Home Real Estate Oldtimer got wild rocky land, started NorCal off-grid Watertopia

Oldtimer got wild rocky land, started NorCal off-grid Watertopia

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Oldtimer got wild rocky land, started NorCal off-grid Watertopia

Dwight Streamfellow was a college junior when he bought a piece of cheap river-front land to start a homestead. He was a city boy (partly in Washington DC where his father was a senator) so he planned to learn-by-doing on how raw land in the rugged mountains of Northern California’s Six Rivers National Forest.

The property cost him only $11,000 back in 1976, but soon he had built his own home (much of it with hand tools) and was growing his own food, pumping water from the river to irrigate his garden & orchard, and powering his homestead with photovoltaic and firewood (for heat and his hot tub/bathtub).

In a state that is drying up, Streamfellow considers his large chunk of riverfront his true wealth: he’s on the South Fork of the Trinity River, the longest un-dammed river left in California. Forty-five years ago he tried harvesting the water by carrying 5 gallon buckets up the 150 feet from the river to his home. He then tried a pedal-powered pump, but the calories burned weren’t replaced by the calories created in the garden. He finally perfected a system – an electric pump that is powered by a photovoltaic array – which provides all the water he, and his tenants, need for large gardens, orchards and the five homes on this property.

Starting before the Internet, Streamfellow felt he was without an instruction manual for most of his nearly 5 decades working the land, doing everything from building roads (chipping away at granite), creating garden terraces along his steep property and building up hugelkultur beds to garden on bedrock.

Now 68 years old, Streamfellow isn’t wealthy, but he has no debt (he believes in the pay-as-you-go model) and he considers himself wealthy from what his land provides; he has four tenants (who often work the property in lieu of rent), a garden that supplies sufficient annual fruit, vegetables and potatoes, and chickens, pigs and deer for meat. “It was always my goal to be as self-sufficient as possible,” explains Streamfellow. Forty-five years after settling here he says he always has a year’s worth of food and three year’s worth of firewood: “to me that’s what represents wealth– that food and the capability to heat my home”.

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46 COMMENTS

  1. Dwight is a brilliant, kind, and generous man who has built something truly unique, inspiring, sustainable, and beautiful. He has welcomed so many people over the decades to share in the wealth of his Never Never Land and he always takes the time to articulate how his systems work. I feel lucky to know you Dwight, and I am so happy to see your knowledge and home now shared with thousands more people through the always amazing film making of Kirsten. I look forward to the next Summer I can come and visit! ❤️

  3. I’ve been following you since the beginning. Your videos have grown into beautiful micro-documentaries with such great video footage. It is truly amazing seeing all the unique individuals you have discovered over the years. An awe inspiring channel that shows how many wonderful (and resourceful) ways we can live.
    Also, it is awesome getting a glimpse of your growing children every now and then.
    Thank you for providing many years of spectacular footage!! ❤️ 🏔 🌆 🌊 🌳 🏜

  4. Funny, I am about 7,000 miles away now, but I grew up around there, and stumbled on this video. I spent a lot of time in that river. The fish were so abundant then that we would tube down the river and in some pools we would look down and see hundreds. Sad to see they are disappearing.

  6. Great work as always!

    Although the audio on the dialogue really lets it down. It’s peaking chronically and the lav mic needs a wind muffler. Send me message and I can help talk you through your setup so you get clean audio every time! Would love to help boost your production values even more. Such beautiful stories deserve decent audio!

  8. Wow, this is really inspiring a lot of ideas! Seems so harmonious living in sync with nature, not forcing things to happen but rather being creative and making use of what is happening.

  10. Just an amazing feat! I'm too old now but would have loved to have someone in my younger years that would have joined me in this. Q: is marijuana legal to grow where you are? Couldn't miss it 😅

  20. Kristen, thanks for showing what a sustainable living in a remote place in California is like. I loved the place ! I appreciate that gentleman who has committed himself to this conscious living and built a wonderful place for his family. He is living with minimal to no harm to the mother Earth. He has also sold me on the "lead acid" battery vs. Li 🙂. Can you ask him if he was ever in danger of wildfires/smoke there? How does he plan for that situation? Thanks.

  21. Im prompted to add, this host- builder- man for all seasons isn't an 'old-timer' in the least. All timer, man for all seasons, industrious, hardy romantic yes. Anything ascribed as old, worn out or similarly unflattering does a disservice to accurately type him 🌅ID add Im always chuckling at how Kirsten is such a hard ass backseat co-pilot..& wonder how often her dear bright children are elbowing each other chitting Kirsten for all her secondary route wisdom🐾

  32. I really enjoyed this episode. I found myself wanting to go swimming in that river and pick berries from the bushes.I bet it is spectacular on a full moon night!What a magical place to live.

  33. Beautiful place. I love your videos. Fun watching your kids grow up. They're seeing such unique ways of living. We just got a cabin in the mountains, rain water collection, small solar,but the start of my husband's dream. Keep up the great work. Very inspiring.😊

  35. WOW what a place! This man has a wonderful place he & his family has created. Here's the but part. But, he's worked his butt off for his fruits & he's worked the land for 45 years to get it like that.
    Now he's 68 years old, which I didn't think he was that old & more like 50 years old, & he can let it work for him now, which still is a lot of work on his behalf. Unless he runs a little of that learn & work workshop in the summer where people come & learn from him & work the land for him to teach them how to do all that kind of stuff while taking some of the load off of him. What a great place to do that kind of learning from him.
    Loved the video on him & his homestead. Great job telling his story. Have a nice day,
    Chris from Missouri

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