He left tech to protect wild canyon: wildfire prepper’s homestead village
In 2019, John Mills left San Francisco to start an off-grid homestead in Northern California, moving into a hay-bale house on 170 acres. A lifelong coder who also grew up in the forest working with his hands—as a woodworker, plumber, and electrician—Mills was ready to combine technology with country living.
He set out to build cabins, yurts, outdoor bathrooms, and gathering spaces, while cutting trees, clearing and burning brush, and laying miles of pipe to make the land more resilient. What began as a dream of sustainable living quickly became an education in homesteading and wildfire preparedness.
VIDEO TIMELINE:
— 0:15: Welcome to Sherwood, an off-grid property in a wild, tucked-away canyon in fire country, California;
— 1:40: Discovering the Magic Grotto down by the property creek and ponds;
— 5:40: Prepping homes in fire country;
— 6:20: Trimming around and installing water sprinklers, installing cameras to see around the property;
— 7:30: John Mills’ off-grid home-office, where he works on the fire-prevention and management app Fire Duty;
— 11:50: How Watch Duty was born, becoming the best and most widely used resource for fire management West of the Mississippi;
— 14:00: John Mills’ office building next to his house, passive solar, no AC (cool inside due to surrounding vegetation and the building’s envelope;
— 18:42: Main house (kitchen, living room), built with doug fir from trimming the property;
— 20:29: Integrated system to check the property’s status (off-grid features and fire risk);
— 23:00: Property visit;
— 24:00: Using cattle to reduce fire risk;
— 29:40: Arrival at property’s Vista Point;
— 33:00: Yurt village, outdoor bath & shower;
— 36:00: Bunk yurts for friends and relatives visiting the off-grid property;
— 38:00: Visit to the solar array and power batteries (diesel generator for back-up);
— 39:20: Cabins village to blend with the forest;
— 40:30: Outdoor shower and composting toilet next to the Cabins cluster;
— 43:00: Visiting the Disorient Express, a Skoolie one-of-a-kind conversion;
— 45:00: Walking through Sherwood Forest to get to the Quartz Boulder;
— 47:00: Pomo Indians’ heritage in the area;
— 47:44: Ancient prescribed fires;
— 48:00: Prepping.
Just one month after moving in, a California wildfire burned next door, filling the canyon with smoke. Mills realized how broken emergency communication was for rural residents and fire-prone communities. Out of necessity, he created Watch Duty, a real-time fire tracking app designed for country folk, now used in 22 states and relied on by fire crews and emergency responders.
Credit to : Kirsten Dirksen
