Another Step In My Journey!

It's June 24th, and that means the 4th of July holiday is quickly approaching, but it also means that I am about one week away from taking another step in My Off The Grid Journey! By Friday, July 2nd, I will be on the road to stay with some great friends in Manassas, VA. I have all my belongings locked away in storage down here in FL and will set out for yet another season of doing hail repair.

This time around I am going about the season a little differently. Since I have so much going on in the way of life changing decisions, I am going to start out staying with friends, while doing a little left-over hail work in area. I will get to use this time to visit with people I have hardly seen in the last twenty years, before they too set out on another step in their journey to serve this great country of ours.

In my free time I hope to get to explore the eastern side of VA and maybe squeeze in a hike or two on part of the AP Trail, but the biggest use of my free time will be going toward finishing my re-defining of my goals and wish list for going off the grid. I have received a lot of good ideas and information from the people on the forum at Homesteading Today.com so now I want to apply that information toward my goals and wishes and try to come up with a defined short list of towns to explore when I do leave Manassas, VA.

Some things I am working on at this point in time are; researching more information on employment or business opportunities working with Aeroponics, researching different colleges to try to lessen the learning curve for Homesteading or Alternative energy and to help future employment. I am also trying to define the locations I am interested in, while trying to find a new career that would be better suited for this lifestyle. It's a lot going on, and more then I would wish to take on at any one time, but I feel that a career change and relocating are both times of new opportunities and are best planned together.

What Are You Going To Do There?

What are you going to do there? This seems to be a general question I get from people. Some I think mean to ask about income or a job, other's might look at my choice as being out in "no man's land" or "B.F.E." So this Post is more or less to clarify what it is or why it is I choose the place(s) I do or more of what I see my daily life being like in these places.

First thing I know for sure at this point in time, I do not see myself "working the land" so to say. I do see myself working in a Greenhouse environment around table-top / waist high work stations with my Aeroponic systems or even some Earthbox containers for growing the items that do better in soil.

Before I see myself even getting to into the Greenhouse, I see me building a small shed-like building to store all my tools and belongings as soon as I take ownership of the land. This will free up the money I spend each month on storage units and will allow me to have my tools where they do me more good, that's close to me!

The next item of priority, since I will still be renting a room / apartment, will be to start the main part of my shelter. This building will consist of the kitchen area, a pantry, at least a 3/4 bath and the main dinning / living area, with plans for an expansion of a master-bedroom off the side at a later time. In the early part of the developing of the land, this will be more of a hurter's cabin. As long as I will still be renting an apartment, I will only be at the property to work over the weekends, evenings, either way I will be able to "rough it" with a solar showers, and other camping style amenities.

Other buildings and Items of priority for the property are:

-Enlarge Solar / power system.

-Greenhouse

-Workshop

-Office (might become part of the workshop)

How You Going To Pay For All This?

How you going to pay for all this? This has to be about the most common question I get asked right after I get done explaining my plan to go off the grid. I get this feeling from most people that when they hear the plan, they think of it as all one big piece. Like $10,k for this, $37,k for that, another $8,700 for this thingamabob, they add it up in their heads and then ask where are you going to get two trillion dollars to pay for all this?

Like anything that is worth doing, you have to take it one step at a time, start small and pay as you go. If you sit and wait for the day that you will have all the money, items, and skills that you need before starting, you might be sitting there for the rest of your life. As time goes by, and you get new information, you may change the plans. Do you start all over and wait to have all those items that are needed for the new plan?

Plans change, different opportunities come along, so you may find that what you started out to do is better used for something else. Or, you may not enjoy it as much as you did before. I am keeping this in mind when looking for my first piece of land. I may get it all wrong, or I may end up with a property that is better used for one of my other plans or for someone else and sell it off, taking that profit (hopefully) and applying it to a piece of land that is better suited for what I need. It maybe an extra step or two, but at least it was a starting point for me instead sitting and waiting for the right time.

Employment, Since I do not have any land yet and I am looking to change careers, currently I am looking for a new basic job to use as a transition to my new location. From that basic job I will be able to see if I want to stay in the area or find a new place. I will also be able to start networking with local people and companies to see if there is a market for my Furniture /woodworkings or selling my Mother's Canned recipes.

To answer that main question, How am I going to pay for all this? The Comedian inside me wants to answer by saying "With money, of course!" But Since I ask myself the same thing, I can say that I plan on working and saving until I have enough to start with a piece of land that will get me out of renting. Then as soon as I can afford enough to build even a small space to set up my woodworking tools, then I will be able to bring in extra money and plan to add each part of the plan as the money comes in.

Like the early Pioneers and Settlers, things are going to be rough for some time. They always are in the beginning of any new adventure, but as more work comes in things will grow and get easier. This is why I knew I was setting out on a "Journey" and not just building a Cabin in the woods. To me, going "Off The Grid" means more then just not having utilities, it is a change in the way I am living my life.