Off to start a new life in rural Italy..

[HennyPenny]

Oh you lucky lucky thing! The views are beautiful. My friend moved to a small village in Northern italy a couple of years ago. I have been there a couple of times on holiday and fell in love with the whole lifestyle out there. ... slow pace of life, great food, great wine and sunshine! Look forward to hearing about your adventures.

[MKG]

Water?

Mike

[kiwirach]

Hello,

I have just bought 2.5 acres of land 3000ft up a mountain in Italy and will soon be going to move there with my German Shepherd.

I am having a little cabin built and hope to grow most of my own food and keep chickens..

I have no clue what I am doing really ( ) so all and any advice would be great!

My eventual plan is to live without electricity/mod cons but I am realistic in that I need to learn how to live this way..so for now.. I am just planning on trying to be as basic as possible.

I don't intend on having a TV or washing machine, but do intend to have a freezer to freeze food for winter (but would like ideas on how I could maybe get rid of that)

I have a wood burning stove and would like to plant trees from which I could get my firewood eventually..

I am vegan but I eat eggs that come from friends rescue hens..so I would like to keep some chickens for eggs. And also was *thinking* of maybe breeding chickens for my dogs food. He eats a raw diet so if I am going to buy him chicken then I would rather it had been reared by me..
I would love any advice about this as I am a total novice!

Umm..thats probably about it for now..not sure what else I need to say in my intro so hope I haven't left anything out. Look forward to chatting with you all.

Fiona

Hi Fiona, welcome to ISH!. what a great adventure you have ahead of you . it's certainly do-able living off grid, or without electricity, but as you say you need to learn to live on the basics first. i have been following the progress of a few americans who either live off grid or with no electricity, and can pm you the links if you like.....not sure about site rules with posting links to other forums. as far as thinking about doing away with the freezer...have you thought about what the americans call canning, what we call perserving or bottling?. its certainly a way to preserve your harvest without the need to use a freezer.....and again american forums are a mine of info for that.
i've saved your blog to follow and hope you keep us posted on here.

i'm jealous btw.....i'd love to be moving to the land......its a few years off for me!.

[contadina]

Pescara is beautiful. I've a friend who recently moved from Puglia to Orsogna near Chieti and she's sending back very positive vibes about life sandwiched between the mountain and the sea.

We've lived here full time for three and a half years now and absolutely love it. If you are wanting to be self-sufficient the contadini lifestyle is very compatible. We've no end of octogenarians willing to share their experience of how things were done when they were young. Most Italians are up for a bit of an adventure too, so they are as equally excited when we try something which isn't the norm.

Fingers crossed your build is straightforward.

If you check my signature I write a very occasional blog, which may be of interest. We're not off grid but would love to be - ENEL are so shonky. We are off grid for water though and all our hot water is provided by a solar panel and wood burner, so bills are minimal

[A&A]

Hey - very best of luck with your journey. Beautiful location you have there!
-Andy
(In central Italy with his wife & GSD!)