I am an older single woman going it alone in the PNW. My place isn't completely off-grid, but it is a burgeoning permaculture homestead.
Unlike some of the other commenters, I am not as worried about safety and security so much as I find it difficult to perform some tasks by myself. I feel much better when I can depend solely upon myself, but sometimes it isn't possible. Then I hire folks to help when I can't do it by myself.
Also, as a newcomer to the area and as a woman, I sometimes find it difficult to find honest, capable helpers. Twice now, I have run into some bad luck.
Sometimes I find that guys build what they think I need rather than what I want. I hired a carpenter last year, who had done some small projects for me, to build the poultry house based on the last one I had: it was ergonomic for both humans and chickens, designed and built by one of my Permaculture teachers, and I loved it. The carpenter I hired here pretty much ignored every requirement I stipulated. He also abandoned the project part way – at least I hadn't paid him for the whole job. The poultry house stood unfinished for about 10 months - it was so poorly built that I thought I was going to have to tear it down and start all over. I lost an entire year of raising poultry because of his shoddy work. Luckily, I found someone last fall who fixed all the design and implementation problems (including raising the 8' x 16' structure a few feet above grade to make the bottom of the cleanout hatch match the top of a contractor's wheelbarrow) and did an excellent job.
Today I had to fire a guy who came out a month ago to look at building a large predator-proof poultry pen. There is a significant amount of predator pressure in my area, and I have too much experience at losing poultry to predators to trust my flock to an inadequate shelter. This project must be finished by the time the ducklings and goslings arrive in the middle of April.
The man I fired is the husband of one of the first women I met when I moved to this area from Texas about 20 months ago, and he is supposed to be a general contractor, so I had high hopes. She brought him over to look at the job, but from the beginning I had a hard time keeping him focused. He seemed more interested in throwing out his (miniscule and often incorrect) knowledge about my project, and trying to impress me with his expertise than scoping out the project. It felt like he was trying to baffle me with bull**** instead of dazzling me with his brilliance. He started interrogating me about the rainwater collection system project that has nothing to do with the poultry project. (I live in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains and get about 16" of rain a year.) I still can't figure out whether he didn't really want to do the job or whether I intimidated him, but I had to cut off his off-topic soliloquy and force the issue to go measure and lay out the pen while there was still light. He promised me an estimate and a design plan based on my requirements, but never sent them. I even did the research to locate building materials, and he's lived here his whole life. I talked to him and his wife a few times to make sure he really wanted the job, but this morning I finally decided that four weeks was more than enough time to give me an estimate.
Now I've got an appointment with someone to come by on Friday to scope out the job; I hope she can help me get the work done by the deadline.
I hope this post didn't sound like a rant, because that wasn't my intention. I'm just trying to describe what it is like for this single woman who is trying to build something that isn't quite mainstream in a very rural environment far from where she was raised. I love my new home, and feel like I am living in the middle of a prayer. I am making a more sustainable paradise for myself, but I will never be 100% self-sufficient, nor do I want to be. I am making great friends, and finding out who I can trust, but more importantly, who I can't.
Baby steps, and one breath at a time.
Thanks for reading this far.
