A Monumental Task

Sorting through 7 years of accumulated treasures and the overloaded truck of treasures culled from 20 years at our previous place in Alaska is a job I have been dreading! 

Even though we don’t yet have an offer on the place, I know I have got to get started, if we are going to get it done in time for a closing this spring of summer!
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We spent much of the free time from last winter sorting through the treasures in the house.  This job has begun to actually wind down.  There are a remnants of the battle still scattered around the house and one room still needs some mop up action, but the end is in sight.

Looming on horizon is the shop with its piles of tools, exotic hardwoods hauled from Alaska and other treasures too important to part with. You know, all that stuff we haven’t needed in 20 years, or couldn’t find if we did need it.  Looming over each day, those piles aren't going anywhere unless I get a start!  If we are going to sell this place we are going to have to deal with it!

Squatting in the hillside behind the house, the barn waits with more of the same.  Equipment to fuel the shattered dreams of a farm.  Residue of countless projects stumbled through in a deep migraine fog. Jobs that HAD to be done even though I barely had the strength to get out of bed. Overwhelmed with a family and a farm to take care of, I stumbled on to the next project.

Scattered nearby are the piles of farm equipment essential for the farm powered by real horsepower, that was never to be.  More relics of broken dreams.  Dreams lost to years of illness and pain.

Last week I bolstered up may courage and attacked the upstairs of the barn (it was raining outside anyway!)  I dug into piles of wood scraps and years of old hay, shoveling and carrying it out to be burned.  It’s amazing how much garbage can pile up in a few years!

There was actually some good stuff in there too!  So I decided to stack it in three piles, stuff we are taking, stuff we can use when we remodel the bus for the trip, and stuff to sell or give away.

Chore time rolled around and I straightened my sore back from hauling countless loads of useless wood and hay out to the burn pile After  stacking the last 60 bales of hay into the corner I surveyed the job with satisfaction.  An awful lot more got accomplished than I ever imagined in just a few hours.  

 Maybe the shop and the outside will go faster than I think! 

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Into Uncertainty

Leaving the Northeast and looking toward Alaska and the wilderness is what consumes most of our time now.  Moving out of a spacious farmhouse, that we’d like to sell but haven’t yet, is mind boggling.  What do you do with all this stuff that we have accumulated? 

We are heading into uncertainty.  To no firm job, and a 30 year old 8 x 12 log cabin that needs major repairs.  Yet we still have to live here until the farm sells.  What do we pack and what do we leave unpacked to use?  Amazingly our five kids can’t wait for the adventure.

For one whole year we laid our farm in the hands of a popular farm realtor.  Not one soul did he bring to see our lovely little farm.  One family happened to see the listing on his website and came up to see us on their own.  They arrived out of the blue!  My house was a wreck.   But they were very impressed that our children were in the kitchen doing dishes.  I spent the next hour giving them a tour of the land and buildings.  They thanked me nicely and were gone.  They had to sell their own place first. 

Determined, we gathered up the videos and photos taken over the years here and created a YouTube tour of the farm.  We were thrilled that almost a 1000 people saw it.  Several people contacted us via email but again nothing panned out.

Plunging on ahead we contacted a friend and local realtor.  The broker was impressed with the homesteading possibilities of our 53 acre farm.  So many things are already set up.  Barns, storage, shop, root cellar/ walk in cooler, garden area, apples trees, raspberries are just a few things. He was eager to link to our website, blog, Youtube channel and Facebook pages.  Potential buyers could follow our story and begin to create one of their own by purchasing our farm.  As we forge ahead in this new path we hope the expanded exposure will bring a buyer so we can make summer plans. 

Back to the Farmer Markets we go if we are still here this summer.  But some of the markets need to be reserved by April 1st.  Will we know what is happening by then?  We are to the point where new displays are a must.  Ideas for the new displays are rolling around in our minds.  It is a definite go ahead to make them as they will be useful in Alaska.

How do you take five kids, two dogs and two parents across the country, feeding and housing them with a very limited budget?  Add in that we have numerous food sensitivities and eating requirements that don’t allow us to eat out.  Everything must be prepared from scratch with hard to find ingredients. Of course that’s a no brainer.  Get an RV.  Oh wait……any RV that we can afford always has major issues, most of which are mold.  Our family has serious health issues with mold.  Scratch that idea.  Anyway, where we want to go exploring once we hit Alaska would probably tear up an RV!  Then we discovered people are remodeling buses into mini homes.  What a great idea!  The ideal solution for us.  Lots of room, a serious undercarriage that will handle most back roads and relatively inexpensive.

 I was planning to rebuild an old farm trailer to be road worthy.  It would enable us to carry more of our stuff when we moved.   Crunching the numbers to make it happen, I found that it would seriously remove too much cash from the tiny budget.  We would just have to toss more stuff and make do with the bus.

Now I am spending time each day on craigslist, eBay and auctions international looking at used school buses.   

Our next task is to figure out how we are going to support ourselves now that we are transitioning from a commercial farm to living in the wilderness.   Building on our experiences, skills and knowledge base we are working on several diverse income streams.  

Rhonda is drawing from her experience on the farm.  She has been making cheese, soap, baking for farmers markets and running a farm kitchen, cooking with the raw ingredients produced on the farm for 20 years. 

Several books are in the works they will tap her knowledge to bring tips and recipes to those wanting to gain an understanding of farmstead skills.   These books will be designed to help those wanting to get started baking for farmers markets, making cheese, or running a farm kitchen using farm produce.   Insights for those already living on a farm or small acreage, and wanting to produce more of their own products will fill the pages of these books.

Sharing Children’s stories and the adventures of the many wonderful farm animals that have shared our lives is another exciting opportunity to bring together Rhonda’s love of art and storytelling.

I am working on compiling the stories and adventures of my life and love of the wilderness.  I will also be chronicling our move into the wilderness.  Providing inspiration and practical insight for others dreaming about or planning to move to the wilderness is a passion of mine. 

There are also plans in the works for developing a manual for moving into the wild.  Filled with stories of people who have made the move successfully.  Gaining insights from each story to inspire and guide others craving for the freedom and peace of a life in the wilderness.

Soap making and Salve making will continue.  Building on both of our lifelong fascinations with herbs, wild edibles and their medicinal uses, we will be bringing more natural products to the public.   Wandering through the forest gathering each season, the bounty the wilderness provides, has been a dream of ours for many years.

Gathering from the forest natural materials for handcrafted items like baskets, bowls and other useful household utensils will round out our plans.