Think You Can Live Off-Grid? This NB Adventure Park Has You Covered
ANAGANCE, N.B. — If you have what it takes to live off the grid, an adventure park and campground about 20 minutes away from Sussex is the place to be.
Off-Grid Adventure is a 60-acre property, filled with ATV trails, rock climbing, ziplines and green space, dedicated to showing others how to be more resourceful and reconnect with nature.
Salma Burney owns the grounds with her husband, Mike Radcliffe. He takes care of the campground and adventure park while Burney gives tours of their more than a century-old farmhouse.
But the idea for the campground came about after a vacation to the United States in December 2019. A love of the great outdoors and reconnecting with nature was the perfect combination for the Hamilton ex-pats.
“We actually were travelling off-grid in our travel trailer that has solar panels, and we were travelling for about six months through the U.S.,” said Burney. “We were heading back to Hamilton O.N., but we didn’t want to do the same grind day in and day out. We wanted to be more off the grid, more sustainable living.”
After doing some research, the pair found the property and purchased it without getting a chance to visit in person. During a trip to Texas in January 2020, Burney said they got the call that changed their lives.
“We were out hiking on the tallest mountain in Texas and we got a call from the lawyer saying, ‘you got the property,’” she said. “So we had to sell our house in Hamilton, and luckily when we got back, it sold in a week — and then a week later Covid started.”
Once pandemic restrictions loosened, the couple made the big move to their off-grid property in June 2020. When it came to their 14-day quarantine, it actually gave them a headstart to create their off-grid paradise.
Burney said they started by cutting off the power to their new home and purchasing nine solar panels and a 60-foot wind turbine from Unplugged Power Systems in Moncton. Wired together, it gives enough energy to power all the electronics inside the house. As for heat, they use woodstoves.
When visitors stop by the campground, they leave with the idea that living off-grid is a conscious decision and there’s no right way to do it. So, while it might not be Gilligan’s Island or Survivorman, Burney said living off-grid doesn’t have to be that extreme.
Still, she said there are still some modern luxuries they won’t use in their home.
“We don’t have a microwave because a microwave uses the most energy, which most people don’t realize,” said Burney. “Dryers use a lot of energy, so we don’t have that, but we have other alternatives.”
In the summer, Burney can dry her laundry on a clothesline attached to the house. During the winter months, however, she’ll take them down to the woodstove room in their basement, where temperatures can reach 50 degrees.
The couple also cooks with a barbeque in the summer and on an antique wood-burning stove in the winter.
Burney said she hopes New Brunswickers will take the time to research ways to be resourceful. Over the last year and a half of the pandemic, she feels more people have become self-reliant and even took up an interest to live off the land. She wants it to continue post-Covid.
“We want people to unplug and unleash the adventure in them,” said Burney. “In order to do that, you actually need to get back to nature. We have a lot of green space here, and we want to share it with people and help them understand how to respect nature, too.”
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Aaron Sousa is a summer intern for Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].