Here is a video I just spontaneously decided to record of a day in my life from a couple of weeks ago. Life in an off-grid mountain village can be unpredictable as unexpected tasks can suddenly arise.
Firstly, there was a storm that tore off part of my porch roof of the building I sleep in. We had been experiencing record breaking rainy, windy weather for a while and my roof didn’t make it through! It was another one of those times where we have to use DIY and be resourceful with what we have around us in order to fix or build something. Being so remote with no transport and access only by a dirt road, I cannot just call up a handyman or easily go out to buy/replace materials. Luckily since, we have finally been blessed with much more sunshine and blue skies.
Secondly, we had a cow invasion. Being strong beef cows, they broke through our barriers in the village. At first, we thought they were sweet and beautiful creatures so we just welcomed them in. Next thing we knew, they were causing havoc breaking through garden walls, breaking hosepipes, wreaking stone footpaths and then ate all our chard! Not to mention they had arrived at the rainiest time so they turned the village into a mud bath. They were not easy cows to get rid off and were very persistent as they kept returning. We’d be hearing cow bells day and night.
They have luckily gone now. On the day, when our spirits were quite worn down and were not in the mood or energy to try get rid of them… well I did an attempt, which ended up with me just pointlessly herding the cows in circles due to the side paths they could take… the farmers then turned up and took them away. As it seemed, they were escaped cows and never should have reached our area in the mountains. They were strong so were breaking through fences. It was like having a dream pass over being in the thick of cow chaos for days to there being sudden silence.
The upside to them though is that they left lots of dung for the gardens and churned up the soil making it more ready for planting. The downside was me figuring out how to fix the hosepipes so gardening could be done.
Thirdly in this video, due to the unpredictability of life in this village, I was on a mission to finally get my hair washed, and was determined that life will not stop me this time. Even if I may be surrounded by cows. It had been over 2 weeks since I last washed my hair. Although I had trained my hair not to get oily so quickly but this was pushing it for me. I use leave-in Ayurvedic fruit nut soap in my hair which does wonders for it. As you can see, the methods of me being able to wash my hair are not the most comfortable or luxurious! We have no functioning shower or hot water on tap. As much as off-grid life can be so rewarding I wouldn’t say no to a nice proper warm bath!
I also obtain water from the spring very regularly which I use for my hair, drinking, washing dishes, cleaning my teeth, baths (taken in a large plastic tub), etc. It’s a good workout going up and down the hills and pushing all that weight back to my living space. As well, I find it highly refreshing to drink directly from the spring and wash my face with it. Something about drinking live running water coming from the mountains with my cupped hands reinvigorates me.
You will see that I prepare my food and cook outdoors. That is by our choice. There is a common house kitchen we used for a long time when we used to stay in that building. But since we have moved to the outbuildings, we enjoy cooking outdoors next to them. Although, we could be cooking in a storm sometimes! Our stove is in a shed type structure which protects it from the elements.
My day often finishes with spending time with my musician partner, catching up with online stuff, and giving attention to my fluffy cat who likes to sleep next to (or on) me. I was so exhausted by the end of the day I accidentally slept in my daytime clothes!
