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I’m going to make my homestead as “green” as I possibly can, within my
budgetary limits. When I build my house, I plan to use a Sun-Mar
composting toilet, to install radiant heating in a stamped-concrete floor,
and to use a metal roof with rainwater catchments. The drought in the
southeast is of no small concern to me. The largest surface of my
roof will be south-facing, and solar water heating will provide both hot
water and the radiant heat for the floors. I’m afraid standard air
conditioning will not be optional in this climate – it’s far too humid
here for a swamp cooler, and I’m far too spoiled to live without it!
I will, of course, take careful heed of insulation, passive cooling,
position of shade trees, and all the tricks so well-known to gulf-coasters
for surviving our horrid summers. In addition to the radiant floor
heat, I’ll have a woodstove in the main living area which should heat my
snug little house more than adequately for the few really cold weeks we
get down here. There is enough downed oak on my land for several
years’ worth of firewood, given my modest needs.
My land is partially cleared, so the goat pasture and the vegetable
gardens are ready for me. The old gentleman who bush-hogged my property
line also plowed up my garden plot for me, and he has a sawmill as well.
There is plenty of pine on my land, so he plans to choose a few trees and
drop them so they can start drying, and when my house in town sells he
will plank them for me to use in the construction of my house. The
outside will be covered in half-rounds, for the look of a log cabin, and
the inside will be paneled in rough-cut planks. Coupled with exposed
beams in the ceiling and a stamped concrete floor that will look just like
flagstone, I’m anticipating a beautiful little house. And I’m
absolutely tickled pink that the wood will come from my own property!
I have great plans… it remains to be seen whether or not I will have the
money and the physical strength to do all of this. I ain’t no spring
chicken, as my mother used to say, and will have to hire the muscle power
to do anything serious. My husband’s death left me with a life
insurance payout, which is nearly gone, and this house, and that’s all.
I used to be professionally employed, but quit working for several years
to care for him. This long gap in my employment history seems to be
a kiss of death for head-hunters – I’ve submitted many resumes in recent
months, but no job offers have resulted. I’ve applied for several online
writing gigs, but again, responses have been few and discouraging.
There is no industry in the little town I’m moving to, and it seems a
shameful waste of a good education and years of experience for me to get a
minimum wage job in the local grocery store, but I’m going to have to have
an income.
I plan to sell the products of my homestead of course, starting with
free-range eggs, maybe fresh chicken, turkeys, ducks or geese; excess
vegetables assuming I have some, and eventually meat kids from my goats.
That all requires establishing a clientele, and keeping them happy so
they’ll spread word-of-mouth. I’m computer-literate enough to set up
a rudimentary website, but it’s going to be local customers only as I
don’t think shipping fresh produce and meat is practical. I can
produce some craft items, but that’s too time-consuming to make money.
I’ve done some preliminary research into CSA (community supported
agriculture), where town folks buy a “share” in a season’s produce.
This is a university town so there are lots of educated (and fairly
well-off) people who might participate, but I’m a little worried about
being at the mercy of buyers who might expect me to produce like a grocery
store. I’m also quite sure these folks would expect me to grow
organically, and in Florida that’s extremely difficult. The vast
variety and sheer numbers of insects and fungi that want to share my
harvest means I’d have little prospect of getting enough good produce to
satisfy “customers.” Naturally I plan to use non-toxics wherever
they will work, and as little pesticide as possible, but I cannot commit
to using none at all.
Natural fertilizer is a different matter. I have good soil to begin with,
and plan to amend it with chicken, goat, and rabbit droppings, composted
by red worms. As I clear brush it will all go through a shredder and
be used for compost or mulch. I also have a couple of sources for
horse manure, which I can collect by the truckload at my convenience.
But again, since the horses are not fed organic feed, I cannot claim to be
using organic fertilizer. The regulations for claiming one is
“organic” seem prohibitive to me, but maybe that’s just my inexperience.
I have high hopes, and I have confidence in my own ability to work hard,
to learn what I need to learn, and to do what I need to do within my
physical limitations. It remains to be seen whether, and to what extent, I
succeed in my homesteading adventure.
Wish me luck!
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