markets, and events - and the few bottles that go bad or off are kept for communal use. The apple orchards were the other main source of income besides forestry for the community, with a range of apple varieties such as Cox and Bramley.

I think living in community is quite a hard thing to do when the nature of the community is so transient - whilst living there I got the impression that the constant, changing flow of people wore down on the residents. No one there had been living in the community more than five years.