Lettuce Pray (and family)'s self sufficiency and preparedness journey

Started by Lettuce Pray, June 30, 2021, 12:33:01 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Lettuce Pray

Mods feel free to move this if the topic doesn't quite fit here. I chose the best subforum I could.  It is mostly a copy and past from ZS since not much has changed in less than a month. 

I have been planning for a while to start my own self sufficiency thread along the lines of Halfapint's and Quazi's excellent ones. For the last year I have been very busy with work, buying a new house with land, selling a house in the suburbs, and now being full flegged in the selling process of the rural property that I grew up on. That has not left a lot of free time for preparedness projects so I delayed starting this thread. Additionally, I have two small children so, needless to say, my plate is pretty full. I want to use this thread to share my experiences and hold myself accountable in making progress toward my goals.

Progress thus far
The year 2020 was a real kick in the pants for me. It put me on notice with a taste of what could be the new normal or worse if things go sideways. My family started really preparing in earnest. We started buying food in bulk and the wife got on board with the preparedness mindset. The biggest prep for us was buying a house with a few acres outside of the city limits in a much quieter area while still being within driving distance of our jobs. Additionally, when I became eligible, I retired from my reserve component military service. This has freed-up time while making it much more likely that I will be around for my family if things go bad.

Goals for the future
SHORT TERM GOALS (under 1 year)
Break ground on garden area
Build some raised beds to supplement in-ground area
Pay down debt
Sell the house and land that I grew up on

MEDIUM TERM GOALS (1-5 years)
Continue to pay down debt
Buy 10-20 acre recreational/bug out property
Reduce expences to the point we can pay bills with one income
Start raising chickens for personal meat and egg consumption

LONG TERM GOALS (beyond 5 years)
Be completely debt free
Buy adjoining property to the south of mine
Retire

Well, that is me. That is our plans. May we all be successful with our preparedness dreams.

Halfapint

I honestly can't remember what I said on the ZS side but I'm glad you continued this over here! Goals are everything. Wrote them down and post them somewhere you look everyday. The wife put ours front and center on the fridge to keep us on track. We have a tendency to get a few projects done a month we'd like to do more, but we are so busy putting out little fires (figuratively) all over the property.

Tell us about the land? How much is it? Flat? Hilly? Rocky? How's the soil? Chance for hydro/wind/solar to help reduce electricity bills? Septic/sewer? Well or city water?

It's been everything I could have asked for being on our land, but with that said it's a lot of work and you'll get burnt out occasionally. Take it slow, give yourself rest days, pick up a hobby that ISNT your land. Figure out fun age appropriate things you can have the kids do, or bring them along. I will say I was so turned off from doing my own stuff by my parents growing up. I hated picking the berries and weeding the garden, because it was a "chore" (deleted long tangent).

Good luck and keep us posted! I'm excited for you!
The original Half gettin sum land thread
https://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=111413

Quote from: SpazzyTell ya what... If Zombies attack and the world ends I'll hook tandem toddlers to a plow if it means I'll be able to eat...

Lettuce Pray

The land is 5.2 acres of mostly woods. I do have about of an acre of yard which is somewhat flat to hilly. I have one decent flat and non-shaded area that I plan on doing some in-ground gardening. We will likely also make some raised beds as a supplement in some open but hilly parts of the yard. I am out of the city limits but am on city water with a septic tank. We have a propane hot water heater and a converted gas log fireplace for supplementary heat.

After the sale of the old homeplace my wife and I plan on taking a portion of my share and having a propane/natural gas generator installed as a partial backup for essential systems. It will run off a dedicated tank that the propane company will own and maintain for a cheap fee per year. The only big expense will be to fill it up. I would love to EVENTUALLY also buy a portable battery bank/inverter and a couple of folding briefcase solar panels to power it for additional contingency and recreation. That will probably be around a three year from now purchase along with the recreational land.

Lettuce Pray

Quote from: Lettuce Pray on June 30, 2021, 12:33:01 PM
Sell the house and land that I grew up on

Well, I can mark one off my list. We sold the old house and land on Thursday. It was a little bitter-sweet but a big relief mostly. Nothing good can come from a house sitting vacant for too long. It also freed-up some funds that we will use towards some much wanted improvements here. We plan on having several trees taken out that are a little too close to power lines and the house. That is likely the next big expense on the horizon.

boskone

Quote from: Lettuce Pray on July 19, 2021, 01:31:11 PM
Quote from: Lettuce Pray on June 30, 2021, 12:33:01 PM
Sell the house and land that I grew up on

Well, I can mark one off my list. We sold the old house and land on Thursday. It was a little bitter-sweet but a big relief mostly. Nothing good can come from a house sitting vacant for too long. It also freed-up some funds that we will use towards some much wanted improvements here. We plan on having several trees taken out that are a little too close to power lines and the house. That is likely the next big expense on the horizon.
My family has an old house, two barns, and a few hundred acres in West Texas.  No inclination to sell, but it's also corporate property of the family with everyone pitching in proportionally.

Makes a difference when there are a lot of people able, willing, and often eager to pitch in.

Halfapint

Quote from: Lettuce Pray on July 19, 2021, 01:31:11 PM
Quote from: Lettuce Pray on June 30, 2021, 12:33:01 PM
Sell the house and land that I grew up on

Well, I can mark one off my list. We sold the old house and land on Thursday. It was a little bitter-sweet but a big relief mostly. Nothing good can come from a house sitting vacant for too long. It also freed-up some funds that we will use towards some much wanted improvements here. We plan on having several trees taken out that are a little too close to power lines and the house. That is likely the next big expense on the horizon.

Yeah selling off the childhood home is always a bit bitter sweet. But the extra funds help a little with it especially when you're starting out on a new piece of property.
The original Half gettin sum land thread
https://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=111413

Quote from: SpazzyTell ya what... If Zombies attack and the world ends I'll hook tandem toddlers to a plow if it means I'll be able to eat...

Lettuce Pray

I was able to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. We bought 13.5 acres that border our house the south, east, and west. It is woods with gently to moderately sloped rocky terrain with a seasonal creek. I plan to use it as a recreational tract with bugout potential if the situation dictated it.

Crosscut

Sounds great, Congrats LP!  Wish we had a creek on ours.  Besides trapping that you mentioned in the WDYDTTP thread any other plans for it?

Lettuce Pray

Quote from: Crosscut on May 19, 2022, 04:09:08 AMSounds great, Congrats LP!  Wish we had a creek on ours.  Besides trapping that you mentioned in the WDYDTTP thread any other plans for it?
Sorry for the late reply. It will likely just be used for recreation and as a buffer zone. It looks like eventually there will be new neighbors as a developer has bought the large tract on the other side of the land. 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk