Greetings, I retired and re-invented myself

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

I served 20 years in the US Navy, mostly on various FBM submarines. I took 4 years for college, and I got a pension when I was 42.

During my working career, we collected an assortment of apartment buildings. Basically one at each duty station. When I retired, we sold them and used the money to buy a farm out in the forest.

I am now 58. We have done pretty well on my pension. This year it has gone up to ~$1650/month. I think we would be fine on only half of my pension if I would only stop building stuff.

 

[braumeister]

Welcome aboard.
One of my favorite lines refers to the notoriously stony soil of Maine by saying that what you call farming would be called mining anywhere else.

Quite a few of us here are retired military so you should find yourself in good company.

 

[Dtail]

Welcome to this wonderful site Offgrid.
Been to Maine several times, but guessing your area could be more remote.

 

[ncbill]

Thanks for your service.

the benefits (including pension) is why I'm encouraging my kids to go career.

oldest's undergraduate is already being paid for and they're currently trying to get to med school on Uncle's dime as well.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Welcome. I'm trying to get our urban house partially off grid as a hobby.

 

[street]

Welcome. If I understand it correct you have been receiving a pension at 42 then had a career till the present time?

 

[brucethebroker]

Welcome.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Welcome to the forum; I am yet another mil pensioner of the AF variety.

I find it ironic that you have a username that implies being "off the grid", yet you are on the internet.

 

[Nords]

I served 20 years in the US Navy, mostly on various FBM submarines. I took 4 years for college, and I got a pension when I was 42.

Welcome, OOF, I just stumbled across another of your posts.

We seem to have an unusually high number of submariners on this forum. I was on the BLUE crew of JAMES MONROE during 1984-86 out of Charleston & Holy Loch, but since then my spouse and I have kept going west.

 

[Red Badger]

Welcome to the forum; I am yet another mil pensioner of the AF variety.

I find it ironic that you have a username that implies being "off the grid", yet you are on the internet.

+3.

1. Welcome.
2. Army (active and reserve) retiree - army
3 Assume that if you're off the grid, you are using an analog device.

Anyway, I'm glad to have another veteran join these ranks. Thanks for your service.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Wow you guys have super low expenses to live off such a small pension.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Welcome, OOF, I just stumbled across another of your posts.

We seem to have an unusually high number of submariners on this forum. I was on the BLUE crew of JAMES MONROE during 1984-86 out of Charleston & Holy Loch, but since then my spouse and I have kept going west.

Shiny

ET1 SS - USN Retired
USS George C. Marshall SSBN 654
USS Simon Lake AS-33
USS Casimir Pulaski SSBN 633
USS Alaska SSBN 732

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Welcome to the forum; I am yet another mil pensioner of the AF variety.

I find it ironic that you have a username that implies being "off the grid", yet you are on the internet.

It depends on how you use the term [I think].

We have 4400 watts of photovoltaic panels that feed a 600ah 48vdc battery-bank. We find that on most days our batteries are full by noon, which means that we can run every appliance in our home and every power tool without consuming all the power we generate.

Last year we bought a plug-in hybrid sedan to take up some of the surplus power we are generating.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Wow you guys have super low expenses to live off such a small pension.

It took us a lot of searching to find a location that suited our needs.

I grew-up farming in a drought-prone region. I wanted to avoid droughts.

My wife is an accountant who has always focused on Home Economics. She practices frugal living.

We were both budget counselors and income tax preparers for 10+ years.

We moved to the nation's Oldest state with the highest percentage of retirees, and an area with average household incomes under $25k/year. It does not take much income here to be in the top 20% of the neighborhood.

Our fixed expenses are low and we grow most of our own food.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Welcome. If I understand it correct you have been receiving a pension at 42 then had a career till the present time?

hmm, no.

In 2001, I was 42 and that year I was forced to retire from the US Navy. We returned stateside and we moved into an apartment building that we already owned. In 2005 we bought land in Maine, and I began building our farm.

I have not had a job since 2001.

Sorry if my wording was confusing.

 

[97guns]

I know this avatar, Forrest Beekeeper?

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

I know this avatar, Forrest Beekeeper?

Yes, I go by various handles.

Should I have shaved, or was it the hat?

I live in dense forest and I keep bees [along with a herd of pigs, etc].

 

[Gumby]

Welcome aboard, Offgrid. I am also a former boomer sailor. USS George Washington (SSBN 598) and USS George Washington Carver (SSBN 656)

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Welcome aboard, Offgrid. I am also a former boomer sailor. USS George Washington (SSBN 598) and USS George Washington Carver (SSBN 656)

Greetings, fellow bubblehead.

 

[nativenewenglander]

Lots of retired military in my area just below the 45th parallel in NH. I'm not one, but they are good people and a tight knit group. Welcome

 

[kcowan]

Welcome Offgrid

I see you as a strategic participant. You chose your path and executed it. Without regard to history/inertia. Well done!

We have friends who live on a gulf island in BC and they rely on sun, wind and artesian well for over 20 years. We visit them every summer and take enough food and beverage to cover our consumption and some of theirs after we leave, and we take the bottles and some other refuse to deposit/recycle on the mainland.

He has a salt water hot tub that is warmed by a wood fire. He does use propane and there is a delivery service to keep it full.

In the winter he comes to PV MX for 6 months.

 

[Winemaker]

Thanks for your service, I have a good brewing buddy who is a retired submariner. How he built his fully automated operational brewery in a single car garage (with a car parked inside is the 8th wonder of the modern world!

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Thanks for your service, I have a good brewing buddy who is a retired submariner. How he built his fully automated operational brewery in a single car garage (with a car parked inside is the 8th wonder of the modern world!

He is accustomed to fitting a lot of equipment into a small room.

Has he told you how the whiskey stills work on subs?

 

[Nords]

Has he told you how the whiskey stills work on subs?

"Whiskey"?!? Hunh.

The Missile techs and the Auxiliary machinist's mates told me that they were simply analyzing ethanol-based alternative fuel sources for a NAVSEA research project.

Of course, the fermented orange juice bottles which broke free during angles & dangles to cascade down a frame bay... they were a different problem. Apparently that was an advanced-formulation cleaning fluid.

 

[Winemaker]

He is accustomed to fitting a lot of equipment into a small room.

Has he told you how the whiskey stills work on subs?

Oh I am very aware of where he picked up those skills. I met him while working underground at the coal mine where I worked, and where he picked up even more skills. He was a electronics tech for a manufacturer that created personal monitoring devices and personal radios.

No mention ever of ethyl alcohol fuel or cleaner production but I will have to inquire....