UPDATE-
I haven't written too much lately due to there's a lot going on, but not in the direction I was hoping to head, so here's what's "new" since Sept. '09
I'm still recovering from my hernia, I was doing well, but I think things may have gotten a little messed up and set me back. I am moving a lot slower then I expected to be moving five months after my surgery. My slow recovery and the almost 13% unemployment rate here in my part of Florida has put a huge dent into my goal, not to mention my bank account.
Since September '09 I have lost both of my businesses due to the slow economy, my bad health and lack of employment. There is a "silver-lining" to part of this, as bad as times are, I see an opportunity to maybe return to college to get my Architectural-Engineering degree, which would greatly help in the understanding and designing of the HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical systems I would be installing in the house.
I am also taking this time to learn more about the way different countries deal with their over-crowding populations and how some families have been living for hundreds of years without that much change. If ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
I have also taken this down time to start studying Chinese / Mandarin, and it's been great to hear from some people over-seas and to see how some of the rural families live. Depending on if or when I would go back to college, I may try to get over to China to study / travel for a summer to learn more first hand how people adapt to smaller apartment / condo living.
If anyone would like to try learning Mandarin, for free, I found a great web site Chinese-tools.com that offers free audio, along with reading and writing lessons. There's no sense in paying for CD's or videos if you're not sure if you want to learn it or want to just learn some basic words for fun.
To date, the little that I have learned about living off the grid has made me re-think some of my off the grid goals or thoughts. Like a lot of people, I too would love to "get away from it all" and live way out in the middle of Erehwon, "That's nowhere spelled backwards"(TM) I sure I needed to give the out-fitter store some kind of credit for using their slogan, even if they might be out of business too???
So is it better to live way out in the country and have a bunch of land and no neighbors for miles or maybe live in a medium size town / city and take advantage of things like a flat "green roof" to maybe grown some veggies?
The second option doesn't lend it's self to raising goats for meat or milk, or chickens or other live stock, but if you are someone who still needs to work five days a week to earn a living, why have the long commute?
I never made it out to Jackson Hole or the Northwest this year for a number of reasons, but I did make it out to one of the areas that was on my list in Kansas. The nearest medium sized town is called Newton, KS. It's a nice, clean, typical Mid-West farming town. One of my original thoughts about an area like this was to buy a small piece of land outside of town that is great for growning a crop and raising some goats and chickens, for both myself and to trade / sell.
While visiting the area I saw some old flat-roofed commercial buildings and got to thinking. Many people have re-zoned buildings like these to make useful living quarters and with a flat roof they would make for a great water collection and Solar PV system set-up. It doesn't fit into my "Timber-frame" theme, but it fits very well in the LEED building concept, reuse, repurpose or recycle, etc. Plus, some of the old factory style building were built with something close to a post and beam style. And if you hit the jack-pot, you can find an old building with old hard-wood pine floors!
Some big "pro's" to an area like this are:
-Farmer's markets just about every weekend through-out the growing season. Which means I don't have to grow all my own foods, but could buy it fresh, I would know where it came from and it would help support the local economy.
-The Building is already built, just need remodeling.
-If I choose to grid-tie the PV system I could earn money back from the electric company to help pay for the system and help give to the community.
-Close to town and within an hour's drive to a big enough airport if I need to fly. FYI -I did have to fly out of Wichita one year to Chicago, the flight cost more then flying to Germany from Chicago. It might have something to do with most of the people flying into or out of Wichita during the week are doing so for business, all the airline manufactures are located there. It's one of those trade-off's, is it worth it???
-Centrally located in the US, so I could drive to places like the Colorado Rockies or Chicago within a long day's drive.
-Located close enough to a medium population that I could find employment, but not be within the "rat race."
So even though I am not actually building my dream home, I am making productive use of this time.
Happy New Year!
Daryl
