Nate Petroski’s address does not help visitors find his home.
To locate it, however, you need a few specific GPS coordinates from a location deep in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, and precise directions on how to get there.
Many of the surrounding routes are impassable without an all-terrain vehicle to traverse various streams and muddy slopes.
It is much easier to visit it online.
Petroski, 39, is one of the most prominent video creators of the “homesteading” modern, determined to live a life of self-sufficiency “off the grid” – that is, disconnected from the electricity, water, gas and telecommunications lines that connect most residential addresses in the United States.
But rather than embracing the solitary life often associated with rural ranch owners, Petroski is prolific online, broadcasting his daily life to millions of followers on social media.
One afternoon in July, Mr. Petroski and his wife, Jen, recorded a video for TikTok, which helps them sustain their lifestyle as farmers. Photograph by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
His estate, known as NarroWay Homesteadis one of the most sophisticated and followed operations of a burgeoning niche of online creators who document their sustainable or offline living projects across the country, often promoting a way of life that seems diametrically opposed to the means by which they share it.
“Almost all I have is a hybrid of ancestral knowledge and modern technology,” Petroski said.
Their water, he explained, comes from rainwater running off their roof into a system of pipes and self-filtering tanks, and is then pumped through all their buildings with solar powered electric pumps.
Video recording of Mr. Petroski. Photo Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
Petroski moved to the farm in March 2020 after leaving his job as a contractor in Pennsylvania.
He lived in a mobile home while slowly moving his possessions and building materials to the site, situated on 100 acres of undeveloped Appalachian forest.
The plaque Mr. Petroski received from YouTube when he reached one million subscribers. Photo by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
The area is remote, but not uninhabited:
There are grid-connected houses, tiny houses and mobile homes scattered across clearings and meadows off a network of dirt and gravel roads.
“If you’re going to live at home, find a place where people live the way you want to live,” Petroski suggested.
“I live among people who accept this lifestyle.”
Self-sufficient life
Modern self-sufficient living is not a monolithic, doctrinal ideal.
The scope of what might be considered “homesteading” is wide, from the aspirational “tradwife” aesthetic of Ballerina Farm—Hannah Neeleman’s social media account, which documents her life raising eight children on a Utah ranch—to the smutty William Uhlhorn, a Gen Z man who documents his efforts to build primitive shelters in undeveloped environments.
In between, there are influencers who live in tiny houses, converts to #VanLife, and others who went off the grid long before it could make you famous on the internet.
“The big idea of the modern homesteading movement is that, instead of trying to collectively and publicly change the world, people are trying to reshape it your private sphere:
The solar array and main dwelling at NarroWay Homestead. Mr. Petroski’s is one of the most sophisticated operations among modern line farmers. Photograph by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
“their world, their home, their own tiny network,” explained Jordan Travis Radke, a sociologist who has studied the movement.
“They are changing their lives, but they want others to see it, because they want others to follow their example.”
Lately, Uhlhorn, also known as “Will Survives,” has been working on another plot of land owned by Petroski, just fifteen minutes from NarroWay.
That project, Uhlhorn said, began after aborted attempts in Oregon and New Mexico.
For the past few months, he and his childhood friend, Jesse Ross, who acts as a cameraman, have been living in a ramshackle collection of tents and vehicles while they build a structure raised from the forest floor.
NarroWay, on the other hand, could easily be a five-star hotel.
The farm has a small complex of buildings, including a 300-square-foot space equipped with a wood stove, air conditioning, running water, washer-dryer, large shower, and high-speed internet—all the conveniences of the grid, but without the invoices of public services.
Mr. Petroski checked the air intake beneath his home’s wood stove. Photo by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
With his wife, Jen, Petroski raises ducks and rabbits and has a small garden, but they buy most of their food in town and prepare it in an outdoor kitchen with solar-powered electric stoves.
A small mixed-breed Chihuahua named Minion often follows Petroski around, and an attentive 170-pound livestock guard dog named Aslan oversees the rest of the ranch.
Petroski does not follow a fixed schedule:
He sleeps when he wants and gets up when he wants.
The gun that Mr. Petroski keeps by his bed. Photograph by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
But his days are spent doing the countless chores of a modern farmer:
operating the solar panels, feeding the animals, checking the rainwater collection system and, of course, filling his social media with videos of himself doing these tasks.
“I’ve had to relearn a lot of things,” Petroski said.
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. Photo by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
“I’m here designing my own stuff and I’m like:
“Hey guys, look what I learned!”
That enthusiasm is contagious to Petroski’s millions of followers, many of whom regularly interact with him on his Discord channels and comments sections.
His comments are peppered with other self-sufficient farmers sharing their experiences, self-sustaining farm owners talking about their DIY projects, and a steady stream of questions about how Petroski got started.
William Uhlhorn, known online as “Will Survives,” has been living nearby in a ramshackle patchwork of tents and vehicles while he builds a more durable home. Photograph by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
Adam Judy, who helps moderate NarroWay’s Discord community, says he was drawn to Petroski’s TikTok videos because they showed a different way of living and introduced him to a group of people who seemed to be looking for the same thing.
“It’s a very close-knit community,” said Judy, 24.
Community
When he’s not building or filming, Mr. Uhlhorn, 21, plays basketball. Photograph by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
According to Radke, supporters of the self-sustaining farm movement come from different backgrounds and political stances, but they are often united by the idea that while “the social systems and structures in which they were immersed could no longer be changed”, they could change their individual lifestyle.
A staircase leads to a Starlink receiver, which helps NarroWay Homestead get high-speed internet. Photo by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
In his videos, Petroski’s only perceptible political leanings are a sense of individualism dimmed by the realities of his remote existence; in Narroway, an AR-15 rifle with a telescopic sight hangs beside his bed.
Katana, one of the many animals on the farm. Photo Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
One morning, a burst of gunfire from an adjacent farmhouse sent Petroski hurtling down the road in an SUV to investigate, his rifle strapped to his side.
It turned out that a neighbor was enthusiastically testing out a new rifle.
The office area in Mr. Petroski’s home. Photo by Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
Uhlhorn is equally reticent on political issues, although he says that life in the forest has offered him something that society has not:
a purpose and a vocation.
Uhlhorn said his journey began when he was sitting on a couch during the pandemic, scrolling through TikTok. I thought, “Bro, I gotta fill my time with something.”
“So I went out into the woods with a little handsaw and tried to make something.”
She said that once she realized she could turn her hard work and online presence into a career, she dove right in.
“I live among people who accept this lifestyle,” Mr. Petroski said. Photo Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
“I’ve always wanted to work for myself and get ahead,” Uhlhorn says.
“This is a great way to push myself, challenge myself and improve myself as a person.”
Petroski’s long-term goal is to create a self-sufficient school of life on his farm, to share his hard-earned knowledge with others.
But first you need to prepare for winter.
For example, a new water heater needs to be insulated before temperatures drop to freezing.
In the meantime, he is proud of his progress:
running water, renewable electricity and the online community it has built around it.
“I have given myself luxuries with my own hands,” he concluded.
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