It's always good to start with someone who knows and can point you in the right direction. I just recieved an email message from Rusty Oxydado (who is on the BC Primitives listserv). I really appreciate the help. He suggests, "you really don't need to be schooled to learn how to make a shelter in the wilds, you will find a way, you may need to learn how to get food, and what to do with it when you get it, I think you will find a lot of information through the homesteading groups." Try HeartForHomesteading@yahoogroups.com or for wilderness survival, try - http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/index.php.
I've dreamed and thought about some of the ins and outs of doing this for years, but was stuck working in the big city, then the small cities, then the smaller communities and now rural life... Living the Experiment on 6 1/2 acres to begin. My goal is to live with as little power or footprint as possible and I've dreamed up all kinds of theoretical ways to do this, but now is the chance to prove that it works. (or some of it anyway)
I'll always be boiling any relative successes down through more and more 'pure goal' ingenuities: starting from the rather cushy, but much safer end, of course. I can always jump off the ride to safety at any point, so it seems a very cushy life, right now. I've got this theory about living on less than a hundred dollars a month and I'd like to be at zero, so instead of eating the sprouts, I want to grow the seed. I want to provide my very minimal power to a tiny earth cabin, by cycling my bike generator and with small amounts of tiny sticks burned in two little rocket stoves (all of these things I've yet to build) as needed, but they will come.
I've collected the clothes (for all four seasons) that will last me all my life (with a bit of stitching here and there) and have experimented with only turning the power on one day a week throughout the winter... so, so far so good... so now here we go with Day 3 of actually living with the impending winter (of course I still have obligations in the city and so can only live it a few days at a time for the next few months, but after that, it might be more of a full time thing, with only minor excursions back into town). The computer is part of the experiment here and the landowner gives me opportunity to come in from outside to make our posts for things on our working group site and to answer emails (I have a backlog of other work to finish off before I start posting these village-related items, a diary for our interns, but there's no rush.) I'm just so excited to be doing this.
I'm loving every minute of it. Here I am. Living the dream. Hasn't sunk in yet. But I can't tell you how happy I am to be here!
My deepest gratitude to the Nature Kingdom and all who have made this possible.
Cheers for this moment, and much to come...
: )) Wezley
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