Mesa Verde National Park
(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
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Have you ever thought about leaving society completely? No name, no address, no bank account, bills - living off the land?

That must be an incredible liberating feeling until the first time you have to go out foraging for food and water.

Also those cold winters are much more enjoyable with heat. You’d have to cut a lot of wood during the summer to get you through some of our Montana winters.

Austria Is Looking For Hermits

According to a recent Yahoo article, Roman Catholic Churches in the city of Saalfelden are looking for hermits to occupy a 350-year-old hermitage cut into the rocks in the nearby steep cliffs.

It seems a Benedictine monk recently moved out leaving a vacancy. The hermit job is unpaid of course. That would be defeating the purpose of being a hermit.

No heat and no running water so occupancy other than April to November is not encouraged unless you want to cut a lot of wood.

You would also have to be prepared to welcome visiting pilgrims.

Living Off The Grid

I’m guessing this might not be your ideal job, yet many people are choosing to give up the day-to-day grind of bills and jobs to live the life of the early pioneers.

The more resilient you are the better your chances of making this work. If you were handy at building things like a shelter, making some kind of stove for cooking, and creating a fresh water source, your chances of making it work would be much greater.

Being an accomplished hunter or farmer might also be advisable as well. Food, water and heat would be the three biggies.

If you can survive with those three things then you would be well on your way to living off the grid.

Some Final Thoughts

Even off the grid there are certain laws that might intrude on your restricted lifestyle. For example, hunting season. You might not want to be caught with your eight-point buck out of season.

There’s also a good chance you might also need a fishing license. And land ownership might become a problem when you’d be on state, federal or private land. The owners might be resistant to you cutting down all their trees for firewood.

I don’t think there’s too much land that’s just there for the taking.

While it does sound romantic, and pain free, government is always going to intrude into your euphoric existence.

So good luck and let us know how it goes. Comments below.

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