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Dad's dreams, matching morals and intense independence

So why leave the convenience of modern day living in sunny San Diego? Three reasons (and not necessarily in any order):

* Dad always wanted to do it and I guess I inherited some of that gene.
* I'd like to make my lifestyle match my ideals
* I want to be truly financially independent

My father died July of 2004. He was only 57 years old and he worked hard all his life. When I was born, my parents were living on a small farm in rural Michigan. Dad worked a day job and farmed what he could. He never spelled it out to me, but I know that he was trying to get to the point where he didn't have to work outside of the farm anymore. Michigan, however, had awful unemployment at the time (this is the early 1980s) and Dad was forced to sell the farm and move to another city to support the family. I always thought he wanted to get back to that dream of self-sufficeincy. He had plenty of "green" books. Now I wouldn't just follow the dreams of my Father for no reason. A thread of him is definitely in me though. I've always had a love for the country, fields of crops, the "old school" way.

Something I found on my own, but that I also have in common with my Father, is a love of nature in general. I've never understood litterbugs and I think recycling is neat (at first just because I could make a couple dollars collecting bottles and cans, yay for Michigan's 10-cent refund). About 5 or 6 years ago, I started getting into alternative housing structures: straw bale, geodesic and monolithic domes, earthships, cob, etc. I got into electric cars and other alternative fuels (biodiesel) around the same time. I thought about building my own house here in San Diego, but land is pretty much unavailable anywhere West of the desert. When I found my soul mate and made her my wife, it just made sense to take the first steps to making our green dreams a reality. She and I are very passionate about preserving the Earth, and so having a house of our own (and yes it consumes a bit of wood, but it will probably be the last house we live in) that is as green as we can make it, just matches our beliefs. It becomes a model that others can look at, if they have similar such dreams.

I've always been pretty thrifty with my money, but I've always been a bit paranoid about larger economic forces beyond my control. Inflation, wars, and a plethora of other factors could wipe-out even the biggest of nest eggs. I decided that in order to be truly financially independent, I needed to be free of money, completely. Of course the irony is that I have to have a fair amount of money to make that reality. I need to build a dwelling that will last. I need to have enough gardening equipment, seeds, etc. to grow enough food to feed my wife and I (thankfully we won't have kids to worry about, so less food needs). But once I'm set up, I shouldn't need to rely on anyone else for anything, and thus, I'll truly be independent. I won't need money to go to the store for anything. That being said, I still plan on having a nest egg that will slowly grow just in case of emergencies. The biggest thing I haven't figured out is health care. I think herbal medicines are great and all, but if Kyla needs a surgery, we'll still be in trouble. I'm going to look at eliibility for indigent care (free health care for the poor) and other "need based" free/cheap health care. I'll have a couple other utilities, namely internet connection, but that's fairly affordable.

That's a good-length post for tonite. Tomorrow, I'll take a few pictures of the planter I've started and a reflector that I made from cardboard and CDs.

So why leave the convenience of modern day living in sunny San Diego? Three reasons (and not necessarily in any order):

* Dad always wanted to do it and I guess I inherited some of that gene.
* I'd like to make my lifestyle match my ideals
* I want to be truly financially independent

My father died July of 2004. He was only 57 years old and he worked hard all his life. When I was born, my parents were living on a small farm in rural Michigan. Dad worked a day job and farmed what he could. He never spelled it out to me, but I know that he was trying to get to the point where he didn't have to work outside of the farm anymore. Michigan, however, had awful unemployment at the time (this is the early 1980s) and Dad was forced to sell the farm and move to another city to support the family. I always thought he wanted to get back to that dream of self-sufficeincy. He had plenty of "green" books. Now I wouldn't just follow the dreams of my Father for no reason. A thread of him is definitely in me though. I've always had a love for the country, fields of crops, the "old school" way.

Something I found on my own, but that I also have in common with my Father, is a love of nature in general. I've never understood litterbugs and I think recycling is neat (at first just because I could make a couple dollars collecting bottles and cans, yay for Michigan's 10-cent refund). About 5 or 6 years ago, I started getting into alternative housing structures: straw bale, geodesic and monolithic domes, earthships, cob, etc. I got into electric cars and other alternative fuels (biodiesel) around the same time. I thought about building my own house here in San Diego, but land is pretty much unavailable anywhere West of the desert. When I found my soul mate and made her my wife, it just made sense to take the first steps to making our green dreams a reality. She and I are very passionate about preserving the Earth, and so having a house of our own (and yes it consumes a bit of wood, but it will probably be the last house we live in) that is as green as we can make it, just matches our beliefs. It becomes a model that others can look at, if they have similar such dreams.

I've always been pretty thrifty with my money, but I've always been a bit paranoid about larger economic forces beyond my control. Inflation, wars, and a plethora of other factors could wipe-out even the biggest of nest eggs. I decided that in order to be truly financially independent, I needed to be free of money, completely. Of course the irony is that I have to have a fair amount of money to make that reality. I need to build a dwelling that will last. I need to have enough gardening equipment, seeds, etc. to grow enough food to feed my wife and I (thankfully we won't have kids to worry about, so less food needs). But once I'm set up, I shouldn't need to rely on anyone else for anything, and thus, I'll truly be independent. I won't need money to go to the store for anything. That being said, I still plan on having a nest egg that will slowly grow just in case of emergencies. The biggest thing I haven't figured out is health care. I think herbal medicines are great and all, but if Kyla needs a surgery, we'll still be in trouble. I'm going to look at eliibility for indigent care (free health care for the poor) and other "need based" free/cheap health care. I'll have a couple other utilities, namely internet connection, but that's fairly affordable.

That's a good-length post for tonite. Tomorrow, I'll take a few pictures of the planter I've started and a reflector that I made from cardboard and CDs.

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