So We Are Planning...

Mel announced on the May 28th, 2016 video called "Garden Stuff & Questions"  our long range plans (1-5 years away) on building a commune or compound of sorts. Yes, it's true. No, forget about the communes of the 1960s and 70s. No free love, wild sexual escapades, or nudity here. I'm still a minister.

Think of a group of pioneering women coming together as like minded individuals. We are going tiny, as far as individual living spaces go.  Each tiny house will have a kitchenette type arrangement, a desk, a bedroom, and bathroom. Each unit will also have upper storage/bedroom area, and a sitting area. Each unit will be about 48 sq. ft. not including the upper storage/bedroom area. Think a little larger than a motel room.  It will be your personal space. All adults need a private retreat, or a place to go when "told to go to your room" that will actually be separate. The communal space is different. We are redesigning two storage containers to house the kitchen, a full bath, dining room, and library/sitting/living/craft place. It will be 16x40. There will also be a separate root cellar in the plans. We've got to have a place to store all our harvest and canning. You can find the design layouts on our Pinterest site.

Yes, this is a bold new adventure. The reasons behind this change, or as Paul Harvey used to say..."the rest of the story"is...
We aren't getting any younger.
While Mel is able bodied, she can't expected to do all the heavy lifting by herself.
We want to add sheep and milk goats to our hobby farm. Neither of us have experience with those animals.
We also have too much to do on our own.
We want to branch out to a totally self sufficient lifestyle, which means off the grid living.
While we understand the concept, we have limited experience in this area. So we will need help in this area also.
While Mel is a decent carpenter, we need someone that actually has experience with large construction projects. There's a lot of maintenance work involved around the homestead too. There's something to be said for younger able bodied folks.
While I love all the aspects of cooking, gardening, harvesting, and preserving, I don't want to do all of it myself all the time.  Even a cook likes a day off.

We understand a lot of y'all will want to come and visit. Maybe some of y'all are even thinking of joining us. But please be aware that this will be an ongoing project, and it is still in the planning stages. Although we are talking about a communal community, everyone will have something to contribute. Everyone will also enjoy the fruits of our labor. As a community, we have to have a leader who will listen to all. I elect Mel. It is her property. I'm just providing the revenue to get us started. There will be a buy-in price above the some pooling of monetary resources. Large cash expenditures will be discussed and based on needs. So in this respect it will be a commune. This amount is still to be set.

There is still a lot of planning to be done. We'll keep you posted.