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@PopularMechanics _ May 2019 75A. Every year, Jay Byrd uses one to two cords of wood to heat
his home. He splits another two to three cords for friends.
B. Although he gets his drinking water from town, the large
barrels beside his home collect rainwater that he uses for
showering and gardening. C. His 12-volt deep-cycle batteries
are very low maintenance. He checks on the system only
twice a year to make sure the water levels are correct.
D. He sleeps great.canned meat such as chicken, tuna, or eggs. I had a friend who’d
give me a ride to the trailhead where I would stash the food up trees
in five-gallon buckets with lids (screw-on if possible), so that I could
shuttle it all back to camp at my leisure. There are other contain-
ers that also work, but they must be hard plastic with lids to make
it harder for bears to get to them.
Back at camp, I collected wood nearby using an axe and a hand-
saw, lashing it to a metal-frame backpack. I was in that location
for five years. Although there is plenty of wood around, you can
deplete an area quickly. I had fires only in the morning for coffee
and breakfast, and at night for dinner. I’d clean everything as I went
and burn all containers—even tin cans and foil (to get rid of food
smell), before smashing them to compact them to ma ke it easier to
haul them out. As important as it is to get rid of all food remains,
you also need to clean your face and hands and brush your teeth
so you don’t smell like food. I got careless a few times and brought
some bears around, not to mention bugs, mice, skunks, and every-
thing else that likes to eat.
My toilet was a spot 30 yards from camp. I would dig an eight-
inch-deep hole. Once I used it I would bury everything, including
the paper, and put a stick there so that I didn’t accidentally dig it
up later. Sometimes I would burn the toilet paper. Or better yet, if
I could find them, I’d use mullein leaves. They’re the best.
In the silence I began to adjust. To be clean, sober, and clear
minded. I learned to face my demons: the memories, sorrow, pain,
and fear. Over the years I read a lot of stuff: theology led to history,
history led to philosophy. I would write journals to work it out in my
head and listen to lectures on my iPod. I have only begun to walk
upon the path, but I am on the path.
After five years in the Sycamore Wilderness, my camp was spot-
ted by a helicopter that was looking for someone else. They arrested
me for “making improvements on federal land,” fined me $60,
and kicked me out of the adjacent national forests for a year. After
spending the summer of ’09 hiking the Gila Wilderness area in
New Mexico looking for a spot to live, I’m now caretaking 20 acres
out by the Navajo rez for a friend of mine. I’ve been here ten years
continuing my quest. I harvest water off the roof of a 35-by-35-foot
house and power from the sun. I have no radio and no TV, but I do
have a truck so I can get to town, and a propane refrigerator, which
is a beautiful thing.changes 12-volt DC to 120-volt AC. We
used to charge the batteries with a rope-
start construction generator. Imagine a
lawnmower in a permanent frame with a
little two-pint gas tank. When the batter-
ies needed a charge, I’d go down, open the
garage door, drag it outside. I kept a cou-
ple jerry cans of gas nearby, because you
could get only an hour and a half of run.
You become very aware of how much elec-
tricity you need.
JEAN: You’re in such closer communication
w ith your house. It’s hardest in midw inter,
when it’s dark and cloudy. You’re running
around turning off lights in the living
room because you’re in the dining room.
Summer is a piece of cake. You can wash the
dishes as many times you need, take show-
ers, do laundry.
JOHN: It’s peaceful. The quietness here, 24
hours a day, is a very supportive environ-
ment. I grew up in Arizona, and I worked
summers in the pine forests in the north-
ern part of the state. That smell in the air
is strong for me; I felt drawn to it. I didn’t
come as a homesteader. I wasn’t going to
have a cow and a bunch of chickens and
pigs. But I was looking for a place to be
rooted.
JEAN: It was a practical choice just as muchas a philosophical one.
JOHN: We upgraded our PV system over
the years, added more panels. When we
first started, we had an eight-by-eight-
foot square. Anybody thinking about solar
these days will say that’s a cabin-size sys-
tem. But we ran our entire house on it.
There’s a lot more professional knowledge
available today, and the technology is light-
years away from what it was.
JEAN: You still need to be aware of limita-
tion. No resource is infinite.
JOHN: Consider if that’s what you want
your life to be.
JEAN: And be sure your partner agrees.