The Perfect, Good Enough Property

As I noted in a post almost a year ago (The Challenge Begins) finding your perfect property for a homestead can be difficult. Since that post, my Mom and I have seriously considered (up to making offers on a few) four or five properties, some with a house, some without. All of them presented some compromise with which we thought we could live. For many different reasons, none of them resulted in a final deal with us owning a new homestead property. Until now.

This past weekend we found a property that meets all our needs and is in our price range. We have negotiated a price with the seller and are under contract. We could be moved in by the end of the year. Looking back we are grateful that all of those other deals failed to materialize. We could have made a homestead work in each case, but some would have been more difficult than others, some required building a house on an empty property and some meet less of our criteria than others, leaving us more dependent on municipal services than we would have liked.

Water is always at the top of our list when we look at a prospective homestead and this one has it in spades. Not only are there two seasonal streams running through this property, it has two independent wells. Even though it has been more than six weeks since the summer monsoons have ended, there was water trickling out of seams in the rock feeding one stream and a wet, marshy area at the end of the other. The house is situated on a rocky outcrop between the two and out of the flood plain.

The house is a long ranch built on an east/west axis so it has a large southern exposure. In addition, the ground slopes down into one of the streams to the south creating a large southern exposure hillside which is already terraced with several gardens. The property is heavily wooded, especially along both stream beds, however, there is plenty of open, sunlit expanses along this southerly exposed hillside. This should be a good location for an orchard and gardens for sun and heat loving plants (like tomatoes and peppers).

Built on a rocky outcrop between two deep ravines, we were initially concerned that the soil around the house would not be adequate for our purposes. Our fears were unfounded after we realized that the surrounding trees have been dropping compost for years and the previous owners have amended the soil in the terraced gardens as needed. In addition, the swampy area at the end of one stream has more than enough black, organic soil to meet our needs as long as we are willing to haul it up the hill.

One of the things we love most about the property is that while it is only about a mile from a developed section of town (Wal-Mart and local grocery store among other conveniences) it feels isolated and out in the country when you are sitting on the patio surrounded by the many trees. In fact, it is not possible to see any of the neighboring houses except when you are entering or leaving the property via the driveway. In short, we have found our little piece of paradise.

The lesson learned is that although we got lucky not to have been stuck with one of those other properties, we should have been more patient, discounting each one because it required one or more compromise that we should not have been willing to make. We are very fortunate to have found a property that meets all our needs, but no matter what your needs or criteria are, the right property for you is out there if you are patient enough to wait for it to be revealed to you.

The Earth does not belong to us...

... we belong to the Earth. Yeah, I know it's a bumper sticker slogan, but is there a better way to describe how our actions are connected to and affect all the other life on the planet? Or put another way, can one better describe how our survival is dependent upon the survival of all the other life with which we share this precious Earth? I believe the acknowledgment of the interconnectedness of all life on earth, especially how it affects human beings, is the most important factor in our long term survival. Are you not concerned about the survival of the human race in the future? How about your own survival or that of your children?

Think about it. Where did the food you ate for breakfast come from? What will happen to that food source if we continue to waste, degrade and plunder the natural environment in which it was harvested? What would happen if all (or even most) of the bees in the US disappeared next year? No bees, no fruit, vegetables, nuts or grains. Think this sounds like a sci-fi apocalyptic doomsday scenario? Since 2006 in the US, commercial honey bee operators started reporting the loss of 30-90% of their hives. The bees simply disappeared and did not return to the hives, leaving the queen to starve to death. If you think this only affects honey production, you are in for a surprise. According to the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA, "About one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination."

Now known as colony collapse disorder, to date there is no definitive explanation for this continued honey bee die off. Some leading contenders:

• Overuse of new pesticides developed in the 1990's
• Several invasive parasites introduced to the US in the 1990's
• Higher virus and bacterial infection due to lowered bee immune systems (from unknown causes)
• Lack of pollen diversity (large monoculture plantings)
• Environmental stressors due to climate change, water pollution and habitat destruction
• Some combination of all of the above

The alarming fact is that all of those causes are from human activity (either intentional or otherwise). This is simply one example of how we are sowing the seeds of our own destruction because we are not acknowledging our dependence and interconnectedness with all other life.

If we continue to consume, degrade and destroy the resources of the earth with such reckless abandon, we will be the ones to suffer. As a dear friend of mine likes to say, "Nature bats last." If there is a massive die off of humanity, the rest of life on the planet will recover, take over and eventually restore the wastelands we will leave behind. The only suffering will be our own, of our own making. Fortunately, we can make conscious changes now to avert the worst disasters. Unfortunately, it is too late to avert them all (like global climate change which is already occurring).

Beyond the apocalyptic, fear mongering message (which I dislike, but is sometimes necessary to raise awareness), I think the hopeful message is that the alternative is not painful. Yes, we have to change our attitudes and behaviors, but for what? How about a more beautiful world filled with more plants and animals and less concrete and asphalt? More responsible use of the earth's precious resources and less waste and garbage? More healthy living environments and less pollution? More healthy people and less famine? Living in harmony with each other and the environment instead of conquering, consuming and destroying it? That doesn't sound like a sacrifice, but a world in which we would all be more happy and content. How can we turn our backs on that future?

Change Someone's Life in a Profound Way

Most of us donate money, used clothing or other items to charities in order to help those in need. While I encourage this behavior, I have realized how putting in a little extra effort can sometimes make a much larger impact in the lives of those who need a helping hand.

Recently, I had the opportunity to chaperone a group of high school students on a trip to Costa Rica to build two homes for two needy families. The challenges were large, particularly since most of us had little or no building experience and we had two days to completely finish two houses. To put that in perspective, these houses were sixteen by twenty feet, contained two rooms and were wired for electricity but had no plumbing. Fortunately, the charity with whom we were working had an ambitious yet efficient plan to turn 30 construction newbies into two teams of hard working construction pros.

Beyond the challenges of language, living in a foreign country with different customs and morals and adjusting to different living standards (like open sewers in the streets) we had to contend with heat and humidity, the burning equatorial sun and a timeline that would make any project manager sweat. I was very proud of the work ethic of the whole team, especially the kids whom we shook out of bed each morning at 5am (these are teenagers, remember) and worked all day long in the hot Costa Rican sun.

Most importantly, and the reason all of us decided to give up our Spring Break for the opposite of a vacation was seeing the impact our efforts had on the families and the community. The first morning when we were faced with a pile of raw lumber and the empty slabs of concrete, we met each family who would receive the completed houses we set out to build. Both were young couples (18-19 years old) with young children (less than 2 years old). Both were currently living with a parent in houses we would barely deem big enough to store a lawn mower and our gardening tools. They spoke no English so our translator relayed to us their profound gratitude for our generosity in our money, time, effort and labor. We raised nearly $20,000 through fund raising activities to pay for the lumber and household furnishings. That's right, each fully furnished house cost $10,000.

It is hard to describe the emotions between our team members and these two families when we handed over the keys to their new homes. Homes that had doors that not only closed but could be locked, windows that had glass in them covered by curtains. A dining room with table and chairs set with dishes and tableware, glasses and serving dishes. A bedroom with bunk beds for their children and a queen sized bed for the parents all with pillows, sheets and comforters. And the house warming gifts we all brought with us: dish towels, clothes, jewelry and toys for the kids. All of these things we take for granted each day as we roam around our 2000+ square feet homes. Nothing compares to the experience of seeing the emotion on the faces of those families for whom these common items were like riches. That the 350 square foot homes we built were mansions by their standards. That having four solid walls and a roof that doesn't leak was a luxury in the community where we built them.

I'm not recommending that all of us have to travel to foreign countries to make a significant impact in someone's life. But it is both much more rewarding and much more helpful for the people you are helping when you put in that little extra effort, make that extra sacrifice, to change someone's life in a profound way.