Clay Smith Ii

Hi Jack!

I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone.  I, too, was looking for exactly the type of property that you are.  Fortunately, I found it!  😊  

Although I was looking for the same setup as you, our situations are starkly different, I am sure.  I have been living and working in Morocco, Saudi, and Pakistan for close to a decade now.  I was actually on vacation in Romania when Covid started dancing on the world stage.  Pakistan, where I work, and where I am currently, immediately closed the borders, and Romania followed the following day.  I was lucky enough to get a flight back to the States the same day… which has NEVER happened to me before.  I am from Florida, and I actually have a house, in Green Cove Springs, that my son lives in.  (He is 35.)  I did not relish the thought of living with him for any length, so I set out to find my “forever home.”  I have a daughter in Ocala, and I wanted to be somewhere in between both.  My search was TOUGH!!!  Covid was just kicking into high gear and house hunting was definitely NOT the way I remembered it.  😊  After quite the search, I found a GREAT 5.3 acre property in Micanopy.  I was lucky enough to have found one with a house already in place.  

I spent the next 2.5 months rehabbing the things that needed fix’n.  I bought a beater work truck and headed to Home Depot... A LOT!  LOL!  The property already had a 500-gallon propane tank, a Rennai tankless water heater, and a GREAT well.  It is a unique property, in that it is sloped and actually has a workshop under the house.  Totally cool.  However, it didn’t have a pool, which, with two grandkids (4 and 6), I had to remedy.  I went to the pool people and entered a contract to install one.  The funny thing about it is that the pool folks are 10 to 11 months out on installs.  Covid is NOT hurting them at all!  😊  The time frame was great for me, because I am coming home in May, 2021, and they will start about June.  This point is actually why I am writing.  

As soon as I get home, I am going to start to transform the property into a permaculture homestead… or try.  You know the old saying, “Misery LOVES company.”  I figure since I know NOTHING about chickens, goats, farming, canning, or anything to do with that lifestyle, I will be LOST… lost, lost, lost.  LOL!  I read copious amounts of information on all the above, but life doesn’t always pan out like the books.  So, I decided I would chime in here and say, “Hello.”  Since you are also in Central Florida, I figured, “Why not?!?!”

I have been reading this sight for some time now and am very optimistic that the fine people on here will help us both navigate the SUPER EXCITING road ahead.  So, while I still have 7 months, 3 days, 13 hours, and 43, 42, 41, 40… seconds left here, I am planning and learning as much as I can.  (Sunny Karachi is STILL in the mid 90’s!)  If there is anything that I can do for you, just reach out!  

The rest of you WONDERFUL folks here… please take pity on me and be kind when I come crawling in here bruised and banged up from my inexperience.  😊

Anyway, like you, I am longwinded as well… I bet you didn’t notice! 😉

Cheers!

Clay

P.S.  Forgot to mention, in the works for solar now.