Fall at the Homestead

For a change, I've decided to write this blog while I am actually at the homestead this weekend, rather than after we return back to town and begin our hectic work week.

I can not describe what it's like just to get to our homestead after a week of getting up at 3:15AM each morning and commuting 150 miles a day to DC. By Friday, we are exhausted and very much ready to get out to our property and enjoy the solitude and quietness this fortress offers us. We typically get back to our home in town from work on Fridays, pack up the truck with the groceries and items we want to take with us, and begin the 40 mile trek to the homestead. With each mile that brings us closer to our homestead, we feel the stress of the week slowly losing it's grip. By the time we get our driveway, we typically let out a sigh, and the last trace of stress leaves us as our shoulders relax and feel much less heavy.

Last night it was raining buckets as we pulled up to our little home in the woods.It was so beautiful I could have cried. It's certainly fall now, and the rain falling on the trees so bright with fall colors was just awesome. They seemed to sparkle. The grass looks so green and it's coming in so thick and full. What a beautiful sight! I could have sat in the truck and looked at it all night - not only because it was such a breath taking view, but because it was raining and cold and I wasn't at all excited about facing that to get in the house!

It rained all night, and it was a little foggy when the sun rose this morning, but the sun burned that off pretty quickly. When we're in town, I wake up before Bernie and get my shower before getting him up to face the rat-race of a day we are sure to have. On our homestead we reverse this. Bernie is usually up by 6AM, and I don't usually crawl out of bed until 7AM or so. Today was no different and as I staggered into the kitchen to make my coffee, he was already catching up on the news. I really love the sight of him sitting here, in the middle of our property, in our little home. He looks so relaxed and happy.

By 10AM we were outside insulating the well tank and installing the heat tape Bernie bought. When we finished that, we filled the log splitter, lawn mower, and ATV with the gas we brought out for that purpose. Bernie headed back into the house to get a nice fire going in the fireplace, and I took off on the ATV to staple the "No Hunting" signs we brought out a while ago. We get a little concerned about rogue hunters coming on to the property to hunt. This 65 acres has sat vacant for many years and even though we've owned it for a few, this is our first fall with a home on it. I'd hate to have to worry about hunters while we are in the yard working. At any rate, I got some signs up and Bernie got a nice fire going. When I got back, we relocated the firewood to a spot under a shelter we put up this summer. That took us quite a while, but we both feel better, knowing the wood now has a little more protection from rain than it had in the backyard under a tarp that the wind often blew off.

Right now we're sitting in the living room, toasty warm from the nice fire in the fireplace. I'm fixing to go in and start the lasagne we'll have for supper, but I wanted to take a moment and attempt to share our weekend.

We've decided to spend the week of Thanksgiving out here, on the homestead. I get excited just thinking about it. We've taken a few vacations in our life together, but I believe this will be the nicest yet! We're also planning to pick up our honey bees that week and bring them out to thier new home. We know nothing about honey bees, but we are both excited to learn.

OK, that's it for today. I need to go get supper started. I have some relaxing to do as soon as I finish that up.

Live free!
Penny

Freedom and Life in General

Among the many reasons Bernie and I made the decision to start down the path toward homesteading, is the fact that we are very concerned about the direction this country is headed. We feel it is not only desirable, but necessary to become more self sufficient. At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, I would say the fear of a collapse of our monetary system is at the top of our concerns.

Freedom to Fascism is an excellent video on the subject of the 16th Amendment, taxes, and the state of our monetary system. It's rather long, but I feel it is well worth the time to watch it and decide for yourself how you feel about the information. At the very least, I think it will give you pause for concern, and maybe lead you to looking into this subject a little more on your own. It's something to think about - and perhaps prepare for.

On a lighter note, we spent a whirl wind weekend out on the homestead. We started it on Friday night when we drove from Washington, DC to Richmond, Virginia for Delegate Janis' birthday party. We've attended the past couple of years and always have a great time, so it was hard to turn down the invitation. We left there around 9PM and headed out to the homestead. We arrived "home" just after midnight. It's the first time we've pulled up onto our property that late at night. I was impressed with the total darkness and calmness as we walked from the car to the house. It was so peaceful and so serene. We sat up talking until about 2AM and swore we were sleeping in late in the morning. When I got up at 8AM, Bernie was dressed and watching for deer out the living room window. So much for sleeping in.....

We spent Saturday splitting some logs from trees we had cut up earlier in the woods. We hauled the split wood up to the house and stacked it at the tree line by the house. We finally finished up around 5PM and came into the house to cook up some fish stew from some of the fish Daddy so generously provides us.

Sunday we got up, ate breakfast, and left around 10AM to head back into town. Bernie was supposed to go flying with a friend that has a 46 Luscomb, but that got cancelled due to the weather. He was looking forward to flying over the homestead and getting some pictures for us to put up on the website. That's OK. They'll reschedule and we'll get the pictures up there later. Instead, we spent the day working around our home in town and praying that we sell it soon.

Hey, we've scheduled the weekend before Thanksgiving to go get our honey bees! Six hives and the stuff that goes with owning bees. We're pretty excited. This will be a pretty cool adventure. I'll be certain to keep y'all up to date on that.

Live Free!
Penny

I feel I may have found a home on the Homesteading Today website. If you haven't checked them out yet, it's a pretty cool site with a lot of members - seems like most have been homesteading for a while, and some, like me, are preparing for it. Lots of good info there and lots of good people.

It's been a little while since I posted. We drove from Virginia to Texas for a few days for a bikers' rights related conference. We had a great time, and it was hosted by my Big Brother, so it was especially great for me.

We went out to the homestead to spend last weekend - we missed a weekend going to Texas, but what a difference the change in weather has made! The leaves are turning and the grass is coming in really nicely. The deer have changed their visitation schedule and now come even earlier in the morning. It was chilly while we were there and neither of us are cold weather people. We had a fire in the fireplace all weekend and I made a big pot of chili Saturday night. We had the yard to mow on Saturday, so that took most of the day. Next weekend we've got to get started cutting, splitting, and stacking some firewood. Did I mention we're not cold weather people?

I took a few pictures while we were out there. They're posted in the Homestead Pictures area of the BackToBasicLiving website. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the most recent pictures.

We haven't sold the house in town yet, but we're moving ahead as best we can. Our next adventure is getting 6 hives of honey bees! We have a friend who is selling his bees, hives, and accessories - he gave us a good deal. We'll be heading up to get them in November. We're pretty excited about it - I'll be sure to keep you updated and post some pictures of the little buggers.

It's really hard not to get bummed out about the housing market right now. We desperately want to sell our house in town and get back to basic living out on our homestead. But we made a deal with each other that we had to sell the house first, so that's that. If you know of anyone looking for a nice, 3400 square foot brick home in Front Royal, let me know!

Live free,
Penny

I've been reading up on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Scary stuff for anyone who homesteads or simply wants to raise livestock on a small scale (a goat, a chicken, etc.). Articles that I felt really did a great job of explaining what the NAIS is and where all this comes from are in the latest issue of Countryside & Small Stock Journal Magazine magazine. Check it out and see what you think.

This program has already been implemented. BUT if you are as worried about this as I am, there is something you can do to work to stop this program NOW. There is a bill in the House (H.R.6042) and a bill in the Senate (S.3862) to "amend the Animal Health Protection Act to prohibit the Secretary of Agriculture from implementing or carrying out a National Animal Identification System or similar requirement and to require the Secretary to protect information obtained as part of any voluntary animal identification system."

Each of us needs to contact our Senator and our Congressman and ask that these bills be supported. Don't know where to write? Well, find your Senator and contact information here. Enter your state name in the box at the top, right hand corner. Find your Congressman and contact information here. Enter your zip code or choose your Representatives name from the area in the middle at the top.

The NAIS program has been implemented. Now it's up to YOU to do something about it. The role of National Government is clearly spelled out in the Constitution of the United States - and clearly the NAIS is not included in the limited role of our national government. Are you content to let the government intrude into your lifestyle and personal liberties, or are you going to do something about it?

Write your civil servants today - and spread the word!!!

Live Free,
Penny

Well, another weekend at the homestead has come and gone. We had plans to do a fair amount of work outside, but once again it rained all day Saturday. It's hard to get upset about that for a couple of reasons though 1) the grass seed we've been sowing desperately needs some water and 2) being forced to chill out is difficult to complain about! I spent some time working on my website. There are some little things and a few big things that I've been really wanting to do, but finding a couple of "free" hours while trying to maintain 2 homes, sell one of them, and work full time has been a little challenging. So I took advantage of the "down time" and did just a little work on the Back to Basic Living website. Check it out.

You know, I've been thinking about the story I posted yesterday "Life Without Left Turns". I still think it's a very touching, humorous story that makes me long for a simpler life, but I also got to wondering if perhaps the author's father just simply wasn't one to take any chances in life. It's rather difficult to judge that reading this story, but it gave just enough information to make me wonder.

Lord knows I love living and have plans to do a bunch more of it, but I can't imagine what life would be like if I avoided all risks. I like to believe the risks I take are carefully thought out, but there are some things I do that make others swear I've lost my mind. For example, the fact that Bernie and I plan to sell our home in town, quit our jobs and move out to the country and begin our lives as homesteaders. There are many people who understand and support our effort, but there are probably plenty more that think we're insane to quit good paying jobs and take a chance earning money month to month doing whatever we come up with to make a dollar or two. To us, it's worth taking a chance that we can make the money we need to survive and living a less complicated life, and end up with a healthier and happier life than making a bunch of money working in the city. Many think that financial independence is worth more than personal independence. For some that may be true. For us it's not. It may be a risk, but it's one worth taking. Although it's scary to some degree, being too afraid to do something we desire so much would be crippling to us.

So I guess life without left turns must be nice in many ways. But not if that means yearning to go down that road to the left and never experiencing what's there because you're afraid of the risk. Life is full of risks. It's one of the many things that makes it all so interesting and fun!

Left turns, right turns, and straight of ways all come with risks. Live life to the fullest and with purpose. We're all going to "go" at some point - I just don't want my final thought to be "If I had only had the courage to........"

Live free.

Penny

A life without left turns. How different would that be? How difficult would we find it? A friend of mine sent me this link to an article that I found touching and something to reflect upon. Life without left turns may seem silly and pretty much impossible, but after reading how Michael Gartner's father accomplished it, it made me yearn for a time when I can afford a life without left turns - a time when life is more simple. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Thanks GirlGeek.

USAToday

A life without left turns
By Michael Gartner

My father never drove a car.

Well, that's not quite right.

I should say I never saw him drive a car. He quit driving in 1927, when he was 25 years old, and the last car he drove was a 1926 Whippet.

"In those days," he told me when he was in his 90s, "to drive a car you had to do things with your hands, and do things with your feet, and look every which way, and I decided you could walk through life and enjoy it or drive through life and miss it."

At which point my mother, a sometimes salty Irishwoman, chimed in:

"Oh, bull——!" she said. "He hit a horse."

"Well," my father said, "there was that, too."

So my brother and I grew up in a household without a car. The neighbors all had cars — the Kollingses next door had a green 1941 Dodge, the VanLaninghams across the street a gray 1936 Plymouth, the Hopsons two doors down a black 1941 Ford — but we had none. My father, a newspaperman in Des Moines, would take the streetcar to work and, often as not, walk the 3 miles home. If he took the streetcar home, my mother and brother and I would walk the three blocks to the streetcar stop, meet him and walk home together.

Our 1950 Chevy

My brother, David, was born in 1935, and I was born in 1938, and sometimes, at dinner, we'd ask how come all the neighbors had cars but we had none. "No one in the family drives," my mother would explain, and that was that. But, sometimes, my father would say, "But as soon as one of you boys turns 16, we'll get one."

It was as if he wasn't sure which one of us would turn 16 first.

But, sure enough, my brother turned 16 before I did, so in 1951 my parents bought a used 1950 Chevrolet from a friend who ran the parts department at a Chevy dealership downtown. It was a four-door, white model, stick shift, fender skirts, loaded with everything, and, since my parents didn't drive, it more or less became my brother's car.

Having a car but not being able to drive didn't bother my father, but it didn't make sense to my mother. So in 1952, when she was 43 years old, she asked a friend to teach her to drive. She learned in a nearby cemetery, the place where I learned to drive the following year and where, a generation later, I took my two sons to practice driving. The cemetery probably was my father's idea. "Who can your mother hurt in the cemetery?" I remember him saying once.

For the next 45 years or so, until she was 90, my mother was the driver in the family. Neither she nor my father had any sense of direction, but he loaded up on maps — though they seldom left the city limits — and appointed himself navigator. It seemed to work.

The ritual walk to church

Still, they both continued to walk a lot. My mother was a devout Catholic, and my father an equally devout agnostic, an arrangement that didn't seem to bother either of them through their 75 years of marriage. (Yes, 75 years, and they were deeply in love the entire time.) He retired when he was 70, and nearly every morning for the next 20 years or so, he would walk with her the mile to St. Augustin's Church. She would walk down and sit in the front pew, and he would wait in the back until he saw which of the parish's two priests was on duty that morning. If it was the pastor, my father then would go out and take a 2-mile walk, meeting my mother at the end of the service and walking her home. If it was the assistant pastor, he'd take just a 1-mile walk and then head back to the church.

He called the priests "Father Fast" and "Father Slow."

After he retired, my father almost always accompanied my mother whenever she drove anywhere, even if he had no reason to go along. If she were going to the beauty parlor, he'd sit in the car and read, or go take a stroll or, if it was summer, have her keep the engine running so he could listen to the Cubs game on the radio. (In the evening, then, when I'd stop by, he'd explain: "The Cubs lost again. The millionaire on second base made a bad throw to the millionaire on first base, so the multimillionaire on third base scored.") If she were going to the grocery store, he would go along to carry the bags out — and to make sure she loaded up on ice cream.

As I said, he was always the navigator, and once, when he was 95 and she was 88 and still driving, he said to me, "Do you want to know the secret of a long life?" "I guess so," I said, knowing it probably would be something bizarre.

"No left turns," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"No left turns," he repeated. "Several years ago, your mother and I read an article that said most accidents that old people are in happen when they turn left in front of oncoming traffic. As you get older, your eyesight worsens, and you can lose your depth perception, it said. So your mother and I decided never again to make a left turn."

"What?" I said again. "No left turns," he said. "Think about it. Three rights are the same as a left, and that's a lot safer. So we always make three rights."

"You're kidding!" I said, and I turned to my mother for support. "No," she said, "your father is right. We make three rights. It works."

But then she added: "Except when your father loses count."

I was driving at the time, and I almost drove off the road as I started laughing. "Loses count?" I asked. "Yes," my father admitted, "that sometimes happens. But it's not a problem. You just make seven rights, and you're okay again."

I couldn't resist. "Do you ever go for 11?" I asked.

"No," he said. "If we miss it at seven, we just come home and call it a bad day. Besides, nothing in life is so important it can't be put off another day or another week."

My mother was never in an accident, but one evening she handed me her car keys and said she had decided to quit driving. That was in 1999, when she was 90. She lived four more years, until 2003. My father died the next year, at 102. They both died in the bungalow they had moved into in 1937 and bought a few years later for $3,000. (Sixty years later, my brother and I paid $8,000 to have a shower put in the tiny bathroom — the house had never had one. My father would have died then and there if he knew the shower cost nearly three times what he paid for the house.) He continued to walk daily — he had me get him a treadmill when he was 101 because he was afraid he'd fall on the icy sidewalks but wanted to keep exercising — and he was of sound mind and sound body until the moment he died.

A happy life

One September afternoon in 2004, he and my son went with me when I had to give a talk in a neighboring town, and it was clear to all three of us that he was wearing out, though we had the usual wide-ranging conversation about politics and newspapers and things in the news. A few weeks earlier, he had told my son, "You know, Mike, the first hundred years are a lot easier than the second hundred." At one point in our drive that Saturday, he said, "You know, I'm probably not going to live much longer." "You're probably right," I said. "Why would you say that?" he countered, somewhat irritated. "Because you're 102 years old," I said. "Yes," he said, "you're right." He stayed in bed all the next day. That night, I suggested to my son and daughter that we sit up with him through the night. He appreciated it, he said, though at one point, apparently seeing us look gloomy, he said: "I would like to make an announcement. No one in this room is dead yet." An hour or so later, he spoke his last words:

"I want you to know," he said, clearly and lucidly, "that I am in no pain. I am very comfortable. And I have had as happy a life as anyone on this earth could ever have."

A short time later, he died.

I miss him a lot, and I think about him a lot. I've wondered now and then how it was that my family and I were so lucky that he lived so long.

I can't figure out if it was because he walked through life.

Or because he quit taking left turns.

Michael Gartner has been editor of newspapers large and small and president of NBC News. In 1997, he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.

It's Saturday, and we arrived here at the homestead last night. It's a pretty slow weekend for us - the weather is kind of forcing us to relax a bit, instead of catching up on all the outside work we need to do. It's a bit rainy and cloudy. Perfect opportunity for Bernie to clean some rifles, which is exactly what he is doing as I write this.

We got the phone line and DSL installed here last weekend. The DSL far exceeds my expectations. We have a cable connection at our home in town, and this DSL rivals the speed we get there. Very nice.

I took some pictures of the personal rifle rack Bernie and Tex built last weekend. I'll get those up on the website soon, along with a description of how they built it. I really think you'll like it - it's pretty cool and very functional. *UPDATE - it's on the website now.*

You may have gathered that Bernie and I are into motorcycling. We're also politically active with regard to bikers' rights - not only in Virginia, but on a national level as well. In fact, we're fairly politically active on many issues such as privacy issues, anti-gun control, etc., but bikers' rights is especially near and dear to our hearts as riding is a big part of our lives. I've been reading up on NAIS, and this is another area I intend to get heavily involved in. I'm concerned about the implication this program may have for homesteaders and small, traditional farms. A lot of what I've read so far is very alarming. Look for additional info on this subject as I learn more about it and how to address it.

In closing, I would like to share something I wrote when I learned that we lost a friend when his motorcycle struck a deer:

Who Wants to Die Happy?

What a sad day. Today I learned we lost one of our brothers. Jim Orange was killed while riding his motorcycle and a deer ran out in front of him.

I learned about this through a phone call at work. I suppose my reaction to the call alerted others in the office that something was up, because as soon as I hung up the phone someone asked “What happened?” I was numb with shock, but I managed to mumble something about the bike and the deer and the fact that my friend is now gone. And then I heard “At least he died doing what he loved to do.”

I have honestly always hated hearing “At least he died doing what he loved to do.” I mean, what does that mean? That you should die while you're happy? Who wants to die while they're happy? We want to LIVE while were happy! I'd rather die and have someone say “Well, at least she had a happy life doing what she really wanted to do, and died when she was doing something she hated.”

I guess if I had an actual CHOICE of when I'd die, I'd pick doing something I really like. I could prepare myself for that and make some decisions. But if I have to just randomly die, I wouldn't give up the moment I was actually happy. In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, those happy moments don't seem to happen often enough. I'd pick a time when I was really bummed out, a time when I wasn't enjoying being alive. I'd probably pick a moment at my desk at work. But a moment when I was enjoying a nice ride? I don't think so.

Anything worth doing in life comes with risks. Riding a motorcycle comes with risks. There is no denying that. But taking the risk of riding a motorcycle doesn't necessarily mean that you have prepared to meet your “Maker”. If you have any sense at all, you've considered the risks, educated yourself on the ways to minimize them, and taken the necessary steps to stay as safe as possible. Not because you are preparing to die, but because you want to LIVE.

Riding doesn't mean throwing your life to the wind. It means just the opposite. Riding is a way to experience life to its fullest. IN the wind. It's a way to connect with the air we breathe, the sun that bathes our bodies, and the things that allow our very existence.

“At least he died doing what he loved to do” should really be “At least he lived his life to the fullest and has no regrets.”

Damn those deer. Damn those inattentive drivers. We're doing what we love to do, and we don't want to die doing it.

To Jim I quote, “I rode with him. I have no regrets.”

Ride on, brother. Ride on.

Live Free,
Penny

The homestead is coming right along. Even though it is becoming more and more difficult to leave it at the end of each weekend, we make the most of each moment we are there. We've finally gotten some rain, and the ton of grass seed we've sown is finally starting to sprout. It's looking nice - and we're tracking in a lot less dirt and mud because of it!

I spent some time following deer trails through the woods this weekend. I wasn't necessarily looking for deer - I was really interested in where these guys wander. Apparently, the answer is "all over the place". There are so many obvious paths through the woods, it would have taken me quite a few days to follow all of them. It's as though they have a schedule to follow during the day. They seem to like to munch on stuff in the backyard around 8AM in the mornings. Based on that and all the paths, it seems to me they meet up in our back yard at 8AM, stand there munching away for a while, and then one of them will look at the sun, determine the time, and inform the others they are late for their appointment to meet up with others and eat wildflowers down at the power line clearing. And off they'll go - down a predetermined path. I'm hoping they stick to their schedule during hunting season ;-)

We had to get up early Sunday morning to leave the homestead and get back in town for an Open House we scheduled. It was our first since listing it as "For Sale by Owner". We didn't get much action, but I did a little better with advertising this week and we'll try it again this Sunday. Selling that house is really the first giant step towards getting back to basic living for us. It can not happen soon enough.

Bernie and Tex made a super cool "Personal Rifle/Shotgun" stand while I held the Open House on Sunday. Bernie didn't get pictures, but I'm going to take a few of the finished product and put them up on the website and get him to describe the steps in making it. I was quite impressed - and I can see where a lot of people would be interested in making one. I'll try to get that up there this week. *UPDATE - it's on the website now.*

Live Free!
Penny

Another great weekend out at the homestead has come and gone. We arrived on Friday night just in time for the sky to open up and let loose a tremendous amount of rain. It didn't rain too long, and when it was finished we walked outside and took a deep breath of the fresh air it left behind. It rained a little during the week too and we were pleasantly surprised to see new shoots of grass coming up throughout the yard.

We also noticed the telephone company had been out and run the line underground for our new telephone service. I believe they took a lot of time and went out of their way to map the route of the line through every brand new blade of grass that had just sprouted. I could not believe how many just sprouted seedlings were sacrificed for the phone line. Oh well, we wanted a phone line and now we have one. I should just be thankful and sew some more seeds.

We spent a great deal of Saturday installing the phone wire from the house so the phone company can hook their line up to it. That involved digging through a fair amount of rocks - but I'm proud to report we sacrificed very little new grass for it. Hopefully the phone company will be there this week and hook the house up to their line and we'll have a dial tone next weekend. I'm going to pick up the DSL modem this week so Bernie can install it next weekend. We've decided it's worth the monthly bill to have internet connection. While we are striving to get back to basic living, we do appreciate the value of the internet for communication and for information. It's one of the few "luxeries" we hope not to have to give up.

I made some bird feeders this weekend from some 1 litre soda bottles. This seems like a great project to tackle with kids. I put some pictures and a narrative of it on the website. Check it out.

We're heading back out to the homestead next weekend and, as always, have a list of things to accomplish. I'll post when we return and will hopefully have some pictures.

Live Free,
Penny

Wow - where does the time go? Seems like only yesterday I last posted, but looking at the date of the last entry, I see that's not at all true. I apologize. What a month it's been for us.

As I mentioned earlier, we planned a big camp out at the homestead for about 30 bikers from across the country during the weekend of August 17- 20. We took the full week off before hand to get things ready and Spotman showed up from Iowa to spend the week helping out. We had bikers from Texas to Wisconsin, and South Carolina to Massachusetts and places all in between show up. What a great time. It was nice to see people we consider family and share our homestead with them. It is a bonus that many in this group are people who live a back to basics lifestyle, and a handful are what I consider survivalists. We got many tips and suggestions, and Uncle Rock even supplied a book on building a green wood house. Nice!

The following weekends were spent getting the homestead back in order after having a yard full of visitors and relaxing for a bit. We are still trying to sell our house in town so we can move permanently to our homestead, and this week we had a set back. Well, I guess the set back actually occurred long before this week, but we've been so busy we didn't heed the warning signs. The realtor that was supposed to be working on selling our home was fired. In hindsight, it really should be no surprise. He certainly has not been the "go getter" we expected when we signed on with his agency. His excuse of the "soft" real estate market was easier to believe when we were so incredibly busy with getting the homestead in order and it was more convenient to believe he was doing his best. Oh well, live and learn. We're coming up with Plan B to sell the place now. We're leaning towards selling it ourselves. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

On the lighter side, it does seem that the wildlife is finally starting to get used to us being around. A couple of weekends ago, Bernie and I were in the back yard working on my trike. We were clanking around and talking and not even attempting to be quiet. Suddenly we heard a commotion in the woods behind us. We looked up just in time to see 3 deer romping through the woods. They took a quick look at us, and then casually continued on their path.

We’ve seen several bunnies (or maybe only one that is brave enough to show up time and again) and a couple of snakes (a Ring Neck and a Black Snake). Last weekend I had a bunch of dinner rolls that molded and decided to put them out for who ever was hungry for a little bread. I arranged them in a circle, so I could see when one or more was taken. Bernie took one look and said “Looks like a trap to me. No self respecting animal will fall for that.” But sure enough, there were 3 or 4 missing the next morning. And last weekend, there was not a crumb left. I didn’t get to see who benefited from that little snack, and even though Bernie is convinced it was birds and mice, I’d like to think a bear may have enjoyed some home cooking added to his diet of our blue berries. Probably it was mice, but I’m not telling Bernie that.

By the way, before you yell at me for feeding the wildlife and drawing them in as nuisances, I should tell you this is not something I intend to make a habit. I had hoped to witness some of the little fellas coming out of the woods. I missed it and don't intend to make this a regular event. But you can’t blame me for trying at least once, can you?

Next weekend we’re heading back to the homestead with a list of things to do. I’ll be sure to take pictures this time, so y’all can see the progress we’re making. It’s getting harder and harder to leave there each week. Cross your fingers that we sell our house in town soon. The Homestead is calling us and we really need to answer that soon.

Live free,
Penny

We spent last weekend out on the homestead again. I really can't explain what it feels like to leave the city on a Friday afternoon and drive 120 miles to arrive in the middle of 65 acres and know we are there for the weekend. Yes, it's only for the weekend right now, but I try not to think about that while we're there.

When we arrived this weekend, Bernie immediately went out to the picnic table and began sharpening the chain on his chainsaw. I unpacked the food for the weekend, and joined him to watch the sun set. We ate supper and went to bed to get some rest for our busy Saturday.

Saturday we woke up around 6AM or so and headed outside to watch the world wake up over a cup of coffee. Fairly quickly we were dressed and busy clearing out some more of the fallen timber from the backyard. We got a lot accomplished, but had hoped to do a little more. By 5:00 we were out of gas - both literally and figuratively. The chipper/shredder worked its little butt off all day, but by then it had nothing more to give - and neither did we. Take a look at the bottom of the Album to see what we ended up with this weekend - there are some before and after pics in the last 5 or so entries.

After we got cleaned up we grilled some burgers and bratwurst and right about then our good friend from West Virginia, Duck, pulled up on his blindingly yellow Goldwing. He came in and ate with us and we sat up till around midnight visiting. He took off around 8AM the next morning, and Bernie and I busied ourselves installing 5 ceiling fans in the little house. We're hoping this will help reduce the electric bill and wean us from the air conditioning we've become so accustomed to.

We got a lot accomplished this weekend and we've still got a lot to do. One of our driving factors right now is the big camp-out we're hosting next week. Everything we're doing is something that needs to be done, but it would be nice to offer our brothers and sisters a nice place to pitch a tent. And as we've been clearing areas Bernie has pointed out "That would be a nice place to put a shed/building/etc.". He's right. We've uncovered some great building places. Can't wait to get that sawmill in action and see the shed that we build using the lumber we've milled ourselves.

Bernie describes the city as "hard". I think he means that in reference to not only the concrete that is everywhere, but also the people. When I think of our homestead, I think of "soft". While we work harder there than we've ever worked before, the view is soft on the eyes, the ground is soft on the feet, and the sounds are soft on the ear. The hard callouses I have on my hands are reminders of the softness of our homestead, if that makes any sense at all to you.

We'll be out there again this weekend - and we'll be staying for a week as we prepare for our big camp-out. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to that - not only seeing a group of bikers that have become family to me, but sharing the land that is the dream of our future. I can't wait! I'll let y'all know all about it.

Penny

We just got back from a weekend on the homestead. I've got to tell ya, it gets harder and harder to leave it. We need to sell our home in town so we can get out there for good.

This weekend we spent most of our time clearing out the woods behind the house. When we cleared the 1.5 acres in the middle of the 65 acres, we knew we had picked a spot that had not been inhabited in recent memory, but I'm not sure we realized exactly how un-inhabited that area really was. On the upside, most of the woods around the clearing are just loaded with blueberry and blackberry bushes. It was actually sad to me to cut back the berry bushes. The good news is, there are plenty more where those came from! And the area we cleared really looks great right now. We didn't finish it quite as much as we had hoped, but we did get most of the wild vines, dead wood, rocks, and fallen timber out of the way. Take a look at the pictures. The ones of the clearing are at the end right now.

Besides working on reclaiming the backyard, we spread seed and watered to try to get some grass growing. We're really anxious about getting grass growing - walking around in a wet yard amounts to walking around with shoes that weigh 7 pounds each from the mud! Not to mention I am not big on mopping the floors in the house and tracking in mud equates to many more mopping days than I care for.

You would think that with all the work we have to do at our homestead we would simply dread going out there. Nothing could be further than the truth. Working that hard would be a total buzz kill if we weren't doing it for ourselves, or at least making a butt load of money at it! Since there's no money in this for us, there is no doubt we are doing this for ourselves. Waking up early and having a cup of coffee at the picnic table as the day wakes up is more invigorating than any amount of caffeine. Working hard and feeling the blood course through our veins as we labor on our homestead reminds us that we are alive - and why. And after a long day working to make our home what we want it to be, nothing can beat sitting back in a cool breeze and watching the bats devour the mosquitoes that fed on us all day. I've gotta admit, that's one of my favorite times of the day.

Well, we've got another week before we head out to the homestead again. In the meantime, we're going to fix my trike which decided to give up the brakes about 50 miles into a 180 mile ride last weekend. She doesn't mind - I've told you before she likes to go fast. But it was certainly a butt-puckering ride for me for about 130 miles. We'll get her brakes working again this week so she can make it back out to the homestead.

By the way, the Tin Can Campfire I told y'all about earlier is really great for keeping away the mosquitoes and gnats. We light one everytime we sit outside in the evenings. No question you could cook on those babies - they put out quite a flame and a bit of heat. A definite "must" for a survival kit.

Until next time, live free.

Penny

July 27, 2006
We started the BackToBasicLiving.com website just as we were beginning our efforts to get out to our homestead and getting back to the basics of living. Our home in town has been on the market for a few months now, and we have had no luck selling it. As desperate as we are to begin this chapter in our life, we can not afford to do that until we sell this house. We're very disappointed that things aren't moving as quickly as we would like, but we're trying to make the best of it by spending weekends on the homestead and keeping in mind that our jobs in the city are helping to pay the bills until we can get out there debt free.

We got great news today - our homestead passed final inspection! We can now focus on clearing out the fallen trees, improving the house, growing grass, and a multitude of other things. I honestly thought putting in a doublewide would be quick and painless, but the government makes certain nothing is easy in life. Do you know it took us almost 6 months from the time the home was delivered until we got through final inspection? I'm sure that time varies from state to state and person to person, but should you decide to go this route with setting up your homestead, you may want to budget at least that much time.

I can not tell you how much we enjoy our time out there. We head out on Friday nights and come home Sunday before noon. Saturdays are really long days for us as we have an awful lot of work to do, but every minute out there is appreciated, and we take great pride in looking at the rewards of our labor when we finally sit down to relax as the sun is setting.

In my other life, I sit behind a computer all day. I'm a computer programmer and it's something that I've always loved doing. But there is something much more rewarding about physical labor that is done to make a better life for yourself. I take great joy in looking at every big ugly rock pile and knowing that each rock and pebble in it was moved by our hands and left a place more livable for us and brings us one step closer to the home we are preparing. I love looking out over newly sprouted grass, remembering the barren land that it now covers, and knowing that we put every single grass seed out there by hand.

For now, the few days a week we can spend there keeps us going. Late in the evening, after working all day on our homestead, it's easy to sit in a chair in the yard, look out at the land, and imagine the huge vegetable garden and the outbuildings that hold the tools we will use on a daily basis. Seeing the deer tracks in the yard assures us we'll have many hearty meals in our new home. Even the blueberries and blackberries that grow in abundance make me smile, imagining all the pies and desserts we'll enjoy - assuming I can get faster than the birds, deer, and bears!

We're not there yet, but we're working towards it. Right now it seems like a dream to us, but we're the kind of people who set sights on a goal and head that way. We will get there. And you'll be the first to know about it!