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[Part 5] The End of The Journey (And A Beginning)

[Part 5] The End of The Journey (And A Beginning)
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The dog bite forced us to look at options that we had not considered, rentals, because we had wanted to buy instead.
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But The Universe, Gaia, God, or whatever you want to call it, had to nudge us in a different direction.
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With that nudge came an amazing home for rent right in time, in fact it was the only home of all we saw that we actually wanted to spend money to live in!
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It is nestled right in the foothills of the San Juan mountains between the pines and a meadow.
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With a south orientation, passive solar-ish design, a food forest and a few acres of established pasture its even kinda a start towards a sustainable life here.
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Oh, and there actually was cell phone service there (we had been living out of services for years).
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After touring the home and land, we said, WOW if this was for sale we might even put an offer on it.
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Wishful thinking, right?!?
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Well, as we received the lease agreement, to our surprise it included an option to purchase the property at any time!!
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So we moved in happily, feeling so very blessed and abundant to be riding out this crazy ass shit storm the world is going through in a place that feels like we belong there.
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In hindsight, the difficult journey that we took to get here was defiantly worth it, as I have found to be the case when you work hard enough and align yourself to things in life.
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From here, as the future unfolds, there will be much to post as we begin a new permaculture homestead.
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If you have read this post series - thank you, for caring.
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My hope is that it inspires at least one person to listen to their intuition, push to attain goals and work to create a better life for themselves.
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I believe that is the magic and fun in life, is that we have the power to create most anything we want, if we put our will towards it and listen to the signs, both hard and easy, along the way.
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#homestead #permaculture #colorado

[Part 4] Not without more trials... . We spent abo

[Part 4] Not without more trials...
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We spent about 7 weeks simply enjoying life in a beautiful spring season in Utah waiting for the real estate industry to re-open in Colorado.
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A week before they did, we found what we thought was going to be an amazing AirBnB, to stay at monthly while searching for a new property to steward.
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But we were wrong, it was going to be a disaster.
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So, we loaded up our things and did two trips between south western Utah and this little AirBnB in Colorado on the New Mexico border.
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At first it seemed pretty great - a small cottage on 9 shared acres, river access and animals.
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The annoying part was the miniature donkeys would always hang out on our patio. Oh well it was temporary.
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While we where there they had piglets, but these piglets would cause us major heart ache.
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So, we spent our days exploring SW Colorado and viewing property that was for sale, ready to establish a new homestead somewhere more in the San Juan Mountains above there.
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But sometimes the powers that be have a different plan for you...
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We had been keeping an eye on the MLS for about a year and had yet to find a property that we would want to place an offer on when something happened.
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Nothing was coming up on the MLS - nothing.
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Well, one day we went to see these new piglets, and the guard dog on the farm wasn't happy about this.
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He bit Sequoia on the head - likely one of the harder things we have had to go through with him (you parents understand).
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And for me, with PTSD from everything I experienced at the Columbine school shootings, it has been hard to recover from the imagery of my son still in my head.
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But, you just carry on...
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And that event meant that we couldn't, and shouldn't, stay at that monthly rental on that farm.
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But there is a silver lining...
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We now needed to find a rental home since there wasn't the right property to purchase and we could no longer stay at that monthly AirBnb.
But without any other month to month options that fit us, we had to just rent a home.
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Though sometimes things work out in your favor, and these sad, hard or terrible events (albeit tough) lead is to where we need to be in life.
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To be continued

[Part 3] The Long Road to Elsewhere… . I wasn’

[Part 3] The Long Road to Elsewhere…
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I wasn’t totally sure if my truck would make it from Reno to Southwest Utah towing our cargo trailer, and there was only one way to find out
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After our first day on the road going totally awry we were really hoping that our journey across the desolate Nevada landscape would NOT go as bad.
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The first 8 or 9 hours of the drive seemed to, but towards that last hour or two I notice my truck (Effie is her name) starting to run hotter than it was supposed too.
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Our destination was a small town on the edge of nowhere Utah where my parents lived - we rented a condo backing millions of acres of southwestern desert where we could wait for Colorado to open up.
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I babied the truck over the passes and kept the engine from overheating too bad.
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But knowing that I had 3 more cross country trips to take to get all of our stuff move it also meant that I was worried it might leave me stranded (in fact that did happen on my last trip across the country with a $400 tow bill to get back to a repair shop)!
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Finally arriving in Utah, we settled into this beautiful temporary home.
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But I had to turn around in 2 days to get another heavy load of equipment, and with 200k miles on the truck, I wasn’t sure if I should fix it and hope for another 3,000 trouble free miles or retire her to a farm truck.
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As things tend to turn out, without even trying a dealership had the exact new truck I wanted and even drove it out to me, while I relaxed on the patio - guess I was going to head back to CA to get a load of things with a new truck.
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But I forgot one critical thing that would leave me stranded in CA for 3 days in an empty yurt….
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With only 14 days left until closing on our property I HAD to get everything moved so I headed back alone, leaving Beth and Sequoia to settle into the desert condo.
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Continued in comments….

[Part 2] California Kicked Our Butts . This is the

[Part 2] California Kicked Our Butts
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This is the picture we took as we departed the yurt and land - with a snow storm on schedule to arrive within the hour.
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We didn’t know how far we wouldn’t get that day... and that we wouldn’t get to or first stop - Utah.
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I saw that chains were required on Donner Pass over the Sierra Mountains on all vehicles towing trailers, so I stopped and bought some.
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Now in CA, they don’t know anything about driving in snow, there was 2” of slush on the highway and they actually made me chain up the truck and trailer.
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Back home in CO that would have been considered a clear road as a side note.
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Anyway, exhausted from days of packing, loading a moving I did something I never do - let others work on my vehicles. I paid chain installers $40 to chain me up while I rested in the warm cab watching this “snow storm”.
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That was a BIG mistake...
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As we headed up the pass the truck and trailer drove much WORSE with the chains, I could only do 35mph and I’m not sure the snow ever even stuck to the highway.
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After about an hour of that they ended chain control - so i pulled over to remove them.
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Upon remove I noticed one chain on the trailer was installed wrong and the tire was scuffed but didn’t think about it.
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Onward we went over the pass, down into Truckee CA - a mere few miles from the CA / NV border.
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This is where it got bad.
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A car pulls up next to me and points back to the trailer - I blew a tire! The one that they had installed the snow chains ⛓ on.
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Pulling over I unpack the trailer to get the new spare tire - it’s FLAT!
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No worries, there was a town a few miles back. Leaving the trailer I take the two tires for repair.
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The next exit to turn around is only a mile further and as I slow down the trucks brakes suddenly lock up!
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Only option is to tow the truck back.
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Turns out the violent shaking of the chains on a highway with no snow to absorb the vibration loosened ALL of the brake calipers wedging one into a wheel.
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Thankfully a random shop had the tires and even special hardware needed to fix the truck!
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On our way again we continue on to the trailer, swap tires, and head out. Continued in comments...

[Part 1] The End (or the beginning). . These are t

[Part 1] The End (or the beginning).
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These are the last photos we took of our yurt and land, amazingly shot by @dronecowboys, for the MLS listing.
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What we didn’t know was what a ride was in store for us.
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What happens was we outgrew the yurt, and knew it was time to build the strawbale home we originally wanted.
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But last year we asked the question if this land, there in CA, was where we wanted to do that.
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The hard answer was no.
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Colorado and the snowy Rocky Mountains were calling us home.
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So, we began preparing the yurt and land for whomever was supposed to be there next, and as we were getting ready to go on the market COVID struck.
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Two days before we listed the land for sale, CA went into lock down.
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The first day on the market the governor shut down the Real Estate market.
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We were worried that all the preparations, physical and emotional were wasted.
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Our hearts sank and the thought of not being able to transition to what the universe, god, or whatever you call it, was guiding us too.
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Amidst loading our belongings into the cargo trailer I bought we decided to move anyway.
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But I’ve learned that when the higher power has a plan for you, nothing gets in the way.
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Despite the RE industrial closing our first day showing we were flooded with potential buyers and multiple offers!
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One stood out - the only people who saw how much we loved the place and said they too would love it the same. There was no question to us that this land should go to them.
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With a sigh of relief, despite the state closing down, we set out for the first trip across the country with our things (moving a homestead is not easy).
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But California had a few curve balls to throw at us even trying to get to the state line.
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To be continued tomorrow...
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#yurt #yurtlife #homestead #permaculture #sustainableliving

What a challenge, and a blessing, the past few mon

What a challenge, and a blessing, the past few months have been.
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But here today, thousands of miles and lots of hurdles since my last post, I find there words getting ready to come out of me.
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The last thing most people would want to do is sell their homestead amid a pandemic and loose that security - but we did.
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I’ll be sharing our story of the past few months, why we sold our farm, where we ended up and what is next for our new homestead shortly.
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And I look forward to engaging with you again 😄
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#rurallife #homesteading #sustainableliving #lifechanges #followingintuition

:: Podcast Interview :: . Are you a person who is

:: Podcast Interview ::
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Are you a person who is interested in shifting your life from a busy 9-5, to a more sustainable life?
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From the city to a more quiet place growing your own food?.
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But maybe at this point it’s just a dream?
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Then thus podcast is for you!
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Marla is a holistic wellness expert and she and I talk about what Permaculture is, how to be Begin to make the shift to a more prepared life, and how this applies to our current situation in the world!
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—> Link In Bio!!! <—
@marla.barr .
#permaculture #healthylifestyle #growyourownfood #sustainableliving #holistichealth #organicgardening

:: How to solve problems without burying your head

:: How to solve problems without burying your head in the sand ::
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It’s not possible to solve a problem on the level that created it said our old friend Mr. Einstein.
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And our personal reality is a direct reflection of where our attention is.
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I’m my experience, we can be aware of the current situation, only holding it lightly, instead of being gripped by fear and worry.
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And I’m this place is where solutions arise.
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This pandemic will reside, the economy will rebound, humanity will survive. And if we shift from a problem-focused mentality to a solution-focused mentality it will happen 10x as fast.
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Now it certainly eases the difficult times of one is prepared - with seed, herbal medicine, nutrient dense foods from your garden, well water, off-grid power, a self-sustaining business etc.
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So, in challenging times I encourage people to empower themselves with knowledge, the kind of knowledge that makes turbulent times easy: Permaculture.
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If your attention is on negative news etc you can position yourself better by taking the time to learn valuable skills instead.
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And together we can make it all fall away 🙂
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#permaculture #selfsufficiency #growyourown #coronavirus #off-grid #sustainable #sustainableliving #yurt #healthyfood #mindset

:: Producerism vs Consumerism :: . I made this ben

:: Producerism vs Consumerism ::
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I made this bench in less than 30 minutes with free materials around instead of driving to a Target and buying one.
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Producerism is sustainable, self-reliant, can generate income and much more.
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Sure we all sometimes have to buy things, because the materials are not available or the skills require an expert.
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But the more we shift towards using our time to produce - goods, food, clothing and the like, the bigger the impact we can have.
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So, what’s one thing you would like to TRY to produce yourself?
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#permaculture #selfsufficiency #sustainableliving #selfsufficient #sustainable #diy #recycledmaterials

Caught off guard with the snow storm because I tho

Caught off guard with the snow storm because I thought it was too warm to actually stick!
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Oh well, extract our Subie that slid off our road and then hunker down for a snowy night next to the woodstove 😉
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#yurt #yurtlife #homestead #permaculture #tinyhouse #sustainableliving #mountainliving #snow #snowday #yurtliving #yurts #tinyhousemovement

Yurt in the woods. . Fall is very much here, morni

Yurt in the woods.
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Fall is very much here, mornings are cold and the woodstove crackling plus the smell of coffee are my favorite.
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But we still wait for the rains to come and end fire season so we can rest peacefully.
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#mountainlife #homestead #tinyhouse #yurtlife #permaculture #yurtlife #sustainableliving

Flashback to 3 years ago, building our yurt! Swipe

Flashback to 3 years ago, building our yurt! Swipe left for the finished view.

Hard to believe we’ve been living here for 3 years now. It feels like home, so cosy and all uniquely ours.

To know we built each part of this home - the floor, the walls, the inner workings of a home, milled wood, reclaimed the kitchen from a tear down, made light fixtures - it’s the most special place to look around and see all the places our hands touched.

As we wind down into the cold winter months I am very much looking forward to taking some much-needed downtime next to that fireplace.

#yurt #tinyhome #alternativeliving #permaculture #homesteading #vanlife #tinyhouse #offgrid

Luffa! Did you know you can grow your own sponges?

Luffa! Did you know you can grow your own sponges?? This was a really fun crop to grow this year for the first time - and now we have sponges for dishes or exfoliating.

Now, I didn’t know these were a vegetable until recently not a sea sponge... never really stopped to think about it I guess. But these cool vegetables are in the cucurbit family (where you’ll find cucumbers and other squashes and gourds). They made a beautiful wall of vines along the fence, they love to climb. The most gratifying was to peel open that first one to see what was inside and lo and behold - a luffa sponge!Maybe the giddy excitement was because it’s not a common garden plant we’ve ever grown before, but I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.

#luffa #permaculture #homestead #offgrid #homesteading #growyourown #organicfood #groworganic

:: Nature Eyes :: . Little ones see so much becaus

:: Nature Eyes ::
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Little ones see so much because they don’t have the conditional blinders that life tends to give us.
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He saw a double rainbow while I missed it on my mission to get somewhere else, though the photo didn’t pick up the second rainbow.
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The only way we will improve our lives and this world is to do the hard work of removing our blinders and doing our best to show the next generation openness, inquiry, self-reflection and connection.
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No amount of gardening, activism or meditation will have as big of an impact.
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This is his planet and home now and I’m committed to making it better for him.
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#permaculture #homestead #fatherandson #truewisdom #parenting #nature #sustainableliving

:: Fall Is Here :: . It’s time to harvest and pr

:: Fall Is Here ::
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It’s time to harvest and prepare for the winter.
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I’m paying for not honoring the seasons last year and working tirelessly through the winter - but not this year.
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I’ve grown smarter - or maybe lazier.
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Either way fall is my favorite season on the land with the colors, the cool air and the early darkness offset by the glow of a woodstove.
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PS @earthenartistry makes much of our pottery, isn’t it awesome??
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#homestead #sustainableliving #permaculture #gyo #growyourown #organichgardening #pottery #potterylife

Grow 365 days a year... . Visited the manufacturer

Grow 365 days a year...
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Visited the manufacturer of these geodesic greenhouses to see options for cold climate winter growing.
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Orientation, thermal mass (koi pond here), and circulating air are key to regulating temperatures in a structure year round.
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#growyourown #permaculture #gyo #organicgardening #sustainableliving #homestead #homesteading

Big harvest day! 🌱 Onions, spaghetti squash, ka

Big harvest day! 🌱 Onions, spaghetti squash, kale, basil, chocolate mint, strawberries, ground cherries, calendula seeds and dried flowers.
Not pictured was 20lbs of tomatillos and tomatoes! .... now - need to dry the herbs, process the tomatoes, store the onions and eat the strawberries!

#permaculture #harvest #organicgardening #homesteading #homesteadgarden #growyourown #rootcellar #canning #homestead #offgrid

:: Exercise = Product :: . Permaculture seeks to p

:: Exercise = Product ::
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Permaculture seeks to produce instead of consume.
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So one of my exercise routines all year long includes preparing the years firewood - 4 chords of it.
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I thin the forest of unhealthy or dead trees, making room for new growth.
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Limb, buck and split the rounds to dry in spring and summer.
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Not only does the work keep me healthy it heats my home in the (second) most sustainable way - directly from the land.
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The more yields we get from any activity the less of an impact there is on the environment, the more time and money is saved.
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And yes it is ironic that I melt all summer preparing wood to stay warm in the winter 🤣
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#permaculture #sustainableliving #beard #woodheat #beards #goodlife

I get surprised when people propose building machi

I get surprised when people propose building machines to suck excess carbon out of the atmosphere (carbon is the main gas that causes atmospheric warming) when trees already do that, require no operator and produce food!
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#permaculture #sustainableliving #growyourown #organicgardening #sevengenerations

It’s always a good day with you polish up the ca

It’s always a good day with you polish up the cast iron! These babies might take a bit more work than the modern pans - but I love them and would never go back.

In fact, whenever I’m away from home cooking on Teflon skillets I burn or make the food weird with them because I’m so used to the cast iron. Anyone else have that experience?? #castiron #castironskillet #castironcooking #permaculture #homesteadcooking #homesteading #offgrid #homestead #homecooking

Summer garden in full swing. A blessed place to gr

Summer garden in full swing. A blessed place to grow food, tap into nature and be mindful of what it takes to nourish our bodies.

There’s tons of winter squash, zucchinis that grow so fast they turn into baseball bats if forgotten about for a few days, beans taking over the trellis, monster tomatoes that are allllllmost ripe, strawberries and more kale that you could possibly eat. And tons more.

What’s growing on your garden this year?! What are you most excited about?

#permamculture #groworganic #organicgardening #homesteading #offgrid #permaculturegarden #gardeningwithkids

This is what garlic looks like when a whole bulb i

This is what garlic looks like when a whole bulb is planted. Each clove grows into its own new bulb. Typically, when garlic is planted, we use a singular clove, not a whole bulb.
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For some reason, a bunch of garlic was still in the ground from last year. I think the tops broke off, leaving behind the bulb.
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However it happened, we had lots of garlic pop up with no effort! Score, I’d say! Though they are smaller when grown so compacted like this, it’s still a beautiful reminder of how nature does its job to grow, with out any additional effort.
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#permaculture #homesteading #garlic #groworganic #growyourown #offgrid #organicgarden

:: 7 Days A Week :: . That’s what it takes and s

:: 7 Days A Week ::
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That’s what it takes and still it’s not enough.
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My bathroom is still not finished, bedroom not yet sided, new chicken coop I started in January still not done, compost needs turned.
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Yet today I work to thin dead trees from the land for firewood - the most sustainable way of heating a home.
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This life is not for everyone, that’s for damn sure. But a common theme I hear from those that do is they couldn’t see living any other way.
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I agree.
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#Permaculture #sustainableliving #homesteading #selfsufficiency #offgridlife #homestead #woodheat #happyness #forestry #simpleliving

:: Beneficial Insects :: . Let nature help with th

:: Beneficial Insects ::
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Let nature help with the work.
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For example this yarrow attracts lady beetles, lacewings and other insects that eat garden pests such as aphids.
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Insectary plants are a cornerstone of the ecological garden!
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#permaculture #gyo #sustainableliving #organicgardening #growyourfood #growyourownveg

Let’s create forests, soils and clean water. . G

Let’s create forests, soils and clean water.
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Give me a heck yes in the comments if you are with me 🙏 🤜 🌱 💧!!

:: Muliti-use Plants :: . While chamomile has been

:: Muliti-use Plants ::
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While chamomile has been used in traditional medicine for centuries to calm anxiety and ease stomach issues, it does much more in the garden.
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We grow it as a insectary attracting beneficial insects.
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We grow it for biological diversity and pest repellent.
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It accumulates Phosphorus in the soil.
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Plus it’s a wonderful addition aesthetically.
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#permaculture #gyo #growyourown #organicgardening #sustainableliving #herbalife

It’s easy to love this yurt. There’s a lot of

It’s easy to love this yurt. There’s a lot of light, open space and something about the round space that just feels so inviting.
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...But some mornings, you wake up to find a bear had torn through the screen door (thankfully the main door was closed) and one of the windows. And then you realize it’s nothing more than a glorified tent with nice inside walls!
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——> swipe left for bear marks
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We sleep in the attached room that is a regular stick built structure, so while we did hear something, it didn’t register it was a BEAR trying to break in to the yurt.
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A bit surprising because usually bears only poke around if no one is home, but maybe since the door was shut to the addition they didn’t smell us. 🤷‍♂️
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But don’t worry mom and Dad, we’re adding some extra protection so they don’t *actually* get in.
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#yurt #homestead #offgrid #homesteading #tentlife #tinyhome

Nearly “pest” free garden this year. . At leas

Nearly “pest” free garden this year.
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At least relative to the first two years of lots of bugs eating our plants!
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Mostly because of soil building - here I’m using woodash from the woodstove to add nutrients to our soil.
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#permaculture #growyourown #organicgardening #homestead #gyo #sustainableliving #healthylifestyle

“My turn!” He says, taking over the watering j

“My turn!” He says, taking over the watering job. He talks to the “cute little flowers” and to the Big Big Big strawberries he finds. He’ll kneel down and say “hiiiii bugs” toddler lisp and all.
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Nature kid - through and through. His interest in the names of the flowers and why this and why that in the garden make it an extra layer of joy to be blessed to live this life out on the land.
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Maybe someday he’ll grow up to hate it and this way of living and want to move to the big city, who knows. But right now, I appreciate his intrigue in the natural world and how much he enjoys being part of it.
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#naturekids #permaculture #organicgardening #growyourown #permaculturekids #tomatoes #homesteading #offgrid

What a difference a year makes. Last year our gard

What a difference a year makes. Last year our garden was not tended to nearly enough. We had a young toddler, a new business and no family nearby to help out with the day-to-day. .
It was tough to have this big vision and permaculture goal, but not be able to get there. But, that was simply the reality in the moment.
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Flash-forward to this year. We still have a toddler 🙃, our business and life obligations - but we’ve dialed in practices and time management to make it possible to have a successful garden.
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Part of this meant letting go of things. In the garden, that meant spending time cultivating things that produced the most yield and that we liked the most. We set aside some things that were just nice to have or complicated.
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We also are finally seeing the literal fruits of previously planted perennials and are focusing on that more this year as well.
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I can’t tell you how it feels to come out to a garden that might not have everything planted but is vibrant and alive with food, versus a full yet flailing garden.
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Just a reminder that you might not be able do it all, but instead you can do some things, well.
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#permaculture #growyourownfood #organicgardening #growyourown #sustainableliving #homesteading #permaculturegarden #kale #homesteadgarden #offgrid

I wish you could smell this via IG🌼camomile 🌼 so sweet and delicate. Like honey and nectar. We’re harvesting these flowers for teas this year.
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The scent is unparalleled to the store bought dried version. The act of doing it, reverent and so connecting to this primal task of saving abundance for a later season.
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In our Permaculture garden there’s a million things we •want• to do, and only so much time and energy to do it. So each year we add a few more things to the repertoire - this being one of them. What’s extra is that this plant came up from one in its place last year so there was no extra work involved this year!! Gotta love perennials (or plants that resow to act like #perennials)
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#organicgardening #permaculture #growyourownfood #sustainableliving #growyourown #camomiletea #camomile #wildcraftwildling

When your berry harvest exceeds the containers you

When your berry harvest exceeds the containers you can find in the garden + a sneaky toddler hand ✋🏻 who ate his weight in strawberries and somehow there’s still this many left over. 🍓
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#growyourownfood #organicgardening #sustainableliving #growyourown #permaculture #strawberries #homestead #offgrid #homesteading #homesteadinglife

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