The Campfire Trail: December 7 - DIY Homestead

December 7, 2022

Day 432 of the Adventure

I'm sitting out here on the deck surveying my surroundings and looking at all of the things we've done since arriving. How much of it, I'm asking myself, is truly a Do-It-Yourself type of endeavor? Obviously, for us, all of it was. But I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of someone who has never tackled some of these things. The list of things we've done here is pretty extensive and much of it required some serious tools. The tractor and backhoe attachment itself would have stopped the biggest projects had we not had them available to us. I suppose the same is true for a lot of the carpentry work and the tools required for that. Over the years, the accumulation of tools is just something we've never had a problem doing. When faced with the choice of paying to have something done or spending the same amount on the tools and do it myself, buying the tools and learning the skill has almost always prevailed.

You cannot embrace the DIY lifestyle without a commitment to the tools and equipment as well. Even the tractor fit that formula. We knew we would need a backhoe if we truly wanted to make our homestead project a DIY adventure. The price for buying a tractor/backhoe would not have necessarily made sense for the size of our property (12 acres) However, the cost of installing water line trenches, electrical line trenches, building foundations, road building, septic tank holes and leach field, tree stump removal and so on, all would have cost thousands. Weighing all that against the cost of buying a tractor actually made a tractor purchase the more economical choice by far. I had to knock the rust off my backhoe operator skills. Shelley had never even driven one before. Still, when it was all said and done, Shelley is now the primary operator and I'm happy for her to do it. Using the septic system as an example. I had never installed one from scratch and only understood the basics of them. I had never even heard of the type we were required to install. (a LPP or Low Pressure Pipe system) DIY doesn't necessarily mean you have to know everything there is to know about something. It just means you need to be willing to learn it and then do it.

Carry On

Adventure Quote: “Don’t wait for big opportunities. You can create small but wonderful ones by starting with what you have.” ― Israelmore Ayivor

Base Camp Coffee of the Day: Lost up the Creek (Sumatra)

SNEAK PEEK of our Upcoming OFF-GRID project

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Mountain Craft

Lye Soap Making

Rug Weaving

Making Wooden Buckets (Cooper Craft)

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Cornmeal Grinding