Two months until the big move!!!
As I was browsing around my feed a couple days ago, I came across a post that intrigued me. It was a post by @goldendawne, who is curating a weekly page dedicated to Prepping. I am not a dooms day prepper but I like to keep an open mind for many possibilities and I like reading about preparedness. When I commented on the post, I mentioned that I am just a couple months away from moving my family to an off the grid location to build a homestead, she was curious to see how we have been preparing for it.
This prompted me too really think about it and actually make a post out of my answers. Thank you for the motivation @Goldendawne!
The bulk of our preparation for the move has been in growing and harvesting our Intelectual Capital. I am obsessed with learning all I can about creating a life of self reliance.
We live in a 500sqft apartment (roughly 46.5m2 for those of you not familiar with the imperial system) on the 4th floor, of an apartment building, without an elevator. We have no yard, though we've had access to a local community garden for a couple of years now. The garden has tought us a lot of things but we aren't there all the time and having a lack of accessible green spaces in this concrete jungle, makes it difficult to grow our experiential capital. We do as much as we can while raising our child... making kambucha, bread and tinctures are a just few examples of the experience we have been able to build. The expansion in this domain, I feel is very limited here.
I am however, a builder by trade, and I've taken workshops in cobb, strawbale and natural building. That should count towards experiential capital as well as intellectual, lets not forget the years of traveling and playing in nature... We're not your typical city dwellers!
I talked about two different forms of capital. This is a new concept for me, though it is something I have practiced without knowing it. Below is an image that explains briefly, 8 forms of capital. I just wanted to show you this diagram as a side note because I found it very useful for visualizing a successful homestead.
AppleSeed PermacultureObviously each one of the capitals shown here can be interpreted as you see fit for your life.
I've told you about Intellectual and Experiential Capitals, let's take a look at the rest of them:
Spiritual Capital:
I try to meditate sometimes, which isn't very much, but it helps keep me focused and in the moment when I need it. I have great faith in humanity, and have always believed there are more good people on earth than bad ones (the bad ones stand out because of the shock factor). Some of the principles I live by... No stealing and no hurting.
Cultural Capital:
I love art, music and history. I think life is about having fun, sometimes people get too serious. Does it matter if the world is going to change? Please enjoy yourselves as much as you prepare for a good future. Passing on your culture and the respect of those around you will reflect on future generations.
Social Capital:
This is something that should always be nurtured and tended to, as people change we cannot expect all our relations and friends to walk the same path all our lives. We have started to weave a beautiful network of homesteaders, preppers and entrepreneurs in our area and many friends from the big city have made the move already while others are dreaming about it. We won't be alone!
Living Capital:
Well, for now we have the land. As we engage with the woodlands we are learning what is edible, what has resale value and what areas can be designated for potential high value agriculture. Once we are settled a little, we will start with raising chickens, but eventually, we would like fish and small game.
Material Capital:
We have the obvious firewood, and available lumber material, but this parcel is also full of clay and rocks which could be used for building structures. We intend to hold a workshop in June or July to build a "Natural Materials" outdoor kitchen with a live roof.
Lookout for the workshop to be announced soon on @SenorCoconut and on @s-h-e-p, the new platform that connects steemians in the world of travelers and homesteaders.
Financial Capital
We saved as we could, but with life events, our funds have become very low at the moment. It will be a challenge, but I do plan on going to work from time to time to keep my shackles on which for now provide us with very good health insurance, and cash of course! We are also planning to bring in income through the homestead, under different forms, real estate rentals and events*
I don't know if I quite get the full sense of how big of a project this really is. As we approach the time when we do move onto our piece of property, the reality is setting in. June 1st is the date that we give up our apartment in New York City to move to the forest. This is a raw piece of land, there is absolutely nothing in regards to utilities. We do have a couple RVs on the property and we built a shed and a playground for the little one.
Water is our first issue. So the first thing will be doing is building rainwater catchment systems utilizing the roof of the shed, digging small retaining ponds where we can, installing a cistern and pumping water from our river front. This water will be used for everything but drinking until we figure out exactly how to filter it properly. We are satisfied filling up a few 5-gallon jugs just for drinking every time we go in town. And for our first winter, we plan on getting ourselves a big enough trailer that would be suitable to have a wood-burning stove. We're thinking of a park model RV type of dwelling.
Having been a traveler I have seen many of different trucks and even a small travel trailer with wood-burning stoves, I know it is possible. I'm sure it may seem uncommon and dangerous to many of you, but I assure you it works very well. We just have to be aware and ready.
Until next time, and thank you for giving me the motivation to document our progress!!!
It's not a question of the earth's survival, she is strong AF, but of our own!
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