About Us

Being the offspring of farming families, we thought moving to the city to “make it big” was a great idea. After we both figured out it wasn’t – we met each other. Together, we traveled to many places and spoke dreams of the future. One of those dreams, was us living the off-grid lifestyle out in nature. Little did we know, we would find ourselves on top of a mountain shortly thereafter.

Ursula

The past few years I already noticed I was becoming more interested at immersing myself in nature. I had started eating “weeds” and seeing so many plants that I would recognize, especially in areas where they would mow or maintain grassy yards. I would even allow pepperweed to grow rampantly in our yard, until the city would send a notice about fining us for 8” or higher weed growth. (Ha - they sure would be appalled at the height of our yards these days…)

Moving to an off-grid location seemed to amplify my attention to the plants and nature around me. For the first few months we did not have internet, nor cell service. There were quite a few times I would be harvesting plants to eat – while only using our books at the cabin to make sure I wasn’t going to accidentally poison us. Little did I know there were decent plant identification apps available.

Time seems to move differently while living so deeply in nature. I started to write out many recipes and concoctions that to this day I’m still excited to get around to. It didn’t take very long for us to share them with our friends, family, neighbors, and soon enough, we created Wilderlands Mountain Farm.

Aaron

After living in the city, I quickly realized that it wasn’t a place of fulfillment for most people, and many people who move there are seeking something that is never to be found. Not only are many people not finding what they are looking for – but it’s an unsustainable place all around.

Living off-grid really brings you into the moment of how much you are consuming, after all, most of us were taught how to consume in America. Anyone who moves far away from the city, quickly realizes just how much electricity is wasted and how much trash one accumulates daily.

I look forward to being able to inspire others to live closer to nature in the moment, as humanity will need to become more self-sustainable. Closer to our own sources of survival – foods, medicine, and even energy creation. There are tons of additional benefits that come with this as well.

Wilderlands Mountain Farm

We both came to the idea of “Wilderlands” being a place where nature is allowed to be experienced by humans in all its glory. This place is allowed to be wild, but also has 2% of the acreage reserved to support the humans that live there. (Yes, that’s us and those who visit.)

Most of the wilder lands are left to be roamed by animals or allowed space for plants to thrive. This is where we also wild harvest most of our herbs for our tinctures and teas. The ones that aren’t growing wild or native to the area, we do grow within the 2% where they will not overtake the forest.

We also are working on replanting many native medicinal plants in our area, and spreading awareness about how to plant them, or at least aid with their repopulation. Some of these were over-harvested in the last decade.

In the meantime, we also have poultry and livestock use to aid in the process of keeping our soils healthy and providing food, along with endless entertainment.

This is where we will also touch a bit on chickens and ducks. We personally have found that they are excellent at helping people even just become a little more self-sufficient. Even if you had no garden planted, or no food storage, you can make a lot with just eggs and flour on hand.

The best part is that you know exactly what is going into your food when you become less dependent on outside sources. If you took an average family-sized home in America – we will say 2,000 square feet – that technically would legally house 1,000 “free range” chickens. We’re not sure about you, but 1,000 chickens inside of that much outdoor space doesn’t sound too free to us. Ha!

 

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