https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/14/style/off-grid-homesteading-nate-petroski.html

Off the Grid, Extremely Online

In corners of the internet — and in wooded, undeveloped parts of the country — young men are documenting their efforts to to live off the land.

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Nate Petroski lives on a property deep in West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains known as NarroWay Homestead. He doesn’t have much contact with the outside world — except for the millions of strangers who watch his content.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times

By Jack Crosbie

Aug. 14, 2024Updated 1:19 p.m. ET

Nate Petroski’s address doesn’t help visitors find his house. Locating it, instead, requires specific GPS coordinates to a spot deep in West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains, and precise instructions on how to get there. Many of the surrounding roads are impassable without an ATV to traverse several creeks and muddy inclines.

It’s much easier to visit him online.

Mr. Petroski, 39, is a prominent video creator in the modern-day homesteading movement, determined to live a life of semi-self-sufficiency "off grid," or disconnected from the power, water, gas and telecommunications lines that connect most residential addresses in the United States. But rather than embracing the reclusive life often associated with off-grid homesteaders in rural areas, Mr. Petroski is extremely prolific online, broadcasting his daily life to millions of followers on social media.

His property, known as NarroWay Homestead, is one of the most sophisticated and most-watched operations in a burgeoning niche of online creators who document their off-grid or sustainable living projects across the country, often promoting a way of life that seems diametrically opposed to the mediums they use to share it.
"Almost everything I own is a hybrid of ancient knowledge and modern technology," Mr. Petroski said. His water, he explained, comes from rainwater that runs off his roof into a self-filtering pipe and tank system — and is then pumped throughout his buildings with solar-powered electric pumps.




One afternoon in July, Mr. Petroski and his wife, Jen, filmed a video for TikTok, which helps them support their homesteading lifestyle.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times




Mr. Petroski’s video recording setup.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times




The plaque Mr. Petroski received from YouTube when he reached one million subscribers.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times

Mr. Petroski moved to the property in March 2020, after leaving his job as a contractor in Pennsylvania. He lived out of a camper as he slowly moved possessions and construction materials to the site, which sits on 102 acres of undeveloped Appalachian woodland. The area is remote, but not uninhabited: On-grid houses, tiny homes and mobile homes are sprinkled in clearings and meadows on a network of dirt and gravel roads.

"If you’re going to homestead, find a place where people are living the way you want to be living," Mr. Petroski said. "I live among people who accept this lifestyle."

Modern homesteading is not a monolithic, doctrinal pursuit. The scope of what could be considered "homesteading" is a spectrum, from the aspirational "tradwife," or traditional wife, aesthetic of Ballerina Farm — the social media account run by Hannah Neeleman, who documents life caring for eight children on a ranch in Utah — to the soot-covered William Uhlhorn, a Gen Z everyman who documents his efforts to build primitive shelters in undeveloped environments. In between, there are tiny-home influencers, #VanLife converts and others who went off the grid long before doing so held the potential for internet fame.

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"The modern homesteading movement’s big idea is that, rather than trying to change the world collectively and publicly, people are trying to reshape their private sphere — their worlds, their homes, their own tiny network," said Jordan Travis Radke, a sociologist who has studied the movement. "They’re changing their lives, but they want other people to see it, because they want others to follow suit."




The solar array and main living quarters at NarroWay Homestead. Mr. Petroski’s is one of the more sophisticated operations among the modern homesteaders online.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times

Lately, Mr. Uhlhorn, also known as "Will Survives," has been working on another plot of land that Mr. Petroski owns, just 15 minutes away from NarroWay. That project, Mr. Uhlhorn said, began after aborted attempts in Oregon and New Mexico.

For the last few months, he and his childhood friend Jesse Ross — who doubles as his cameraman — have been living in a ramshackle arrangement of tents and vehicles while they construct a structure lifted off the forest floor.

NarroWay, by contrast, might as well be a five-star hotel. The homestead has a small complex of buildings, including a 300-square-foot living space equipped with a wood stove, air conditioning, running water, a washer-dryer unit, a full-size shower and high-speed internet — all the comforts of the grid, with none of the utility bills.

With his wife, Jen, Mr. Petroski raises ducks and rabbits and keeps a small garden, but they still purchase most of their food in town, cooking it in an outdoor kitchen on solar-powered electric cooktops. A small Chihuahua mix named Minion is usually close on Mr. Petroski’s heels, and an attentive 175-pound livestock guardian dog named Aslan oversees the rest of the property.




Mr. Petroski checked the air intake underneath the wood stove in his home.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times




The gun Mr. Petroski keeps by his bed.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times




A wooden beam inscribed with the names of people who have supported NarroWay Homestead, either financially or with materials to help with its construction and maintenance.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times

On a recent summer evening, over a dinner of spicy "pasta à la Jen" made by his wife, Mr. Petroski talked Mr. Uhlhorn, 21, through the process of filing taxes as an online influencer. Like many full-time content creators, Mr. Petroski has multiple sources of income: He runs a line of coffee blends, beard care products and other merchandise on top of his sponsored partnerships with brands and the share of ad revenue he receives from YouTube and TikTok. He said it all added up to an annual salary in the six figures.

That day, his primary task was recording a promotional video for a TBS sitcom, which featured a short skit starring Ms. Petroski, Minion and himself.

"There will be a certain point where I’m good," he said, referring to his finances. "And then I’ll do the things I came out here to do: hunt more, forage more, play with the dogs more."

As it is, Mr. Petroski follows no set schedule: He sleeps when he wants to, wakes up when he wants to. But his days are spent on the myriad chores a modern homesteader faces: tinkering with solar power arrays, feeding animals, checking the rainwater collection system and, of course, populating his social media feeds with videos of himself doing those tasks.
"I’ve had to relearn a lot of things," Mr. Petroski said. "I’m out here designing my own stuff, and I’m like, ‘Hey guys, look what I’ve learned!’"




William Uhlhorn, known online as "Will Survives," has been living nearby in a ramshackle arrangement of tents and vehicles while he builds a more durable home.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times




When he’s not building or filming, Mr. Uhlhorn, 21, shoots hoops.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times




A ladder led up to a Starlink receiver, which helps the NarroWay Homestead get high-speed internet.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times

That enthusiasm is infectious to Mr. Petroski’s millions of fans, many of whom regularly interact with him in his Discord channels and comment sections. His comments are peppered with other homesteaders sharing their experiences, everyday homeowners chiming in about their D.I.Y. projects and a constant stream of questions about how Mr. Petroski got started.

Adam Judy, who helps moderate the NarroWay Discord community, said he was drawn to Mr. Petroski’s videos on TikTok because they showed a different way of living and introduced him to a group of people who all seemed to be seeking the same thing.

"It’s definitely a tight-knit community," said Mr. Judy, 24.

Mr. Petroski’s wife was a longtime moderator on the platform before she and Mr. Petroski met in person, at a yearly gathering he hosts for his moderating team. After hitting it off, she began to visit the homestead more often, traveling down from her home in Wisconsin. Last December, she moved in.
"I grew up in Montana," said Ms. Petroski, 48. "I was not unfamiliar with the whole homesteading, farming kind of life."

Dr. Radke, the sociologist, said that adherents of the homesteading movement come from a variety of backgrounds and political positions, but are often united by a shared sense that though "the societal systems and structures in which they were embedded could not be changed anymore," their individual lifestyles could be.




Katana, one of the many animals on the homestead.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times




Mr. Petroski’s trusty companion, Minion.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times




The office area in Mr. Petroski’s living quarters.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times

In his videos, Mr. Petroski’s only discernible political leanings are a sense of individualism tempered by the realities of his remote existence; at Narroway, an AR-15 with a lowlight scope hangs next to his bed. One morning, a flurry of gunshots from an adjacent property sent Mr. Petroski flying down the road on an ATV to investigate, handgun strapped to his side. It turned out a neighbor was just enthusiastically testing a new rifle.

Mr. Uhlhorn is similarly reticent on political matters, though he said life in the woods had offered him something society had not: a purpose and a vocation. Mr. Uhlhorn said his journey began when he was sitting on a couch during the pandemic, scrolling through TikTok. "I was like, bro, I got to fill my time with something," he said. "And so I just went out to the woods with a little hand saw and tried making something."
Once he realized he could make his hard work and online presence into a career, he said, he was all in. "I’ve always wanted to work for myself and like, make it out," Mr. Uhlhorn said. "This is a great way to push myself, challenge myself and, like, push myself as a person."

On the wheel well of a small trailer at his campsite is a silver plaque, sent to him by YouTube when he reached 100,000 subscribers on the service. (He now has 732,000.) Mr. Uhlhorn said he used it as a mirror to shave.

A hyper-engaged viewership means that the world beyond the homestead occasionally creeps in. Mr. Petroski says he rarely leaves the property anymore because he is often recognized, and an incident earlier in the summer left him feeling mildly annoyed with the way some viewers react to his content.




"I live among people who accept this lifestyle," Mr. Petroski said.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times

In June, some of Mr. Petroski’s viewers called the local sheriff to demand a wellness check on one of his cats, an orange kitten named Katana, who had an infection. The viewers pressed Mr. Petroski to take the cat to a veterinarian, but he thought the more than three-hour drive to a 24-hour animal hospital would do more harm than good, preferring to treat and monitor the animal at home.

After a short visit, he said, the sheriff was satisfied that the cat was being cared for. (In August, Katana, while padding around the homestead, appeared healthy and playful — she was the star of a Twitch livestream Mrs. Petroski was running on the back porch.)
"People don’t realize how different life is out here versus in more populated areas," he said.

Mr. Petroski’s long-term goal is to start a homesteading school on his property, to share with others his hard-won knowledge. But, before that, he must prepare for winter. The new water heater, for instance, needs to be insulated before temperatures drop to freezing.

In the meantime, he’s proud of the progress he’s made: the running water, the renewable electricity and the online community he’s built around it.

"I made life luxurious with my own two hands," he said.

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