Here's What It's Like to Live in the Woods, Off the Grid
Published 31 Oct 2017, 14:15 GMT, Updated 12 Nov 2017, 11:20 GMT
Tod built this house for himself and his girlfriend, Talia. The wattle and daub technique uses small live saplings woven between larger vertical logs to create the structure. A mixture of red clay, sand, water, and straw is then packed into the saplings for the walls and a roof of tulip poplar bark is added. This house was abandoned shortly after because the site was too damp. October 2011
Photograph by Mike BellemeNatalie and Greyson play in the leaves. October 2010
Photograph by Mike BellemeThe ducks are a fairly recent addition to Wild Roots and are the first animals to be kept there. The property is not ideal for agriculture of any kind, so farming is limited and food supplies come mostly from skips, road kill, animal donations from hunters, and some wild food harvesting. October 2015
Photograph by Mike BellemeLindsey, centre, and other members of the Wild Roots community prepare dinner over a fire. Fires for breakfast and dinner are started using friction. The diet has been described by members of the community as "opportunitarian" meaning that they eat just about anything that they can find for free. October 2015
Photograph by Mike BellemeTod cuts open a deer head to extract the tongue from a wild game butcher's dustbin in Marion, North Carolina. Wild Roots has an arrangement with the business where they alert Wild Roots when the bins are full. Pelts are collected along with tongues, some brain and eyeballs and bones to make stews and broths. December 2011
Photograph by Mike BellemeNiko, 18, poses for a portrait beside one of the community structures called the bark lodge at Wild Roots. Niko spent the summer of 2013 at Wildroots and was at the time the youngest person who had lived there.
Photograph by Mike BellemeTod gives tips to Niki as she butchers her first black bear. One of the biggest sources of food comes from local hunters who drop off their extra kills during hunting season in exchange for access through Wild Roots property to the adjacent national forest. When a fresh kill arrives, everything stops and the two day process of processing every part of the animal commences. October 2015
Photograph by Mike BellemeTod dries herbs and acorns on the roof of the main workshop at Wild Roots. The main food supply at Wild Roots comes from weekly outings to dumpsters in nearby towns, but they supplement with wild foods, gardening, and eggs from their ducks. October 2015
Photograph by Mike BellemeMembers of Wild Roots, a primitive intentional community in the woods, ride in the veggie oil-fuelled truck back to Wild Roots after a full day of harvesting apples to make cider. The small community is about fifteen years old, with the longest current member living there for about ten years, and an ever changing cast of people passing through and staying for various lengths of time. Cider pressing is an annual autumn tradition in the community. October 2015.
Photograph by Mike BellemeJonathan helps butcher a black bear. One of the biggest sources of food comes from local hunters who drop off their extra kills during hunting season in exchange for access through Wild Roots property to the adjacent national forest. When a fresh kill arrives, everything stops and the two day process of processing every part of the animal commences. October 2015
Photograph by Mike BellemeTod and Talia prepare dinner over the wood stove in the Rat Shack. Even with snow on the ground outside, they often have to open doors inside to keep the tight spaces from getting too hot while cooking. January 2013
Photograph by Mike BellemeThe Rat Shack is photographed on a wintry evening. The population at Wild Roots dwindles to only two or three during winter to conserve resources like wood. January 2013
Photograph by Mike BellemeA trail snakes through the 30-acre property of Wild Roots. After dinner, people leave the warmth of the fire and navigate the trail in the complete darkness to find their way back to their dwellings farther in the woods.
Photograph by Mike Belleme