My Dream and the Next Chapter of My Life

This is one big dream that will take much time and effort to realize...

With the selling of my last house and the leaving of my job as well I am in a very unique situation in that I now have the freedom to do pretty much anything. With this freedom comes the possibility of dreaming. The American Dream is to own a home; it is a dream that I have had and plan to have again. However unlike last time I have more options than I did. The options come in the form of more life experience to define what I do want and more money, at least at this moment, to start building with.

Idealistically I am looking for a sweet spot of housing/land prices and job market. 

I learned with the last house that cornering myself with a particular wage, which includes a particular job, just is not conductive to low stress. This is a lesson that I had learned from my parents and watching them struggle as I was growing up, but had not realized exactly how one gets into this position. Armed now with the information of how one gets into the position of needing a certain wage, aka job, or at least how I ended up there last time I am aiming to reduce the chances of it happening again.

This rolls into the job market and housing/land price sweet spot I am looking for. My goal is an area with a thriving, even if it appears to have high turn over, job market that I can purchase housing at a price that literally any job will do. What I mean by any job is minimum wage 32 hours a week or about $200 per week with an annual income of $10,400. That's not to say I won't look for better job opportunities or better pay, but that I am setting my minimum income requirement to that level and by doing so restricting the cost of the housing solution purchased to that level.

There are other factors that will pay into the final decision as well. Such as the neighborhood environment; Crime Rates, Appearance, etc. While I don't particularly care about who I live next to, I do recognize the danger of living alone in particular types of environments. Then there are certain political or moral views that I hold dear and my refusal to give money to those who oppose them. Even if that money is in the form of taxes.

The House Itself

I am human just like everyone else reading this blog. Which means that If I have the space I will fill it. So acknowledging this fact along with the desire to not live with others I am limiting my living space to around 800 square feet. My last house I had lived in for just about 9 years was 1,275 square feet and oh my did I have a lot of unneeded stuff that I had to figure out what to do with when it was time to move. Prior to listing the house I had limited my living area to only the master suite and living room, so I know this house size range will be just about right.

Building wise I am leaning towards something with a high efficiency rating, if I am going to build. To date I have looked at the Earth Ship Building, Sand Bag Building, Micro House, Compacted Earth Building, and Passive House Building designs. While I love the Earth Ship concept the most, on the practical side it does not quite measure up. Each of the Building Styles definitely have their place, but Passive House would be an easier modification for contractors/engineers to accommodate me on. A Passive House Building is also a building that I can build if I so choose. Earth Ships and Sand Bags are beyond my physical abilities due to the significantly higher labor requirements. The reality is that I will more than likely end up with a "mongrel" house that incorporates building styles from the different ones I know of based on the location of the house I get.

Another consideration I will have to account for is making the house suitable for disability. This requirement is do to my knee randomly, ok my pushing my luck sometimes, becoming difficult to use. When the knee is being difficult I have found that the disabled bathrooms are a god send, so this is information that will need to be included into my plans as well.

The Land

In order to garden I will need land. My folks are currently doing what is called row gardening on a quarter acre; Row Gardening is planting in rows. My prior experience is that of french intensive or square foot gardening, At my last house I had designed, with help from a book by Tom MacCubbin, a landscape that was not just visually appealing, but also productive. It is my goal to do the same at the new place, only with the above mentioned "kitchen" set in the middle-ish. Think something like the pleasure gardens of the castles of old. Another reason for square foot gardening is due to the random limits my knee places on me. A square foot garden plot is generally only 4 feet wide/deep making it easy to tend from the edges. Square foot gardening also allows for more food production per square foot of land than row gardening.

One thing I learned was that I do not like to interact with my neighbors when I am tending my garden. So for me to have a garden and be happy while tending it I will need enough room to erect some type of visual barrier around the perimeter of the property. My leaning at this time is for this barrier to be a shrub or bush type that produces a fruit or other consumable, but we will see.

Because I like to garden, am wanting to be able to put away the food produced, and the longest shelf life I know of is canning this means that I will need an out door kitchen of some type. Having grown up on acreage in Florida with the 2 state "birds" being mosquitoes and flys this "kitchen" area will be under cover with some type of bug screen.

Life Style

For the long term health of my body and maintaining my knee I need to look to a life style that is active, but gentle and very scale-able. By having a garden I have included a scale-able work load that will keep me fit and engaged as well as rendering food for myself. By producing my own food I become less dependent on stores; however without a well the cost of the food is actually higher, so a well is a must. Food is a big motivator for me. In addition to the gardening I am also hoping to start up an at home workout routine using resistance bands and one of those "yoga trapeze" looking "outfits". If the way my body is reacting to the activity at my folks farm is any indication the inclusion of a workout routine is something that is in the future for now, but goals are good.

Another aspect that I will have to keep in mind is my weight. While at this time I am about 35% body fat at almost 200 pounds, this is something that needs to be maintained. The activity required for gardening will help to curtail weight gain as well as the production of food at home reducing the amount of processed foods consumed. One of the courses I took to maintain my Personal Trainer status was on nutrition, I highly recommend all individuals to take a course on nutrition. The course highlighted that the best way to maintain and improve your body composition is through diet. The biggest contributor to being over weight is processed foods and an over reliance on meat both of which are very calorie dense foods. While a strict vegan or vegetarian diet is just not for me, incorporating a lot of their thought processes in my life will be happening. Some would say this is more of a European diet that I have in mind.

As per what I have been told, I am hitting that normal phase in life when I am becoming more interested in my chosen religion. This means that I am also looking at ways in which to incorporate my religion into my life without it being glaringly obvious that it is; I do like subtle. Which is almost the exact opposite of who I am according to some who know me. Everyone has their invisible friends and invisible forces they have faith in behaving in certain beneficial manners; I am no different.

With any luck I will be able to work for myself as well. With a goal income of $10,400 per year it is feasible that I can. Currently I am looking at the Cottage Industry as a possible means to fulfill this. I have an inclination for a few different cottager industries; selling honey, homemade pasta, and dried herbs. The most likely to start first is going to be the dried herbs as these will be a natural by product from using companion planting to control pests in my garden. Shortly after depending on a few variables either selling honey will be next or homemade pasta.

So that is my dream, only time will tell if I get to live it.