The drive to our new little cabin in the mountains went very smooth and without incident. I know CT would probably say otherwise since he was driving the U-Haul with our car in tow and the climb from the Piedmont area into the mountains was anything but easy (not to mention the narrow country road that brought us to the house). I drove our SUV, which was pretty well packed to the gills with odds and ends along with our three dogs. However, once we arrived and sat down to rest on a large porch that overlooks the valley, we knew we were home. We took our time getting the U-Haul unloaded since we had 3 days before it had to be returned. We were also exhausted from the stress that comes from moving and just needed to take it slow. Once the U-Haul was empty and returned though, we were able to breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. Now we could really take our time. Aside from me getting things ready to move to my new classroom, we had no time constraints on getting settled and we took that quite literally.
We’ve been here three months now and we’re finally feeling settled. Although there are still some unpacked boxes, they don’t contain any essential things so we’re not in any hurry to get them unpacked. Our goals now have to do with setting up the homestead. There are a lot of things we’d really like to do, but we’re also smart enough to know that we have a lot of learning to do first and that we should be careful to not bite off more than we can chew. On our list of things to do:
- Set up a chicken coop
- Start a rabbit hutch
- Prepare land for a garden
- Set up hydroponics for lettuce and herbs (This is CT’s goal, but I’d like to add aquaponics to that mix)
- Install higher wattage solar panels
- Build up our stores of home-canned goods
I know, there is a lot of ambition in that list, but I think it’s manageable. There are other things we could add, but these are what we’d like to do in the next year or so. Since we’re renting our house, there are some things we want to do but will need to wait on such as planting some particular fruit trees or raising goats. We do have access to multiple apple, pear, cherry, and plum trees on this property so that’ll help. We have taken advantage of the apples and pears this year to make several pints of applesauce and dehydrated cinnamon apple and pear chips. Our landlords have given the go ahead on the chicken coop and garden and will even help us get the land ready for planting. Our plan is to stay in the house for about 2 years while we look for and then prepare the land for our own homestead. In the meantime, we’ll use this place as a learning homestead, although I am fully aware that learning never ends on a homestead.
The more I learn about my family, the more I realize that this need or desire to live a self-sufficient lifestyle is not just a personal desire, it’s really in my genes. I have family that live on homesteads now and many more that have in the past. I have close family that are also trying to lead a more self-sufficient lifestyle. I have ancestors that traveled across the country using a tiny house on wheels long before “tiny homes” became trendy. As a child, I remember picking beans from my grandparents garden then sitting in the kitchen with my cousins preparing those beans for dinner. I recall my mom making dill pickles with some of the jars having jalapenos in them and then trying those pickles and thinking my tongue would fall off, but the regular dill ones were far superior than anything we got in the store. I grew up learning the importance of self-sufficiency, but as I made it to adulthood I seemed to have forgotten those lessons. It’s taken me 20 years to realize the wisdom in life lessons I learned as a child. I’m so glad that I’m finally doing something with those lessons, I just wish I had done something sooner.
