Daring to Dream

 I was reading blog entries on my blog feed recently, when I ran across  this blog post by Rachael at  thealisokitchen.com. It made me think back to the days when I was just starting out on my adult life and dreaming about what I wanted my future to hold. I was working as a hairdresser in Blacksburg, Virginia where my family landed after my dad retired from the military. I was 20, living on my own, working hard and dreaming of the day when I could have my own little piece of the Appalachian Mountains, where I could live a simple life, bake bread, raise animals and grow my own food. At that moment in my life I was very far from attaining my dreams, since I lived alone in a tiny little trailer in a college town trailer park, worked 12 hours a day standing on a cement floor, cutting hair, and had little practical experience in doing any of the things I was dreaming my future would hold... but living with your dreams for awhile before you try to make them come true is not a bad thing.. time and experience will help to clarify what you really want. There were many lessons I needed learn while I was waiting to find the piece of land and make my dreams come true.

While I was working, saving and dreaming, something happened to change the course of my life... I found my soul mate. My dreams needed to be blended in with his dreams, to become "our" dreams... We met in the late 70's during a terrible recession, and jobs were not easy come by, so we both joined the military. Since traveling the world was something we both had on our Bucket List, this was a way for us to get started. We lived in the Philippines for 3 years and it was during this time that we would learn many of the life lessons that we would need for our big dream to come true. Living in a third world country taught us much about living a simple life. It changed us, and matured our dreams, it also gave us time to equip ourselves with the skills necessary to make our dream of self sufficiency a reality. We studied and practiced on a small scale, growing plants in pots on our stoop, or in an on base community garden plot, reading everything that the base library had on organic gardening, and animal husbandry. I improved my baking skills, and learned to cook meals over a 8" charcoal burner. I watched our Philipino friends as they lived out their simple, self sufficient lives and tried to take back with me the valuable lessons I learned from them.

Bath Time! Merlyn my close friend and I bathing my son. Philippines Circa 1982.

    Our three years in the Philippines were well spent and upon our return to the states we tried to go back to the mountains of Virginia to apply what we had learned, but that wasn't to be... there was no work to be had in the area where we wanted to live, so we had to look elsewhere. My husband was offered a job in Charlotte, NC and we bought a little house in a residential area in the city. One of the first things we did when we had settled into the house, was to start veggies from seed in a sunny window and dig up the front flower bed and plant zucchini, tomatoes, herbs and flowers.

Spring garden planted in the front flower bed. Circa 1984

Zucchini and pink petunias, front flower bed. Petunias are supposed to deter squash bugs... it seemed to work, we had no bug problems at all. Circa 1984

 Over the course of the 5 years we lived in that house, we terraced our steep back yard into 3 levels, formed up raised vegetable beds, built a 3 bin composting system and rabbit cages, laid brick paths and created a permanent herb garden on one side of the house.

Growing our food in a terraced garden on our steeply sloped back yard. The compost bins and rabbit cages are on the flood plane below the garden. Photo circa 1986

My husband laying a brick path through the herb garden with recycled bricks.

  We put our newly learned skills to good use in the yard and the house and the gardens were much improved by our efforts, but it was time to move on. My brother was living in a small community 35 miles south of Charlotte. So we found a little fixer-upper cottage on an acre of land and moved to Waxhaw to be closer to my brother, who was terminally ill. By then, we had two boys, one who was 7 and an infant of 4 months. We were planning on adding on to the house, living in the old part while building the new addition. All was going as planned and the addition was "dried in", (which means it was under a roof and protected from the elements), or so we thought... Then 18 days later Hurricane Hugo blew in and destroyed all of our hard work. We spent the next several years trying to get back on our feet.Our recovery took time, but we kept plugging away. Our boys grew and the house was eventually finished.

   During all that time we worked very hard to establish the "bones" of our gardens and enrich and amend the soil. We sowed and harvested, built outbuildings and barns to house our goats, chickens and rabbits, and planted fruit trees, berry bushes and strawberries. Somewhere along the way we realized that we were not going to have a homestead in the mountains, instead we already had a homestead in the Piedmont!  Our dream of having a homestead and living a "self-sufficient" lifestyle had come true, but it happened over time and progressed naturally, developing and changing with the needs and interests of our family.

When the kids were too old for their playport, we turned it into a goat barn. Circa 2006

Mouse and Sweet two of our young dairy herd. Circa 2006

My youngest working on the second barn. Circa 2007

E.M. milking "Jelly" on a stanchion that he designed and built himself. Circa 2007

Sisters Izzy and Sunny having breakfast. Circa 2007

E.M. with the girls... he was happiest when he was outside working in the gardens or hanging with his animals. Circa 2006

Comice pears. The pear trees and our apple trees are trained as espaliered trees to most efficiently use our limited space.

This plum tree was one of two standard sized "sentinels" that stood at the opening to our vegetable garden. Both had to be cut down due to a freak accident while we were living in Costa Rica... I still grieve their passing.

   It is important to dare to dream, to follow your heart and live life with direction and purpose, but it is also important to realize that life is an organic process and there is only so much we can do to influence the outcome. We can work hard to shape our dreams into reality, but life will add its own twists and turns and in the end you may not end up where you expected... Our journey has been full of twists and turns and we have enough stories to fill several volumes. I may not have ended up where I hoped to, but I am delighted at the way things turned out!

This young pullet was one of 6o birds we kept in the Taj Mahal ( a three run multi-roomed hen house that my youngest son and husband built. It had three roomy hen rooms, three nice long runs and a "hospital" for birds that might need extra attention, there was also a foyer with a fridge for the eggs and equipment storage Sorry..we never took any good photos of the Taj)

Our youngest son had an egg selling business that he ran as part of his home schooling. He kept the books, managed the flocks, collected and prepared his eggs for sale and sold all the eggs the hens could lay. He did this from the time he was 6 until after he was out of high school. He had a waiting list of people who wanted to buy his eggs... so as a household, we ate the culls, those that were too small or too large, misshaped etc. since the rest of the eggs were claimed by his faithful customers.

We ground our own wheat and made six loaves at a time to feed the household. I still grind my wheat, but now that the boys aren't at home anymore I don't have to bake 6 loaves at a time!

Snap Dragons in the rose bed bloom cheerfully all summer long

    So, I've talked about my dreams... what about yours? Leave an comment. I would love to hear about what you are doing to make your dreams come true! Thanks for dropping by!

Blog Hops that this post is linked to:
Clever Chicks Blog Hop#24
Frugally Sustainable Sustainable Ways Blog Hop #66
Monday's Homestead Barn Hop #101 
Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop #99

Keep it Simple

  For  30 of our 33 years together, my husband and I lived on one income. We were both in the Air Force, serving in the Philippines, when a trip to the doctor revealed that I didn't have the flu, but that I was pregnant.When we discovered that there was a baby coming, we decided that I would get out of the Air Force and stay at home with him. I remained on active duty until I was 8 1/2 months pregnant. During this time we practiced being on one income by putting all of my paycheck in savings and living on my husbands pay. Since we had military benefits that took care of medical bills and housing and groceries were cheap, the transition wasn't very hard.

 We did have to cut back on our travels, entertainment, and photographic equipment acquisitions but it wasn't a hardship.  We took advantage of the good weather and more comfortable night time temps. and walked a good deal in the evenings after work. We packed lunch rather than eat at the NCO club and spent time with friends at our house rather than going out. We hardly noticed that we were "cutting back". By the time our first son arrived, we had trimmed the fat out of our budget and had a nice sum saved for later.

  My husband also spent his off duty time finishing his degree through the military program that paid 90% of his tuition as long as he was on active duty while he was going to school. Once he had his degree we decided that he would not re-enlist in the military, but that upon completion of his enlistment, we would return to the States and look for work in the civilian sector. We lived on our savings until he found work, so it was a good thing that we thought ahead and put the money in the bank while I was still in the military.

  The next couple of years were much harder financially. We had gotten spoiled to the military life, the paid medical benefits, commissary,  the on base restaurants and theater that were much cheaper to got to than the civilian counterparts, uniforms that were supplied instead of having to buy a work wardrobe...the list went on and on. We literally had ten dollars per payday to spare when all the bills were paid. Ten dollars doesn't go very far towards the unexpected car repair or other unforeseeable event, so we had to watch carefully where we left ourselves exposed to the "unforeseen".  We used the bus instead of driving to avoid gas and car maintenance expenses, ate home cooked meals and wore more clothing rather than turning up the heat. I hand washed dishes and used the dishwasher as a drain board/storage area for clean dishes. We went to bed early,  and slept under goose down comforters so we could turn the heat off at night to reduce power consumption even further, this had the added side benefit of a healthier, hardier constitution, we were rarely sick. We didn't own a T.V. or stereo, so in the evenings we would all snuggle down under the comforter and read aloud for hours or work on a puzzle or hand made projects. We kept our daily life simple and found lots of  inexpensive ways of enjoying our free time. Life was sweet and we were happy.

  Over the years we have kind of made an art of living on a shoe string. Much of what we practiced during thin financial times we continued to apply even when we had more income. We came to understand that we were happier when we kept our lives grounded by our frugal practices. I am not attempting to say that we didn't struggle sometimes with our limits, or that things didn't happen that tipped the balance of our lives to the negative, but for the most part we were living well and contentedly within the boundaries of one income.

  In the present day, economically depressed time we live in, there is reason to consider how to simplify life and pare down expenses. Many households today are having to live on one income due loss of work, job shortages, or are struggling under the burden of debt, and the high cost of living. Learning to simplify life and to become more circumspect in spending practices, can help to reduce stress and bring more peace and contentment to daily life. If you are interested in learning more about how to live on less and still have a quality life, check out the side bar on the right side of the blog and click on the page titled Keep It Simple. It is a static page of  thoughts, ideas and tips for frugal living. I will be adding to it as I go along, so I will give you a heads up in the blog postings when I add new things to it. Next time... my thought will turn towards the old Boy Scout credo, "Be Prepared".

Learning to Sway

  When we moved to Costa Rica in early 2009, the United States economy was in the throes of economic upheaval. The late 2008 stock market debacle and the subsequent bailouts were impacting on the middle class's investment portfolios and retirement security. The average person who put their trust in their corporate retirement plan and 401 K's were suddenly aware how vulnerable they were to the whims of the global economy.

  My husband retired in 2008 at the age of 51, with 30 years of service to local government. His annuity was coming from a fairly stable source, since it was state government that was writing the checks, so we weren't too worried. Then while we were living on the farm in the mountains of Costa Rica, we started hearing about state and local governments going bankrupt. The security of our retirement check became less certain. We weren't at all prepared for the possibility of losing our retirement check. Fortunately, we have to this point in January 2011, not had any issue with NC State government sending us our check, but it did cause us to look seriously at our contingency plans. 

  I am not going to talk about our income contingency plans here, but the whole idea of economic uncertainty does bring to mind some things that I would like to talk about. Our life choices have always revolved around sustainability and self reliance. We chose to live as close to nature as we could, to grow our food and gain knowledge and experience in as many aspects of homesteading as we could on our little piece of land. We lived frugally on one income, drove older "beater" cars, and had the long term goal of being debt free. When we moved to Costa Rica we added to our experience tool set by learning from the Ticos, how they manage to live good full lives on very little income.

  I was constantly amazed by "Ticonomics". Costa Rica has a large middle class, has an 85% literacy rate, and is one of the cleanest, "greenest" places I have had experience with. Of course, "middle class" and "literacy" are relative. A middle class Tico does not live like a middle class American, with two cars (or more), a house with a 30 year mortgage and disposable income to toss around on eating out and movies. Literacy doesn't mean you graduated high school, it means you can read, write and do functional math and have an 8th grade education. A middle class Tico has a small house of 600 to 1000 sq. ft. with no mortgage, no car for most families (in our area in the mountains anyway...), and has very little disposable income.

  The thing that is so amazing is that Ticos know how to sway with the economic winds. If the US economy is bad and tourism is down, there are fewer jobs available. When this happens, Ticos switch from a paying job to odd jobs and working the land to grow their food. When income is limited they cut back on things, use less electricity, stop using their cell phones (there are no 2 yr. phone plans in CR. you pay as you go), eat more basic foods and everyone pitches in to bring in what is needed to pay the bills. One of our friends has a family of 5 at home with the possibility of 4 other family members having to move in during hard times. The man of the house is a strong, hard working foreman for a construction crew. When he has work, he puts away for the thinner times when there is no construction work. When the job is over, while he waits for the next project to come up, he raises chickens for meat and sells them to "Gringos" and to businesses in town. He raises an amazing amount of food in very little space, has a calf tethered in the yard to cut the grass and grow out for meat, and milks an American's dairy cows for some cash and milk to bring home to his family. Their monthly income is often less than $300, but they are happy, busy, fed and have time to spend with friends and family.  

  I think the secret is that they are content to live simply. Meals are very simple, consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables in abundance, rice and black beans. Their homes are scrupulously clean and simply furnished. They expand their living space by building a deep veranda (covered porch) on their house where they spend most of their time. They go to bed shortly after dark and get up with the rooster. They can live on practically nothing. 

  The Tico is able to build a house with cash for the most part since they are not extensive structures and they keep utilities to a minimum. Living in the tropics where there is no need for central heat and good insulation means that the Tico doesn't have to have the same kind of investment in their house construction materials. A small house with one bathroom, tiny bedrooms and a kitchen is sufficient. The veranda is the living area where family and friends gather to chat, eat, and catch the evening breeze.

  The plaza is another extension of living space for social interaction. The plaza is the heart of the community, it is usually a soccer field that has benches and trees surrounding it. Everyone ends up there at one time or another, to talk about the day, catch up on news and let the kiddies run and play. There is always some kind of activity going on, an impromtu soccer match, teens walking in clusters laughing and whispering to each other, the elderly sit in their plastic chairs and watch the grandkids while parents have a few minutes of social time before bed. Life is lived as a village, not as isolated cells of immediate family as it is here in the States. Americans could benefit emotionally,  financially and socially from adopting a few of the basic tenants of Tico life. If we were less isolated, spent more time doing things outside, and were happy with simple pleasures, there would be less need to spend money and time going out.

  I really didn't mean to go on about Tico life, but I learned so much by having them as neighbors and friends, that it is hard not to wax philosophical about their way of life. What I really want to talk about is learning to sway, "Tico style", to the present economic winds. So in the next several blog posts I will be talking about what our family has learned about being economically flexible.

  Until next time, blessings and shalom to you all!