Day 6 - 12ish; 4-27-2014

   Alright, I am sorry I have missed a few days but the land does not have internet access and power is not set up yet.  However we have made some huge improvements to the land and at this point simply need for the heavy loads limited signs to come down so we can really get to work leveling and preparing.

We have done a great deal of clearing and all and all I think we have done some good work. Here is the dog fence area we have started.  Right now it is only 150 square feet but we shall be adding to it as the months pass on.  This is the first time we have ever been able to put the "boys," Mario and Luigi, outside without them getting loose, (side note, they escaped about three times before we found all the weak spots.)  They are so much happier being able to run around without getting tangled on each other or trees. It is taking us a 6 ft high fenced in area to stop them from jumping out.  We have been using the layout of the land to maintain the posts and it is working well.

I know I posted a picture of the camper with our nice log poles holding up the tarp overhead, so I wanted to show a little more of what we did for that.  The area in which the camper is sitting has so many rocks that it was impossible to dig nice holes for poles.  So I had this awesome idea… Why not use stumps to hold the poles? This is where I started to have a great deal of fun playing with a chainsaw. Kids don’t try this at home… I started off by finding nice big stumps and cutting slits right in the center all the way down with the chainsaw in the form of a square.

After cutting the outer “square” I then made some diagonals to help break it all up.  In order to really clear the hole out I went back through with the hatchet to break things up and remove pieces.

With the chainsaws that I have I don't really care how good you are, it is nearly impossible to make a perfect fit.  So to counteract that, we took some rocks and mud and pounded them into place to keep the post straight.

Alright so what happens after you create something pretty awesome with a chainsaw that is really useful? Yup you guessed it more fun projects…

The seat in the close up was the last of the seats I made and by far the best.  The first one I made was for my buddy James and well it is sub-par at best, however it sits fine after a few adult beverages.  James, Jenn and I also spent some time making a really nice fire pit from the slate rocks we have found on the property.  We have even made a few meals off from it, and I must say a meal cooked over a fire beats any oven, any day of the week.

The kids have been having a blast and the baby seems to get tuckered out pretty quickly out there.  Our list of friends helping us on this journey keeps growing and we welcome many more to help as well.  Although we don’t have money to pay for labor we seem to know a great deal of people willing to help out today for a little help for them tomorrow and we enjoy that philosophy.  I shall close with a few pictures of Elliona and Gavin.

Day 5; 4-20-2014

Awesome day today. Combined with yesterday we have made some progress. Limited internet so just a quick post. Missed a picture of the dog fence area but I will get that tomorrow. Here are a few pictures. I used a chainsaw to make holes in the stumps for the posts, that was a blast. Tomorrow we shall be working until about noon so more to come!

Happy Easter!

Day 4; 4-14-2014

All right, so I did not get a chance to post this yesterday but we got out to the land again and I think we have most of the trees we need to cut down, cut down.

We also had the septic guy come out and make a plan for us so all and all we are on our way to getting the first steps completed to having our home ready to live in!

Day 3; 4-9-2014; 9:50 pm

First off this is my first post from my phone to try and see how well this works.

Huge thank you to my buddy Jay for coming out and helping. We got a good portion of the trees limbed and logged but still a great deal more to go.

Thank you also to my friends and his wife for taking our 6 month old while we worked to allow my wife some free hands.

All and all great day except I forgot to get any pictures and that makes me mad.

Bit of a break while my body heals from all this labor it is not use to. Almost forgot with all this work I have lost 8 lbs! The healthy part of our life looks like it will be starting before we even move!

                                                         ~~Jeff L.

Day 2; 4-7-2014; 8:34 PM

Ok soooo I guess I lied about going to work.  I took the day off because a couple of good friends said they had some extra time to help us out and well I thought I should jump on the chance to have some help.  First off Big thanks to my buddies Dave and James for coming out to cut down some trees with me today. 

I must say having an extra chainsaw running and another set of hands really made the trees fall a great deal faster. This is taken at about the same angel as the first picture the other day so you can really tell the amount of down trees.

All and all another great day at the land, can’t wait to do some more!

~~Jeff L.

Day 1; 4-6-2014; 8:04 PM

Well very long day, but well worth every minute.  To start, the wonderful piles of snow that do not seem to want to melt, is causing for a very muddy entry to our land. So in time a trench system with a small drive over bridge will have to be made.  That aside we got some stuff done today.  Below is a picture to where the driveway will be to our land.

Some clearing will need to be done for sure but there is more fun to be had a ways back and I wanted to start there.  So with my orange camo hat to keep my bald head from burning in the sun, I started to cut some trees.

(My son Evan was taking this picture, the chainsaw is not on of course for safety reasons.)

We got a great amount of trees cut down before I weighed the risk of the deep “snow holes,” causing me to feel unsafe while cutting some bigger trees.

Way more work to be done but we made the most out of the time we had.  When we got home we completed another major on take of our new lifestyle and that is the planting of our food.

This is my daughter’s favorite thing to do.  To be honest I think she will be the one to help us the most.  Saturday her and I spent a good hour making a netted ramp/laying area for some of our chickens and she had some great ideas to make it better, which we did and it works very well.  All of the plants seen here she planted with our help.  We gave both of the boys the option to help us as well and they declined in order to play video games.

For some of our followers you may remember a childhood story of a hen that traveled along asking for help getting things to make something and no one would help her accept one friend.  At the end of the story the rest of the hen’s friends found out she was making apple pie and that they never helped so they could not have any.  (That is the original story, the new one she still shares.) Either ending the lesson was learned.

The boys will learn they need to work for their food as well and when we move to having very little power they also will have no option. For now they know the time is limited and they want to get in every minute until it ends.  Play outside and work on the land until the “chow bell” is rung will be the new way of life.

Back to my job tomorrow perhaps and pushing on through the week.  First day of work is done and now it is time for rest!

~~Jeff L.

Day 1; 4-6-2014; 8:40 AM

So today is going to be the first day of cutting and preparing for our new lifestyle on our property.  I am in hopes today, of cutting the needed trees for where the starting part of our home will be.  The home shell the Amish is building us will be 12 ft by 32 ft, metal roofing, metal siding and windows on the south side of the building. (Pictures upon delivery)  As soon as the youngest of our family wakes up (6 months old) we shall be on our way!!

~~Jeff L.

Just Simply Had Enough…

                Every year your mortgage payment keeps increasing? Your pay seems to never be enough? Car payments and other daily un-wanted expenses just seem to keep building up? Do you feel like you’re slaving away at a job all day to make ends meet, and not really enjoying life?

                This is our story.  We seem to live paycheck to paycheck and never really get to spend any time with our family or friends.  We bought a home and loved it. But two years later the mortgage payment was now $400 more than when we started and my pay has not increased to match it. So my wife and I have, “Just Simply Had Enough.”  We sought out some owner financed land and found an outstanding 48+/- acre piece of property In Maine. We have both lived off grid in the past and are very well aware what a hard day’s work is.  We both agree that leaving a better footprint on our world is the only true way to live. We can grow our own food, we can build our own homes, we can barter with others and we can live stress free and start to really love life.  We will have cut our $1400 a month mortgage to a minor $475 a month and that is only until our land is paid off.  After that it is simply taxes and insurance we need to worry about. Those will amount to about $75 to $125 a month..

                All seems a bit drastic and a bit spur of the moment?  Maybe, but both of us have done a great deal of research on how to make all of this happen. Farming, both animals and plant growth are in our vocabulary. The plan is to no longer require my full time job in about 3 or 4 years’ time. So this blog is going to be a virtual run down of how our life is going to be.  Ups and downs, videos and pictures, will be posted onto here to help show others what can be possible.  Also I am sure a little bit of what not to do.

                I recently have become an Ordained Minister for the Universal Life Church and would love to build a thriving community of off grid living right on our property. By living off grid this is not going to mean that you cannot have power or showers or bathrooms.  It simply means that we will only be living off what we can be provided by Nature.  Solar or wind power will be used in many of the camps we will be building.  We have big plans and want others with the same mind set to come join us someday.

                Because I stated I am a Minister I want to make sure I am very clear… I believe in something, whether it is God, Allah, Buddha or Shangri-La I don’t know.  What we believe is freedom to believe.  All that matters is that you are a kind person.  You help others without expecting to get help back. You treat nature with respect and try to minimize your footprint for the next generation. Love your family. For us family does not mean blood related, family is those people you love in your heart every day, some you see every day others you may not.  Don’t carry hate in your heart because it hinders happiness.

                So today, (April 4^th 2014), is the start of a long processes for us to become free of burden and hindrances on our happiness.  I am planning on being “work” free in a max of five years in order to work more on our land and spend more quality time with our family.  I know I will be working just as hard at home as I do at my current job; however I will be working to better myself and my family every day and not someone else. 

Our goal is to start an off grid community of like-minded people who wish to come together to live a better lifestyle not only for our planet but for our bodies as well.  We plan on setting up cabins for “family” to live and barter between each other to live without the stresses of everyday life.  Raise animals together, plant together, believe how you wish to believe and truly love your life.

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We hope you enjoy our journey.