So it is now 3 days before we end the year ‘010….It has been a year of blessings and challenges, just like any other year. I seriously do like to think of our successes as the upsides of a large downturn.
In many ways this past year we gained by letting go and seriously adapted to our surroundings, Rosemary and I. I am so honored to have a partner like Rosemary Kimble who loves me as I am and supports and allows me to be however I want to be and to go after whatever dreams I want to seek….I am just so excited to think of what the future holds with this kind of trust and support that we give one another…..so many great things have taken place…it is hard to mentioned them all.
Here is a list of things we did this past year…built earthships in Taos and GA, hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park at 11k feet, let go of two homes (one foreclosure and one short-sold) strategically defaulting[1] on the loans, purchased 6.75 acres of land, sold everything and was robbed of some of what we tried to hold onto, and I actually sat with a licensed architect and designed a prototype of an Earthship off-grid home[2]. Rosemary and I both traveled the whole country together painting faces and henna tattoos adding a few new festivals and Rosemary continuing to make a living as an artist. It has been our willingness to step into the unknown and uncomfortable that has allowed us to be where we are today, 12/28/2010….supporting one another and opening doors of communication rather than closing them…..
Currently, Rosemary and I have been spending the last 2 months clearing over-growth, harvesting wood for fuel and clearing space in order to build a 1 bedroom and guest house/garage structures so that we may once again have a home. In 2 weeks we will begin to really see that we are making progress. We will have a gravel driveway installed and demolish the old house that is unsafe to inhabit. We will also harvest the beams from that home and use as much of the materials to build a double outhouse and composting bins and possibly a out-building to hold tools and shelter the shallow well that exists on the lower portion of the property.
2010 will always be the year that we started to build what we truly feel to be our dream, a 100% off-grid mini-farm. I say 100% off-grid, but we will be connected to the internet of course and we will have a fuel such as propane. I speant 30% of 2010 specifically looking at land that was within 3 hours of Atanta, between 5 and 10 acres, south-facing, south sloping, partially pasture and partially hardwoods near a college town or urban area, preferably medical care….And I found it in Royston, GA.
We are 20 minutes from lake Hartwell, 25 minutes from Toccoa and the Blue Ridge Mountains, 30 minutes from University of Georgia in Athens, GA, and are surrounded by 100 acres farms, rolling hills and can hear the cows in the fields when we eat dinner…..I never thought we would be in this position when we began 2010, but life has a way of happening and we feel good about it.
So this is where we are today….I like where we are today.
