Hello to everyone from Essex, but soon an island...somewhere

[Rob Hotchkiss]

Hello everyone,
To inttroduce myself, I'm Rob Hotchkiss, from essex. Generally fed up with the world, and along with a couple of friends, the three of us plan to buy an island, and be comepletely self sufficient, and carbon neutral. Here to try and get some help, and hopefully lend my skills if they are needed. We'd invite any suggestions on the island, and hopefully when we've set it up some of you could visit if you wish.

Thanks

Rob

[Andy Hamilton]

welcome rob, sounds like an interesting project where will this island be? or are you waiting for climate change, when essex will be a bunch of islands?

[ina]

Hi Rob, welcome to the site!

You are certainly planning on taking the selfsufficiency bit rather further than most of us dream... Good luck to you, and I'll come and visit - provided the island isn't somewhere that far away that I'd have to travel by air to get there!

[Rob Hotchkiss]

Thanks for the welcome, not sure on the location yet, the phillipines seems like a good contender, as the land is cheap (128 acres for £300,000), but we're generally at the point of working out how much land we need etc, what climate would be good. The phillipines is really too hot for me, but still seems to be the best contender at the moment, your thoughts? It's also good for solar power .

It's a bit extreme, and we probably won't go all the way, and still buy toothpaste etc. But we plan to live a otherwise normal life really, we'll still have high speed internet connection, etc. Again, thanks for the welcome, and any advice is appreciated.

[Andy Hamilton]

Ina is your expert on satalite internet connection and its pitfalls

Any questions that you might have then ask away.

I am guessing that you need ....

compost toilet advice
advice on what to grow or grows wild in the phillapines
advice on making sea water drinkable anything else.


how well do you know the other people that you are going with? A big step to live with just them and no other people.

[Rob Hotchkiss]

Well, i know them too well. They are very good friends, and i've known them since school, may be a bit wacky, but who else but the wacky would go on this sort of venture? They are also reliable, which is key. Most of the islands we've looked at are nearish to civilisation, so it won't be too bad, and hoepfully we'll have a steady flow of visitors and friends.

You're right on those accounts, and that's just the start. Wouldnnt need to make salt water drinkable, as there are rivers, and rain water, but even so, simple running a current through the water to split it up into hydrogen and oxygen, and then burning them to remake water would do...ofcourse, could just use good old evaporation and condensation. *remembers chemistry at school*. What to grow is a big part, we have got to the point where we've worked out what we'd want to eat a year, couple of loaves a bread a day (well, one for me and alex, and one for stephen), beer ofcourse (as i have perfected making becks for 28p a pint, would be free if we grew the sugar etc though). Sweet potatoes like it hot apparently, and i'm trying to research if most stuff would grow there if we looked after it, finland would of been easier i reckon, but the island was much smaller, and it sold before we got to it . Transport to the mainland will be through wind (really enjoyed a sailing trip when i was young), or by fuel cells.

On the lav front, i think we'll put the house on stilts so that we can just poop down and collec thte compost easily, this also acts as a counter measure to rising sea levels, which i have to check, need to make sure our 128 acres dont turn to 1.28 in a few years. (apparently it's 120m above sea level), typhoons are abundant in the philipines aswell, hmmmmm.

Thanks for the interest, any questions, fire away. Currently trying to work out how much flour i can get/acre.

Cheers

Rob Hotchkiss

P.S. I really feel i have landed on my feet in this forum, i'm a member of a few, but this one is far the best, admin is about, everyone is friendly, and people put forth their plain views. Thank you all :D.

[Shirley]

Hi Rob

(you are not the bloke from Train are you?? LOL)

WOW you've got a big challenge ahead... but i don't reckon £300k is that cheap for 128 acres out there... surely you could buy a wee scottish island for that sort of money and still practice selfsufficiency (might not be quite so warm tho!)

Looking forward to hearing more about your plans as time goes by.

[Muddypause]

That sounds like a great plan for life, Rob, and I hope it goes well for you.

But may I recommend that you don't take a copy of Lord Of The Flies with you.

[Millymollymandy]

Hi Rob and welcome! Interesting ideas alright!! Good luck.

[Rob Hotchkiss]

Maybe not that cheap out there, but it's the cheapest we've found, apart from grassland in mexico, which im not too keen on, generally trying to find out how much land we need, so we can then make a decission.

[Andy Hamilton]

Thanks for the interest, any questions, fire away. Currently trying to work out how much flour i can get/acre.

it is one loaf of bread for each metre squared, there was a thing on a year at kew gardens about it a while back. I wonder if you are better off making a different kind of flour? I would not suggest acorn flour as it is vile, rice flour perhaps?

But may I recommend that you don't take a copy of Lord Of The Flies with you.

good one.

[Wombat]

G'Day Ron,

Welcome to the forum!

sounds like an interesting idea! Have you had a look at the medical angle - tropical diseases and parasites?

But may I recommend that you don't take a copy of Lord Of The Flies with you.

Nev

[Rob Hotchkiss]

I have had a look into tropical, don't care much about myself, but i won't go without a chance of my dogs coming with me, on the food front, i guess i hadn't thought much on it, i think most things would survive though, definately somethign to look into, along with hwo to survive typhoons, might have to live undergrund like the people in australia. Also wondering how to fence out the deer, if a wildlife group would want to tag them it would be fine (as they are only 450 left...Calamian deer that is) then we could use sonic sounds, but fencing would be easy i guess. Not sure what we'd do for chickens though, hopefully we could give them a coop and just let them wander the island completely.

[Hillbilly]

Hi Rob!

Well I envy you on one hand and also don't on the other but admire what you're going to do. Spent a lot of time staying on uninhabited Islands (radio related and only Scottish ones though!) and knowing you are the only people for miles around is great. I love isolation. But you're going to be doing it on a far bigger, far further away and more organised scale than I would ever dream of and I wish you the very, VERY best of luck! I am very excited for you and a tad envious

[Rob Hotchkiss]

Thanks hillbilly, i'll make sure to invite you over if you wish, really just a lot of had work before i can even get around to getting there...and then a lot more :D, so don't be too envious