How did you start? I know there is information saturated on the internet and such on how to live self sufficiently, but i thirst for a personal tale. How did you really start everything, whether it be your homestead, or your tribe What did you do first, what hardships did you face. Please spare no detail Thanks
geez action lad ...my fingers ain't up to it...one of the things about doing is that your time becomes something you measure out carefully While trying to stay flexible and realizing that communication is the # 1 priority sometimes you just have to ask if it can wait....like till the middle of winter ...and that only because the shop ain't up yet...though it might be different folks do it different...we find ourselves too few and yet will not solicite for members...making likemindedness the big priority and being fey (more into spirit than here so to speak) we rely on spirit and some few communications on these boards to attract...same as I play lottery..if it's supposed to happen....you have to make at least some steps to make it happen. worked hard and got the land...heh though it's in the N. E. snow belt and so many go no no not me not there....and the the amount of work.....after trying to get some to join I saw that most of the work would devolve upon me solo (moving cloud if from germany and is limited to short stay and long absences...we try to change that and old crone holds down the village house and is limited for physical activities [work related disability]) so I bought equipment so that I can do it alone....overextended myself financially on that and digging my way out of that hole which keeps me nailed down to a job . money is always a stumbling point that and my own belief that the community not just 1 person should share in the dynamics of building and setting up....so I go super slow....eventually if nothing occurs i will build the shop (community center) and store the equipment so that I can do some traveling which has been on hold for way too long. soem are lucky enough to have a group already together, but most who do that have taken on almost all comers and find that is it's own inherent pitfall. I was lucky enough to be involved in communities both attempts and some still going and so can look to what I saw worked best for what we want to do..An open mind and flexibility are a must...you will find that hting seldom work out as planned and we all learn to adapt and jury rig...make do. It's a hard road with lots of hard work...and success is never guaranteed....as a matter of fact most attempts fail.... way high percentage. so the Learning has got to be important and the Intent something that you can stay focused on And enjoy. time's up...back at it...and Blessing along the Way...the Lessons Learned help shape what you Become. Namaste
ohhhhhh lad, thats a whole lotta typing you are requesting....It is so simple and yet so difficult but i will try n scrunch it up and give a lil bit of our own perspective.What old wolf stated is pretty much same as here. There are a few differences and i will point them out somewhere in this rant ya requested Ya have to have the land and small goals that you would like to attain. Make them achievable Too many have far out crazy ideas that in reality, without something short of a miracle will never happen. ...Learn about your property, walk it, study it , speak to it, feelit,so that you can begin to match your ideas with the land and the resources upon it available to you. Research the basics to begin, dont go overboard, reading shit is nothing but a tool to help along your path.. Doing is what teaches...Begin manifesting your goals, start small, grow and implement things as $ allows, dont go into debt unless absolutely needed and you know it can be paid for..Ya aint real self sufficient if you are 30000 in debt .... not including your land .. When i came here 5 yrs ago , although we had both been opening our doors to travelers etc for years n growing gardens etc,was when we got more serious about self sufficiency. A small garden a few chickens and a lil bit later a couple of goats. The original goals were to raise goats marketing meat etc and eggs and perhaps produce at the local farm market and grow overtime so that we could support ourselves or mostly support ourselves without working in society. . However , we both worked fulltime and knew we couldnt do it on our own. So we devised a room and board thing in exchange for 2 hours of helping out around the homestead. Over time we had to change and amend things a bit on our open door policies.Limit stays, limit food intakes, limit computer times, and more or less babysit well over half of the people that came through . Being that we were both out of the home the majority of the day things just were not going as planned. There were issues that pertained to abuse of drugs or alcohol. I eventually came to the conclusion that noone is going to care for your stuff as you do , and if you plan on having people help out then you have to be a part of it all. Most people have no initiative therefore need a list of some sort to follow and most need a supervisor standing over them .Very few can just do on there own or use there imagination and we were very liberal in what we allowed people to construct or build as long as it fit into our overall goals for the place. we encouraged people to attempt to build a tipi or sweat lodge etc... Good things did happen on occasion and were great ...but there was also so much that really made me want to choke the life out of people that were supposed to have been somewhat of like mind and yet in reality were (not all but a majority) what a neat concept but you mean i actually have to pitch shit or use that hoe??? We did have a website, with all guidelines etc, spelled completely out, had the list of to do things, we listed with several different community sites , hostels for travelers, waysharing blah blah blah, so one would think that those that came would have had somewhat similar views and ideals etc....Yet people didnt seem to realize nothing was going to be accomplished by sitting up on a computer til 5 am then sleeping til 4 pm that nothing was going to be done , right down to half ass feeding of animals. People would arrive and say i hate animals ,,, or i hate gardening.....i could think of a million different things i have seen and heard over the last five years,,,You open your doors to everyone and everyone will come,,, to put it bluntly then wtf are you doing here??? Anywho, over time and some major mental adjustments as well as a few other adjustments around here we have completely gone off the net. There is no more website and anything at this point is word of mouth. I stay home and work here the majority of the time leaving me plenty of time to get most things done.Over time you learn things that work and things that dont, Things you can grow , things you cant. What tools and machinery you need and what you can do without. We learned that perhaps meat goats is not the best way for us to go here. Maybe herbs is a better option than certain veggies we thought would work. .I could go on and on in this part but for your eyes sake i wont Its about working with what you have, altering things to fit what you have and being flexible with your ideas and goals and working your way over time into what works for you and what you wish. At this point, it is just us here. I stay home and this year my goals became to get as much out of my gardens as possible. Experiment with year round growing(outside and greenhouse) See how much i needed of select herbs to provide us with enough for both home use , making oils and such and how much would be needed to have leftovers to sell either at either farm market or even local stores. Raise as much of our own meats as possible and have enough veggies n such to last until harvest next year. Keep better track of records in all the gardens, what grew , what didnt , what conditions were etc . Work at incorporating what we grow on the land here into the animals we raise diets to reduce expenditures on critter foods and Make more beds for other herbs and veggies for experimental purposes right now. I have accomplished most of my goals, on my own and there is no higher satisfaction than that. Through the cold months i plot and scheme out new garden ideas, research things i may want to attempt and experiment with . I am working toward bringing rabbits in as companion animals with chickens and in the greenhouse and for meat.I am learning more about herbs and such so that i can increase what i do with them here in future whether purely for personal use or at a later point in a small business venture... i am making the transition from store bought crap seeds to all heirloom varieties and saving all my seeds etc and basically trying to make further adjustments that make our lives not only more self sufficient but more fulfilling with the least amount of work involved. everyone needs free time to enjoy what they have, it can be all consuming if you go nuts with your goals and a set date to achieve them and it will become a burden rather than fulfilling . Dont get me wrong , i would love to have folks floating in and out helping and learning but there will be some sort of process before hand to be more certain of who and what we are dealing with and in the mean time , will just keep pluggin along doin our thing
