In a world where modern conveniences often dominate daily life, there exists a quiet corner of paradise where you can observe the art of the natural world around you. Welcome to the Big Island of Hawaii, where locals don’t just live off-grid for sustainability reasons—it becomes a way of life generating spiritual nourishment, self-reliance, and a stronger connection to the land.
Between the lush rainforests, pristine coastlines, and volcanic landscapes, living off-grid on this island offers a unique opportunity to embrace simplicity and sustainability in its purest form.
For three weeks I lived on a completely off-grid farm in Hawaii. I lived in my own private tent along with five other girls who were also volunteering at the farm. As volunteers, we were responsible for working on the land harvesting and planting crops, taking care of the animals, weeding, and watering plants in the greenhouse. In exchange for our work, we got to live on the farm for free.
To give you a little background on the place I was staying at; there was no plumbing, no refrigerator, no hot water, we used solar power, and we were on water catchment systems which provided us running water via the rain.
I had never lived anywhere like this before. Heck, I had never even camped before! So this was a huge lifestyle change for me. I was used to flushing toilets, showers with hot water, and comfy beds my entire life. There was an adjustment period for my body and mind to get used to this new lifestyle I was living but after the first week, everything began to feel like my new normal.
Although I left the farm feeling rewarded and strong, these three weeks came with several challenges.
Due to being on water catchment systems, if we went a few days without rain, (this was rare as I was living on the east coast which is known for daily rain showers) we were out of luck. Rain water was used to wash our hands, wash the dishes, shower, and to cook with. There was a short period during my stay where it didn’t rain at all for several days and we ran out of water in these blue rain buckets seen below:
Then, we were forced to use our clean drinking water for washing and cooking.
We didn’t have any drinkable water on the farm so once or twice a week, our host would drive us a few minutes down the road to a public water dispenser. This essentially was a big parking lot with about ten water spigots lined up on one side of the lot that people would drive up to and fill up their gallon jugs of water.
The convenience of having running potable water was a luxury that I took for granted before volunteering here.
I lived in a large unincorporated community where only the first three streets closest to the nearest town got clean running water delivered to their properties. So the rest of us that lived further away had to go retrieve our own drinking water. This wasn’t much of an issue though because each time we would go to get more water, we brought at least twenty gallon jugs of water with us to fill up all at once. With multiple people filling up jugs at the same time it went pretty quick. This would last the other volunteers and I at least a week, seemingly depending on how hot it was that week.
To shower, we again used the rain water and if it was a particularly sunny day, we’d get lucky and have warm water! Most days the water was cool, but I became grateful for even a cold shower after a long day of working and sweating outside.
We didn’t use that much electricity, but we were restricted to only charging our phones during the day when there was enough power from the sun to charge them. There wasn’t enough power to run anything fancy like a blender, microwave, hair dryer, etc. But, we did have a few lights in the kitchen/ common areas that we could use at night but we strictly got in the habit of turning off the lights whenever we would leave the room and before we went to sleep.
We also did not have a refrigerator, instead we used ice chests to keep our food cold. We would put our fresh fruits in the chests with several ice packs that our host gave to us to keep everything fresh. Most of the time it was just easier to eat and cook with canned foods in place of fresh, and to use nonperishables that did not have to be refrigerated.
For cooking, we had little outdoor stoves which were ran with large propane tanks. This was different than what I was used to but I grew to really enjoy cooking outside. Besides bugs occasionally flying into my food, it felt nice to be surrounded by nature while consuming natural and nourishing foods.
We were treated to eating the food that was grown on the land. Papayas, pineapple, leafy greens, jackfruit, and much more produce was available for our use. With whatever food scraps we had left, we collected them in a big bucket to use as as fertilizer in the garden when planting new crops. I loved that whatever food was left over, it ended up right back into the Earth where it came from.
It made me feel so much more connected to Mother Nature. Eating food that I had a hand in producing and knowing that the lifestyle I was living was having a positive effect on the planet.
The most challenging part of my whole stay was the bathroom situation. For a toilet, we were given a toilet seat over a bucket. Thankfully, each volunteer got their own private bathroom/ outhouse and we didn’t have to share buckets. We were instructed to cover the bottom of the bucket with mulch to start, then each time we used the bathroom we were to just cover it up with more mulch.
When the buckets got about three fourths of the way full, we would empty them into big black composting bins which were scattered around the property. The heat from the sun would heat up the contents of the boxes to help further the process of decomposition.
Over time, the human waste and mulch mixture would turn into viable soil that we would use in the garden and to plant trees with. The process of creating good soil from human waste can take years. So the other volunteers and I were using soil that had been already made by previous volunteers months and years back. And let me tell you, it was the nicest soil I had ever seen or felt. Way better than the bagged soil you can buy at Walmart.
I thought the process was pretty cool but some of the other girls there were hesitant to touch the composted soil which was once part human excrement. To me it was quite amazing how we were able to let hardly anything go to waste.
Around the farm, you would find peanut butter jars and other various small containers that we used as Tupperware for food, to store gardening supplies or other small objects. We even reused the smallest pieces of scrap fabric to clean and dry dishes, or to clean up any little spills in the kitchen. Our host emphasized the concept of “use something until you physically can’t anymore” to it’s extreme.
After this experience, I definitely found a new appreciation for the simple things in life like an indoor shower and a toilet that flushes. It also taught me that you don’t need those luxuries to be happy, healthy, or feel at peace. I learned valuable skills about conservation and what it truly means to live a sustainable life.
Plus, I made some awesome friends and memories that I will cherish forever.
I challenged my body and mind to its extremes and did things I never thought I could do. The work and living conditions on the farm made me much stronger mentally and physically.
I will never forget this experience for as long as I live and will always be grateful I had the opportunity to live off the land in such a special and beautiful place. Mahalo!
“Living off the grid has always been my ultimate goal. Seeing these options gives me hope that it’s possible. Any advice for someone just starting to research this lifestyle?”