Hello everyone. I would like to talk with you about something that my family & I have been blessed with. Well, the first part isnt really so, but everything happens for a reason I always say. My mother is getting a divorce from her husband of 23 years due to domestic violence. She is permanently disabled and can not live with him anymore. She lives in South Florida. I live in North Eastern Georgia. Basically what is going to happen is my mom is going to move up here to be with me and my son. My mom's brother is going to do us all a big favor. Actually, for our entire family. He is going to buy some farmland around here (budget on the land about $2M). He wants to have the land be self-sufficient and have all we would need to live off the land, including water, energy and food (both live animals and crops). This entire project is in my hands and I dont really know what to do. We all want it done and working by 2012. Im sure a lot of you have heard about all the predictions about 2012 (and I do not want to discuss that here). He wants to have a full water collection/filtration system, wind mills and generators, different crops and animals, enough housing for our family (probably some type of plantation house), an underground storage and safety facility and so forth. I know it will be a lot of work, we all know it. I am up for it too. I have always wanted to do this. I am just very surprised and anxious right now. I need some advice and guidance if there are any of you out there who have any to give. Thank you! Allison
There's no simpler pleasure than soaring to the skies on a tree swing. How else can you have your head in the clouds and still tickle your toes in the grass. A tree swing is fun and easy to rig up, and it is guaranteed to incite endless squeals of delight from "kids" of all ages. As a finishing touch, you can wrap a 2' length of twine around the becket bend knots and the loose ends of rope.
we are up in ellijay(georgia) and are about 90% self sustaining when it comes to food,water supply,heating and cooking. we have 15 acres and raise all our own vegetables organically,goats for meat,chickens for meat and eggs, some of our own grains for livestock feed and flour. we dont have solar power because its simply is not in our budget we have a cistern for water supply to the house and a spring on the property for drinking water.we manage our wood lot and heat and cook 100% with wood. we can and freeze all our food ourselves,save our own seeds for the following years planting,make our own soap and slaughter our own animals as well. you would be more than welcome to come up here for a weekend or week and get a feel for what your looking at doing first hand.(plenty of folks on these forums have been here and can vouch for us not being dangerous..lol) hands on experience is IMO a much better way to learn what you will need and what your up against.than reading about it.. if that doesnt seem like a option to you i may be able to answer specific questions on here for you,but as i said,i believe it would be much more beneficial for you to come up here and get a idea of the process and discuss it face to face..we feel we have a lot of knowledge to share if your willing to accept it.. any way it goes,you are a very fortunate person and i hope you put the needed energy into making this happen for your family.. good luck to you and yours..
2 m as in 2 million dollars? first off you could build or buy whatever you like in georgia for that. LOL I'm gonna be conservative and say buy less than 100 acres of land. The rest of the money is going to infrastructure on the land. You will have to hunt to find the perfect piece of land. Hilly with some flat areas for fields. Prefer year round water on the property either creek or pond. Build an earthship home into the side of one of the hills facing southward. use greywater reclamation to water flowers for pollinators. Since you have a 2m bank fund you can buy enough solar panels to power your entire home plus some. Also get wind power to suppliment and compliment it. There are solar well pumps by a company called lorentz I thinkI spelled that right that pump water for home use. Solar hot water heaters heat the water for showers or bathes. that should take care of the house for the most part. then I start with drawing out a layout of the land and sit down and really think about the design of where you want to plant things. Think about them in 10 or 20 years how tall and big trees, vines, bushes, will get. Buy fruit and nut trees and bushes plant them everywhere. Buy perennial edible plants and plant everywhere. Buy a compact tractor so you can till. Or if you have more energy and strength and want to be natural buy two plow horses who are trained in pulling the old time plows. Yes you can still find these and people still use them. Learn to drive them and build a barn instead of buying a tractor. Grow your own hay for them. Use their manure for compost on your farm. Be a circle keeping all inputs on the farm so as not to have to rely on the outside world for inputs. By saving seed, creating compost, creating fuel, etcetc. All of this is just for starters but its very easily done with 2m. Many people do it with much less. Good luck let us know how it goes.
