Well, Paul Revere, we got the land!
Yes, 75 acres of bare naked, completely raw land. There are trees, cacti, rocks, dirt, bushes, stickers, thorns, flowers, grass, and various wildlife animals. However, this city slicker Momma is missing, water, electricity, shelter, pavement, streetlights, and of course, the nearest Wal-Mart. We are beginning a huge adventure! I think our journey will be different than most because we are tackling this with 14 children in tow.
This weekend will be our first trip to the property since the close of escrow. We are cutting a ribbon, shoveling some dirt, and breaking a bottle of cider on a big rock to dedicate the land in any way we can think of. This weekend we will also walk the path that will one day be our driveway and tie a ribbon around the trees that need to be cut down to achieve our goal.
I'm nervous. I love the convenience of the city. I enjoy being able to run to the store for a quick ingredient, however, that will no longer be the case. During this process of building our house on the property I will be in complete learning mode. I will learn how to plan the meals for a full month ahead of time. I will learn how to use more ingredients for foods that we have in the garden (my kiddos will probably want to try and plant a McDonald's) and growing more dependent on our chicken eggs and organic meat. And I am sure every once in awhile I will be blogging my own cheerleading and encouragement to get me one step closer without losing my sanity.
My DH will have the bigger challenge. He's building the house. We are not talking about a little house on the prarie one room with a loft. We are talking about an 8500 sq ft home. We are not hiring contractors or professionals to do this. We are making this our family project full of memories and long days. My DH has a lot of experience with building, but this is the largest project he has ever taken on. We are learning about solar panels, grey water filtration, generators, radiant flooring, rainwater catchers, and all the materials needed to make it happen.
Every time we learn about one thing we know we will need to buy so much more to make it happen. Hello craigslist!! I heart craigslist! My DH gives me the list and off I go with my new challenge, and then his phone begins to chime in with the craigslist ads that I have texted that will hopefully meet the needs that we have. He makes the calls and sets up the appointments to look at all this stuff that I have no clue about and then tells me about the dreaded cost. He can make some great deals, and I think the thing that makes me feel the best is when I can look up the item and see what the retail cost would be and see our savings.
We are currently shopping for a backhoe, water storage tanks for potable (that means drinkable, learned this one recently) water, old semi trailers for storage, and industrial trailers to haul the backhoe. We are also keeping our eyes open for a commercial walk-in refrigerator, freezer and a dishwasher. We shop at Habitat for Humanities, Craigslist and any auctions that we find. We have so much to get and we need to do it as inexpensive as possible. It's definitely a challenge!
So, here we begin our journey. I figure my kids will enjoy being able to read this later and see all that Dad and Mom did to give them more room to grow and teach them how to live off the land. We are excited to show them how to make goat cheese and ride quads. It will also be exciting to have this memoir to look back on and see our funny stories, or the challenges we overcome.
Blessings to you,
New Country Momma
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