The time has finally arrived for this grand adventure. I have to admit, I am scared absolutely spitless!
We have an 80-acre piece of
land West of Edmonton, Alberta near the towns of Whitecourt and Edson. We are moving in with family in the area in February, and hoping to hit the ground running on making a place of our own. We are hoping to be able to be off-grid, with the exception of a good internet connection for work, which
should be possible because we have 'line of sight' to a tower. We have lived in this area of the country before, so we aren't complete noobs, but obviously, this is a large leap from what we have dared to do before.
We have started some of the initial planning, but aside from clearing an area for the house and a basic line for our road, the land is pretty untouched. It was partially logged about 10 years ago but has had a pile of regrowth since then. There are Raspberries, Saskatoons, and some hazelnuts growing wild on the property which we discovered this summer. It's a beautiful area, and the house should have a great view from the build spot, which is pretty close to the top of the slowly sloping hill.
Since we are new to all of this, I have been spending a lot of time watching videos of homesteaders,
rocket stove mass heater builds,
permaculture plans, sawmill tutorials,
solar panels, battery banks, and drawing layout plans for our homesite. I have some construction background, my Brother in Law is a home builder, and my father in law is an electrician, and a friend down the road a ways runs a upick berry farm, so I consider myself blessed with some fantastic, knowledgeable family to help when the time comes. We own, and have access to some heavy equipment. We don't owe anything on the land... We've got a lot of stuff already... so why do I still feel so terrified?!?
I am glad to have found the permies.com site, and hope that we will be able to learn and document our journey here. I am also really hoping there are people in the somewhat
local community that have gone this route before us, that could give some wisdom, encouragement, and possibly even a hand once we hit the ground. The online community is great too, so if you are willing to be a part of our story, please feel free to chime in!
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