Two baby steps forward, one step...to the left?

I'm nervous writing these words. Yet, excited as well. After much talking we have decided to find a rental house. The bone between us in our marriage isn't holding up as well as I'd hoped. The nearly two year deployment only a year ago still has us on shaky footings being separated again is too much too soon. We're straining to be a couple which isn't good for anything.

After reviewing our finances the cabin just isn't going to be ready any time soon. With Rob needing to come home, to see his family on the weekends it leaves no time for working on the cabin even if we could get to supplies. No electricity means no work can get done and even after that there just aren't enough hours in his day to get it done. Work, where he's staying and the cabin are a triangle away from each other, each leg a good hour drive. And gas is an expensive commodity to burn in such large quantities.

So, we've decided to rent a mobile home in the backwoods near our land. While it seems like this would hold us back from our dream of having a farm in 2011, the owner is fine with us having livestock and the ten acres the house sits on even has a barn with running water and an already fenced pasture. The payment is more than manageable and will still leave us with money to work on the cabin and the ability to actually get to it within a reasonable time frame leaves even more incentive to get it done.

We've given ourselves a year to work things out, to get the cabin ready one hundred percent and rebuild our marriage. Sometimes life takes you in a direction you weren't expecting but needed regardless.

Holiday Sale for my Blog Friends

I'm running a sale in my Etsy store. Trying to gather up a little holiday gift money. All purchases done in the store by Friday November 12th with the words BLOG FRIEND will get 30% off their purchase OR free shipping. Please specify which you prefer and I'll send a revised invoice through paypal.

I have some great stocking stuffers! I'll also continue to list the PDF apron patterns as they are sold so anyone that has been wanting to try it out can.

Thanks for everyone's support this year.

Why nothing has gotten done yet.

A few months ago I posted how our shipping container was broken into. The (enter expletive here) used bolt cutters to slice off the regular keyed locks we had. So, we scoured the internet and found a special lock for shipping containers that wasn't too ridiculously priced.

We got the new lock, drove up and installed it and haven't had a problem with breaking in yet.

Actually, it's such a good lock even we can't get into it.

So, Rob called the company that makes it, gave them the serial number off the lock and wouldn't you know it, the retailer that we bought it from sold us a defective lock. One the manufacturing company has listed as returned for defect.

So, Rob had to go buy an angle grinder to get the lock off. But wait, the angle grinder is electric and we don't have service yet. Well, we'll just use the generator...oh, wait. The generator is inside the shipping container.

Yes, just another day here in our world.


While we've been trying to figure out how we're going to get power to the grinder to get the lock off so we can have access to the flooring for the cabin that's inside and everything else we've stored up there (tools and whatnots), we haven't done really anything else. The electric papers need to be notarized, something they didn't tell us beforehand and since Rob doesn't live in Tampa anymore so we have to do it on the weekend when he's back but it's in the works. The electrician set up to do the pole is on standby until we get our papers in order.

Rob asked around and the same wonderful people he's staying with have an uncle with a generator that let us borrow it for a couple hours last night to get the lock off.  He had to pick up gloves and a face shield so he didn't get maimed while cutting through the thick metal.

Now we have to send this back to the company to get a working replacement lock.  It's all these little things no one tells you about that tend to come up. The broken lock has prevented us from getting into the container which means we couldn't get tools out or flooring, we couldn't store materials or bring much up to the land that couldn't afford to get stolen if someone had the idea to break into the cabin. We've literally wasted weeks just because of this minor set back. And this is why nothing has gotten done yet.

Be prepared, folks. When setting out on your adventures, realize things will come up that you would in no way be able to fathom beforehand.

My new logo, what do you think?

Thanks everyone for the wonderful words of encouragement from my last post. With the move coming up so soon and little work being done thus far, I'm just a little tense and strung out emotionally. I will be breeding our Angora Rabbits for the first time in November and have a plethora of fur I need to process for sale. One of the reasons we got into the rabbit business was to well, generate business and since we started with our first buck in January this year we haven't done a single thing but love them up.

They're not pets, they're livestock. They need to start earning their keep around here.

I made up a logo for our farm based on the fact we will be a fiber production farm. I added in the sheep even though we're not getting them until later next year. Presumtuious? What do you think? We do currently have wool we will be processing to sell, it just isn't our wool.

What do you think of the logo? I wanted something that stood out but was simple and could be printed inexpensively. I think it portrays the essence of what we'll be farming. If you have a better idea or suggestions for the logo please let me know! I'm not that good with graphic arts.

It's all in the wording.

It's not a shed, it's a cabin.

It's not a bucket toilet, it's a eco-friendly composting commode.

It's not 57 square feet per person, it's reducing our carbon footprint.

It's not run off, it's low impact water accumulation.

Over the course of this past week I've gotten a lot of good advice about how we spin our non-conformist ideas to the consumer friendly masses. I've been worried, down-right nauseated, that someone will get "good intention" and make a stink over our new living arrangements causing us trouble with the state or government regarding the kids.

I've had an overwhelming desire to shut up. Seal my lips. Not eep out a word about our exciting and life altering plans. Even on the "anonymous" internet. So, I've been thinking of turning this blog private. I want to share with others that are looking down the same long road we have stepped down but I also have to be careful and keep my family safe.

Ideas, recommendations or just general comments are always welcomed though politely phrased message are better received.

So it begins

A few hours ago Rob left for North. Nausea, nervousness, excitement and general disquiet have been filling us both these last few days.

It's happening. We're moving. It's inevitable now.

What wild, crazy thing have I gotten us into this time? Though I feel in my heart that trepidation before any life-altering event is called for, when you're experiencing it, well, it doesn't feel so great. When I mention to others what we're about to embark on I usually get glazed over looks that tell me it's time to shut my mouth. Lots of smiling and head nodding at appropriate times. The fact is what we're doing is radical. Monumentous, so far from the norm that there just flat out is no appropriate response from those that do not share the calling.

"You're going to what?" "How are you going to do that?" "Where will you get this?" Comprehension of our dream is sometimes difficult for others to grasp no matter how much explaining we try and do. Actually, over-explaining has gotten us into many an akward conversational situation.

Crashing through barriers of social norm is a harrowing, frightening thing to do when you're going head first into the blockades. For the longest time it's just been all talk. We want to do X. The factor of X still sometimes even unclear to us. But it's been only wanting. Yearning.

Yes, we bought land but again that's not a really concrete step. Lots of people invest in land they never use. Yes, we bought a shed and a shipping container for the future idea of creating a home up there. But no work has been done as of yet. Making phone calls isn't a solid thing. Gathering information for use later is just words in a book. Living so far away and still having a job here, it has still felt like a pipe dream, a maybe, a want that would probably never come to life.

Until Today.

Today somehow makes all the work and talk we've been doing real. Rob no longer lives in Tampa. It's a fact. It's concrete. We will be following him within a few short months or sooner. We are moving to the land.

So it begins, there is no more wanting.

He Found the Marker

I just got a call from the technician at the electric company. The plat map saved the day and he's found the corner monument. They're sending me paperwork to approve the pole being set (no cost to us) to bring the line across the street and onto our property. We can have that completed as soon as next week. I'm working on the budget right now to factor in the pole we do have to pay to put up.

I'm hoping for next week on that also. We can have electric in as little as a week. Hallelujah!