Unrepentant hippie goes high tech and says anyone can do it
Mike Oehler, back-to-the-lander, is also the author of three published books, a world-wide presenter, educator, designer and singer, with a published album, titled Out of the Woods.
Mike Oehler declared he is an unrepentant hippie. His bare feet, faded jeans, unimposing gray T-shirt with unintentional spots, long white beard, and constant companion, Bummer-Etta, a black Labrador retriever, all attest to the validity of his claim.
“I moved to Boundary County in 1968 with the first wave of Hippies who returned to the land,” he explained.
While living on 40-acres of undeveloped land in Moravia, he developed an architectural design for underground housing; published one book with his own publishing company, and co-published two others. He has traveled the United States, Canada and Europe giving lectures and workshops to teach others about back-to-the-land homesteading, underground housing and alternative lifestyles.
Now, 37 years later, he is involved in a new business startup, described as streaming video over the internet. He claimed anyone could be on a par with the big producers of movies through the utilization of Broadband, or the Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) network.
Oehler said he first became interested in the internet to promote the sales of his three books, The $50 & Up Underground House Book, One Mexican Sunday and The Hippie Survival Guide to Y2. In addition, he has developed videos for his unique method of underground housing design and construction seminars. According to Oehler, he has at least doubled the sales on his products through online sources.
Now, he is getting into streaming video, because he said it is the coming thing, the wave of the future.
“This is the first and best investment opportunity of the twenty-first century,” Oehler proclaimed. “I plan to make television programs and sell them to satellite and cable because they are crying for content.”
He has registered his streaming video website as Hipnet.tv, where he will eventually stream three feature entertainment programs over the internet.
He described the first production he plans to make as a reality show about several couples coming back to the land.
Oehler encourages back-to-the-landers to build their homes with indigenous materials and learn about organic farming, root cellars, and perma-culture, which is a buzzword in alternative circles, which means maximum sustainable use of the land.
The cast will build houses using a variety of methods including underground, straw bales, log cabin, rammed earth and, possibly, a dome house using indigenous materials. Oehler also said he will teach them organic gardening, animal husbandry and the use of wild foods.
He anticipated the production would take about two-years and he hopes to attract several investors. In addition, he said he is looking for actors, preferably in their twenties.
Oehler said he gained his knowledge from living the life. He believes people could support themselves on the land, without a heavy reliance on jobs in town.
He added he has been providing hands on classes since he first moved up to the land. According to Oehler, the class size has ranged from one to 12 participants, who have come from a variety of countries including, Germany, France, England, Australia and many states throughout the U.S., as well as the provinces of Canada. However, he added he has been structuring the program and charging for only the last 10 years.
Prior to that time, he said people would live with him as part of the work crew. So far he has completed three underground houses on his land and three others are under construction. He explained they build the structures to learn from them. He is providing two sessions this year and added he gives scholarships under certain circumstances.
“I've never had a grant,” he declared. “I applied for a grant once, back in the 70's under the Carter administration, and didn't get it. They didn't like the attitude I had in my book toward building inspectors.”
Oehler outlines his interest in alternative lifestyles in The Hippie Survival Guide. He said he believes many social and ecological problems in the world could be solved if 90 percent of the people, living in cities, returned to small rural acreages and lived off indigenous materials.
“You would eliminate the cities and eliminate targets for nuclear war for one thing, and there are all kinds of environmental advantages,” he said.
The $50 & Up Underground House Book, in its seventh edition, is published by Oehler’s own Mole Publishing Company and has sold over 75,000 copies worldwide.
He recommended modern homesteading, building a home from indigenous materials, as well as taking courses in perma-culture, a buzzword in alternative circles, which means maximum sustainable use of the land.
For example, he explained if you plant an orchard, you would then plant berry bushes beneath the orchard, and under the berry bushes, you would have asparagus. In addition, you would build up the soil with organic waste and put a heavy mulch cover on the ground to keep the moisture in the earth.
He said the first large demographic group of Americans to move back to the land was during the Great Depression. Before that time, the pattern had been for the population to move from rural areas into the cities.
”We are still here. We are unrepentant and unchanged. The only reason I have shoes on now is because I am in a restaurant,” he explained.
Oehler admits he occasionally shops in the grocery store, though says he eats organic whenever possible.
“I'm not a strict organic devotee; I have a couple of ladies coming out in August. They are going to get a scholarship for the building school. They are strict vegans. Part of their scholarship is to do the cooking.”
Individuals interested in learning more can write to Mike Oehler at Route 4 Box 618, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805, telephone 208-267-7349, and/or view his website at Underground Housing.
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