Crystal Smith

Hello my fellow Michigan Permies!! I would have never understood this title prior to my Northern life (raised in FL, travelled due to an army contract for 5 years, met my husband in Korea, and made the move back to his hometown area).

I was super excited to find this thread! I've lived in West MI (drifting between Muskegon, Ravenna, and Allendale area) fora lilittle over a year now. I'm a little sad that from what I know geographically, there isn't anyone super close to me :/

If and when there's a big permie party, I would love to partake! I frequent the Grand Rapids outdoor farmers market on weekends that I'm in town. My husband and I are finally going to be moving into a more long term situation, a house this weekend with a friend of ours. We're going 50/50 on the purchase so we all benefit from the investment as well as the lower cost of living!

We're super excited for this move because prior to that we lived in a townhouse, and his dads house. That of course limited what we could do gardening and project wise.

Since we're currently over the road truck drivers, our start plans are minimal. This fall/winter I plan on building a bee box/hive (what type I'm not too sure yet) and make plans for my bee feed garden. Since a bee hive is about as hands off as you can get (I think).

I'm going to attach a photo in hopes of getting a hello by some off chance I'm recognized.

Oh I also would like to add that I've already listened to most if not all of them and wait on the edge for new ones to be posted so I have an idea of what I'm getting into lol

I could totally write some podcast summaries! I'm currently an across the country truck driver with my husband. Meaning, I have plenty of time to listen and relisten and relisten to a given podcast. I could probably do one a week at the most since I have to drive 11 hours a day and sleep for 8, that gives me 5 hours of "play time" a day which is usually spent cathing up on lost sleep, on deliveries or just dinking around on my phone. I have always enjoyed writing and would love to help in any way I can from a distance.

As far as html goes...I know nothing. If it's even possible maybe an example page where I'd just have to change the filling of the code would help. If that even makes sense, and once again if it's even possible. If not than I can read on it myself...or find some podcasts about it to listen to while I'm driving and give it a try.

I hope I can help you out! My email is crystaljadesmith@gmail.com

That sounds so adventurous! I'm not familiar with your prior posts, where was this? How did you get there? Is this a place you live? Sorry if I seem nosey, I'm just very interested!

Holy cow have I been horrible! Reading all of these replies is so awesome! You guys are amazing for keeping this thread going!!

My husband and I actually just got our CDL's and are truck drivers for a small company out of Holland, MI. We plan only on doing this for a year or two in order to save a sufficient amount of money to purchase a house on some land.

Over the time we have strayed from the intentional community aspect of it as far as purchasing a large plot of land (that would take us years of being wage slaves). I am in total love with the idea of working together. I would love to meet some of you folks!

My specific area of passion (definitely not expertise) is in animals. More specifically lately I've been researching Nigerian Dwarf goats. Do any of you have any wisdom you can share on the topic?

I promise all of you I will be way more activeon here with this discussion and others as well. I was in a bit of a rut for a little bit but the flame has reignited and I'm dedicated to staying committed to this, and to you all as well.

Oh also, we're currently living with my in laws in Allendale, MI. So I know I am super close to some of you Do you guys frequent any farm/farmers markets? I haven't been to Muskegons but I have been to the one in Grand Rapids twice and love it.

Lastly if I take more than 3 days to respond email me at crystaljadesmith@gmail.com and just yell at me to get back on! I need to figure out how to change my email address that is affiliated with my permies account.

Hi Diana,
I am very interested in reading "The 19 Steps". I'm not sure how you're sending it to people but if you can, my email is ilucrystal@live.com. Thank you so much for your post and sharing your knowledge with everyone. This has def. opened my eyes, and helped me see where we need to start. -Crystal

Wow, no you're totally not bugging! I haven't gotten any notices until you PM'd me, and honestly haven't been on permies in a while.
That's awesome though! It must be horrible to live feeling that way. We're still in NY currently but hopefully we'll get out of here sooner than expected, within the next few months or so and we'll be heading to MI. Originally I'm from FL so I don't know much about MI just that we drove through Lansing once before. We're looking to settle in the Muskegon area. I would love to keep in touch with you and your girlfriend and see how things go. If you see any land for sale in the area, just let us know. Even houses with a bit of acreage. We were talking about that the other day. I love baking but haven't been to any formal schooling for it. Only what I do at home. Maui though? That must have been such an amazing experience! Right now we're living on 2 acres in Northern New York and plan on doing what I can to gain more knowledge and experience until the big move. Anyway, stay in touch! Thank you for replying! Feel free to email me anytime (I check my email on a daily basis) at ilucrystal@live.com I look forward to hearing from you and learning more about you and your gf

Kim, I would love to let you know when we finally make the move. I think your knowledge and experience would be extremely beneficial for anyone! We're still actively looking for land. I found this today (linked above), but we're trying to decide if the landfill part would even be worth it. We're in NY so it's hard to go see property on a whim. Anyway, I'll be sure to keep you up to date!

If the link doesn't work here is the URL http://up.craigslist.org/reo/3528844264.html

All I know is what my husband and I have looked up. We haven't physically done anything or gone to any workshops yet. I know once you get your design drawn up of what you want, it should be fairly easy from there. The main ingredients are clay, straw, and water. Check out this video, and others on youtube . My husband and I will be in NY for another year and a half but if you're still building, we'd be happy to come by and lend some helping hands! (only downfall is, we come with 4 dogs lol). The land we were looking at turned out the listed price was per acre, not for the whole property. So we're still looking. Best of luck to you!

My husband and I are actually looking at land in GA right now to start our homestead.

So what I've gathered is that COB homes are permitted there? That's what I've been trying to look up. If you don't know, but know where I should look that would be appreciated too.

We're looking at land in Jackson County.

Thanks!