In rural Denmark, Tycho Holcomb and Karoline Nolsø Aaen have crafted a life of independence, resilience, and deep connection to nature. Using only hand tools and solar power, they built their off-grid home for just $30,000—freeing themselves from debt while creating a nearly bill-free existence.
source.image: Kirsten Dirksen
Their house, made from round logs, straw, and clay, is heated by a flex stove that also cooks their meals and warms their water in the winter. In summer, they shower in a solar-heated greenhouse. But their self-sufficiency doesn’t stop at their home. On their farm, Myrrhis Agroforestry, they grow nearly all their own food—including grains and oats, which they thresh and roll by hand.
They raise ducks, goats, sheep, chickens, and rabbits, integrating animals and crops in a regenerative system that mimics natural ecosystems. With no tractors or heavy machinery, they’ve found a way to make small-scale farming not only sustainable but financially viable.
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Now raising their young son in the home they built—expanded slightly to accommodate their growing family—Tycho and Karoline are part of Friland, an ecovillage where all residents must be mortgage-free. We visit their handmade home and thriving farm to see how they’ve built a life of abundance with little money, a lot of ingenuity, and a commitment to working with the land—all within a unique community dedicated to financial freedom and ecological living.
