You sound quite like us but we might be a little older than you. We're 36 and 55 years old. I'm wondering what made you choose the Burns Lake area? We were looking at land up there as it's very reasonable but are now thinking that maybe the Maritimes is the way to go. We have 4 kids still at home (slave labour) and we're self reliant in meat, half our veg. and working on fruit and grains (I just planted winter wheat) but we know we have to move because we are renters and the owner of this property has it for sale. We're not prepared to pay $650k for 14 acres though.
Have you had much interest yet from people looking to form a community? We thought it would be a lovely idea and very
sustainable to have like minded neighbours but also lots of personal space but so far the only people we've really met were considerably more liberal (drug using or very hippy people) and though they were amazingly wonderful people and very generous, it doesn't really fit into our quite conservative Christian belief system. We're kind of an oddity I think...totally normal self employed people non-smoking/drinking who just work and raise our kids, we're really quite boring compared to most of the permies we've met
But we're still hopeful we can meet some folks like us and have some fun making a better life for our family and we're in no hurry either. We're very handy (my husband had a
gift for improvising and fixing) and always trying new things but it's still nice to have someone to e-mail and ask what they did "because my
rocket mass heater is smoking" sort of thing. I'm from Alberta along the way and that's what a lot of our neighbours were like...old folks totally willing to pass along knowledge. I'm finding it's a bit different here on the island though. Still great people for the most part...but much less self reliant. I think maybe it's a money thing, they have lots and so are simply not motivated to try anything different or do anything themselves. A bit different from us. When our septic field doesn't work during periods of very heavy rain we just built a composting toilet, when the power goes out we have an ancient woodstove and I can cook both on top and now right in the firebox (I've been practicing making corn bread) plus my husband fixed the old
water pipes so it heats our
hot water too. VERY HANDY!! Heat, water, food, and a bathroom...what more can you ask for in a storm
Anyways, I've gotta go tend the livestock and fax out a bunch of invoices. Have a wonderful week. Hope your weather is getting better than all the rain you've had recently.
