Hello beautiful peoples.
I just wanted to share my self reliant journey so far and maybe give hope to anyone wanting to try to break away and start their own. When I was in school we were given an assignment to write about what our idea of "success" was... I wrote one sentence "Live in a forest and make pretty things". Many things in life happened but I never wavered on that thought. At the age of 44 I was able to purchase 20 acres of
land with a little bit of
trees on it to finally get the forest part. I did not move to the property right away as I was in the process of adopting children and living in a trailer off grid in the middle of nowhere would not sit well with the CPS. Unfortunately a year after I purchased the land, a wildfire took out all my trees. Oh well I thought I can plant trees. I would camp throughout the next few years on the land to get a feel for how it would be to live there and finally made the move to the property in the summer of 2009 with the youngest of my evil demon spawn in tow, my 14 year old daughter. Before the move, I struggled from paycheck to paycheck saying one day I will have
enough to build this or do that on the land and finally came to the decision that I would never get there so I would just move and struggle from paycheck to paycheck but with a better view :D. For the first two years we lived in the trailer while building a little house little by little with a small
solar system for power. I hand dug a little well, do not do this just cause I did very dangerous and my neighbor still chides me for being so reckless. I fenced in a small portion to keep the free range cows out, put in a garden, and got
chickens and goats. Most of the work was done by myself and my daughter but we got help from time to time from friends, family and workstay people. My daughter left after finishing High School and I have been plugging along by myself ever since. I became disabled and things have slowed down but I have not stopped. Am I self reliant yet, no. But the magic word is "yet". I will not give up, I will plant trees whose shade I may never enjoy and fruit I may never eat. I will make a beautiful forest garden that will regenerate itself for others to thrive. I dedicate my life to doing the best I can to show that against all odds it is possible no matter where you come from, success is possible.
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