Living In The Middle Of The State Forest!
When I first talked about wanting to homestead or be a modern homesteader my family and friends thought I had gone off my rocker. They could not understand what had possessed my husband and myself to want to live this way. When we actually purchased this old hunting camp located in the middle of the state forest, they KNEW we would live to regret it! Do you know what? Now those very same people are telling us how lucky we are! How we are safer than most people! How we have it made!!
What this means to me is that now it has become acceptable to live this way. It is on television, in magazines and showing up all around our family and friends. Their friends are talking about it. It is what the "in" crowd is now doing. It is the hottest way to live now..........off-the-grid, self-sufficient, self-reliant, homesteading, modern homesteading............all are showing up in the elite circles. Now our families are saying to their friends, "this is what our brother or sister is doing..............." They are actually bragging about us! Wow, life sure turns around at times doesn't it?
Cooking Breakfast This Morning!
Of course, I had to go through a lot of sacrifice to get this far. Most women, and a lot of men too, couldn't have done it. It hasn't been easy at times, and sometimes it has been like a bitter pill to swallow. It is something though now, I am extremely proud of. I have sacrificed and done it and now we are finally seeing some of our hard work come to an end.........well, not quite yet. But soon! In the very near future and most likely in this next year.
One Part Of Our Electric System!
In another post, I wrote about Living With An Alternative Energy System which explains the history of our system and how it has evolved over the years. Then in the following post, Part Two Of Our Alternative Energy System, I showed each component and explained how it worked. For more details on the system, please check out my other blog, Solar Baby. We started off small and it was a good thing. My husband was in a work related accident, which I am thanking God he was not killed. But he had his right elbow crushed. Your elbow is a very complex joint as the knee is also. So he has had to do the work on our place slowly and it gets to him. He is a worker and likes to get it done and move on to the next project. He is not one of those guys sitting on a coach with a beer! But we do see many of our earlier projects coming to an end soon. Most especially bringing the running water into our house. That is something we are both looking forward to!
Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole
10 comments:
I gotta hand it to you . . . don't think I could do it. But I think it's wonderful that you're sharing your journey so we can follow along!
Have a wonderful Sunday!
:: wistful sigh :: I can't wait to follow in your footsteps.
Have a great Sunday. :)
I love what you guys are doing - living off the grid. My husband and I have given it (semi) serious consideration and there are some really spectacular pieces of land here in California and Oregon as well. I don't know that we'd actually build at this point as we've renovated so many houses that we're a little burnt out on the whole "construction thing" but we might consider buying a house that's already all set up. I think once we got used to living a little differently it would get easier with time plus, just knowing we're being semi self-sufficient would be very rewarding.
I think you are amazing! I would like to say I could do this, but I can't!! I just know it is not in me!!! But it would be so cool!!
From reading your posts over the months I can see that it really is a total change of lifestyle and lots of sacrifice. It's so great that you found a way of living that you love.
Living in the middle of the forest, you must see lots of animal life. We have friends that live in the mountains here in Colorado and the dad was telling us a story about how he had a VERY close encounter with a bear. The encounter was just a few feet away and nobody got hurt but it sure woke him up. Do you have any stories about animal life out there in upstate N.Y.?
You are certianly living my dream! I have wanted to be off the grid since before it was cool. Many people in my family think I am crazy too. Someday I will be there too, but until then... You go girl!
Thank you for visiting my blog and making comments. I really appreciate it! Lori, I will have to address that subject in a future post. Thanks for the idea!
Oh, great, I'll keep an eye out for it Katlupe. Thanks.
Katlupe, isnt it great being nuts ;-)) I am so glad that you live the life you care for.
We're far from off-grid and people already think we're nuts. But I think they're crazy too for shoveling fast food and processed stuff in their mouths and kids' mouths all day. And then they wonder why they feel so bad and need so many medications to balance them out. Not to mention they barely even have family lives because they never sit down together to eat or do anything as a family. It's a crazy world we live in! And not in a good way!
Tiffany
www.noordinaryhomestead.com
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