Againsheila
Gold Member
- Thread starter
- #21
Isn't your husband disabled?
You're going to pack it up and move to the boonies and live off the land with a disabled husband...and you have no survival skills?
Wow.
Get a place with a good well. If you're going to live off the land, you need to be able to grow a big garden, and have pasture for animals. Good luck.
Well, I don't intend to totally live off the land, but I do think a garden is a given. I also want chickens and possibly a goat. And I think it would be nice if we could go hunting nearby, though I realize my son or I would be the one's doing the hunting, I don't think my husband can hold a gun steady enough. My husband has parkinson's and I think the extra work with his hands and no pressure would actually be good for him, and it doesn't have to be perfect. He used to be a painter as in art. He can still do it, though not as well. And yes, we need a place with a good well, we'll probably have the houses built, small one's. Or one house with a mother in law apartment. I don't want too much land, 5 acres should be fine. I'm not looking to go into farming and make a living off of the land, only to subsidize our lifestyle. And I want to be able to use a wood stove. I live in the city right now and our winter energy bills are up to $600 a month. We can't burn in our woodstove unless it's our only source of heat so that's out. I was jealous when I saw my friends utility bills for her house built in the early 1900's. $200 for EVERYTHING. Of course her house is a lot smaller than ours. We definitely need to go with a smaller house. I also wouldn't mind finding a group of people that do live off the land that would be willing to help us to learn.
Of course all this right now is talk. I'm just sick of not being warm because out county won't let us use our woodstove and I also would like to have chickens as I love fresh eggs but that can't be done in our city on our lot. I think I liked it better before we became a city.
Lots of reasons to build small, then. A smaller house is easier to keep up and heat, especially with wood or coal, than a huge McMansion. Chickens are a good idea, and a goat (or goats) are also nice, easy keepers. If you want a goat for milk, though, remember you won't get milk without babies every year.
Here's a really good resource, old but very applicable, and it's a free download. It's called the "Have More Plan".
The "Have-More" Plan - Free eBooks Download
thanks for the ebook, I'm gonna have my husband put that on my kindle.