87-Year-Old Widower Has Lived 50 Years Off-Grid on 400 Acres of Redwood Forest!

 In 1968, Charles Bello and his wife Vanna Rae bought 400 acres of redwood forested land in Mendocino County and have spent the last 50 years creating a self-sustaining utopia. Working diligently year-after-year, the couple created the infrastructure for a completely off-the-grid compound that is both comfortable and beautiful. They bought the land for $2,800. Now, the house and accompanying acreage is worth $6 million.

That being said, the Charles (a widower) isn’t looking to bank off his NorCal creation. Instead, he’s looking for people to keep the self-sustaining compound alive and working going into the future.

Watch the below video to see the full compound in the wilderness of Mendocino County:

Here is a full description of the above video and the story of Charles Bello:

In 1968, Charles Bello and his wife, Vanna Rae, moved onto 240 acres of redwood forest looking to live a simpler life off the land. They had spent their savings to purchase the land so they got to work building their home themselves. Their first structure was a panelized A-frame that they erected in 5 days (with help from a couple family members). Total cost was $2,800.

The property is a half-hour drive down a dirt road and it was bare land when they arrived so Charles and Vanna Rae built their own infrastructure: roads, bridges and went decades without refrigeration nor phone (they eventually installed PV panels and cabling for phone lines).