one step closer...

We are beginning our path to self sufficient living this weekend. Although ideally we would like to find a piece of land in Maine or New Hampshire and build a yurt or log cabin on it, for now, we're gonna work with what we have. We're on about 4 acres now, which is mostly forest. I started the huge task of raking yesterday - we've got enough leaves and pine needles to choke 1000 horses. We'll probably have to burn most of the dead leaves, but I want to build a composter sometime in the next couple of weeks.
The soil here is sandy, rocky, and rooty, so we're gonna have to dig out a spot for the garden and fill it with soil before we begin planting the veggies and herbs. More work, but it's necessary... I tried to grow an herb garden last year and the only thing that came up was sage. The bugs got to it before I did, however, and it died pretty quickly. We're gonna have to plant some mint around the garden so that the insects don't eat everything before it even gets to grow.
I'm really excited about this because I am tired of eating all the processed bullshit from the grocery store. Whatever we can't grow, we're going to get from local farmers. So it's not as convenient as just going to the store, but we're both at the point where we could give a shit about convenience - we're sick of being poisoned, and sick of putting our money into corporations. People didn't always live like this, and our generation has been brought up thinking that it's normal. Well, it isn't. Call me crazy, but I want to count on myself for survival and not have to shell out a bunch of money for a bunch of crap. So, here we go. Joe will be documenting our progress in his blog, and I'll be doing the same.