have my own land and be self-sufficient

A small spice farm, with mangos trees. The land extending down to the beach. The farm must have its own coral reef and lagoon for me to look after. To spend time each day surveying my reef and inspecting the coral. Writing up my research each night on my laptop on the veranda drinking cold beer and then sitting round a fire on the beach making music with friends.

Am willing to transfer from Zanzibar to somewhere in the Carribean though because I want to be nearer to the guys. Must check the flying times.

So need to review the tools I have at my disposal to make this happend. Heavy Duty: Astral Meditation; Rebirthing; NLP; Reiki; EFT; Affirmations; Magic; Insight Meditation; Visualizations; that should do the trick. Gosh thats really scarey now cos I migjht make it all happen. Well I have always manifested and resolved in the past so this will be no different, just have to structure it a bit.

How Long will it all take? Maybe I could envisage this all for THREE MONTHS TIME!!! weeeee…...that is so exciting>>>> ok then lets do it. So maybe, some work with pen and paper tonight to get right affirmations and pictures to use for NLP work, and then some work with Astrology chart and Now chart to work out who to see in Astral Meditation tomorrow morning.

And into the compost pile they go! I should have healthy, calcium rich compost to spread around the garden this year! The pile from summer has already shrunk by more than half. I should start mixing this into the ground where I want my beds to be. Throw some chicken scratch on it and the chickies will do the work of tilling it in!

I guess this means it is time to start a new compost bed for the fresh stuff.

I supposed I should be baking and crushing the egg shells and feeding them back to the biddies instead of buying oyster shell, but it takes too much time right now and I am afraid they will get a taste for egg shell and start pecking at their own eggs.

Reading up on feeder pigs. Only 3 or 4 months investment and then into the freezer with them. Maybe I shall raise two this fall.

I will need:

• electric fencing and charger
• build a sleeping hut
• Wooden “deck” where their food and water will go
• somthing for shade and or to block the wind
• snout loop
• to be strong when it comes time to butcher and eat them

• how much it costs to butcher
• can I sell one of the piggies so that I can break even on my dollar investment

Chickens started laying this week – wooohoooo!

Dinabeth’s comments about eating home raised hog reminds me of the year (20 years ago) when we raised up two feeder pigs on a friend’s property. They had an old pecan orchard that was old and no longer comercially viable. But the farm was retired, so they didn’t want to chop it all down at once for the wood. So we bought the hogs and they provided the pecan pasture, and those two gilts spent all summer “pigging out” on pecans and grubs and whatever else a pig could root up (they protected the trees, lest the piggies killed them). I tell you what, that was the best bacon I have ever tasted.

Ok, I did it in my youth, but now I am very attached to my babies, and I don’t think any of them will go into the freezer… on the other hand, chicky-poo is definitely doing good things in the garden, and I am looking forward to eggs.

This ain’t gonna happen if I don’t get my money problems under control!

Since it will be years since I actually will be really doing anything close to this, I have started a blog to track whatever miscellaneous knowlege I gather towards doing this.

http://sustainablefarmingdreams.blogspot.com/

I will leave this goal on my 43 Things as a reminder of my long term goal, but I may not be updating this as regularly any more.

While these resources don’t all pertain to sustainable living, per se, they all have items that would be of use to someone looking to create a sustainable lifestyle.

Home building:
http://www.hollowtop.com/cls_html/cls.html

General homesteading:
http://www.homestead.org/
http://www.motherearthnews.com/
http://www.homesteadarticles.com/
http://www.davesgarden.com/ (a huge gardening resource with active farming and sustainable living forums)

Sustainability:
http://www.hobbyfarms.com/home-and-barn/increase-sustainability.aspx

Some web blogs:
http://deberosahomestead.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/growing-your-own-food/

Now that I am writing this, I am inspired to update my website:
http://kmom246.icfsc.com …

Someone recently asked me why I wanted to do this – besides the, as they said, “whishy-washy ‘greeness’ of it.” I really didn’t have an off the cuff answer, and I felt kind of stupid, but the question got me thinking. And now, I have some answers …

• Yes, part of it is for the ‘greeness’ of it – nothing wrong with that

• The challenge – I’ve always liked to do things people consider “hard” – married a US Marine, plant trees in the desert (ok, the PLANTING is easy, having them flourish is more difficult!), was a female tech in the days when there weren’t female techs, becoming a pilot at well over 40 years old, etc.

• It pulls together a number of seemingly unrelated interests into one focused product – my homestead. I used physics and meteorology to decide where and how to site my garden & orchard. I used power tools to help build fences. Physics, chemistry, biology, botony – and a thick skull – to grow trees and plants. An understanding of genetics and good timing to save “true to type” seeds. Chemistry and biology to play with composting. Needle work to create pretty things for the home. Paint and wood to make decorative and useful signs and to protect wood from the elements. Computers and database skills to research and record and communicate with others with similar interests. Faith that sometimes things will go well in spite of me. Books and libraries. Journals and doodles in the journals. Compulsive list making. A blending of the side of me that loves the sciences and the part of me that likes Celtic Illumination and the side of me that loves Thomas Jefferson’s Gardens and the side of me that likes to kill Evil Bunnies and the side of me that hopes the Evil Bunny I killed was not a Mommy Evil Bunny. The organizer in me likes to know last frost dates and how many days from conception to the birth of a calf. The more relaxed side of me likes to let the tomatoes sprawl a little and let some of the horn worms munch on them without feeling obligated to kill the fat little caterpillars. The world traveler in me has made friends on several continents that are trying to do similar things. Etc., etc.

• I like being independent

• I some times think the world is going to destroy itself, and the government, the police, etc. will not be able to help me when it does

I’m sure there’s more, but these are the main reasons that this has been a constant desire and goal from the time I was in high school. And as I have come to know myself better and have come to the point where I have the means, it has become more and more of a driving force in my life. True, I am FAR from achieving this goal – but I am on the path and living the dream – so I can’t complain at all. Tomatoes – it’s almost time to plant tomatoes!

One of my goals for 2008 is to start saving seeds. Part of this is because I don’t want to keep buying new seeds every year. Part of this is because it is one more step towards self-sufficiency. And part of it is because it will help protect genetic diversity. And, lastly, after generations of being grown here in my little plot, they should hopefully adapt to home sweet home.

For 2008:

• Save cloves from my favorite two garlics – I know Siberian will be one of them, but I am also looking for a less pungent one to keep. I will probably have to buy one more year’s worth of seed bulbs for them for 2009 as I won’t be able to resist eating most of it, but at least some of the cloves will come from the crop in the ground right now. Since garlic cloves are “clones” of the mother plant, no worries about cross pollination type contamination… however, I hope the two types I have LOOK different so I can more easily tell them appart.

• Beans Vignus Vulgaris – Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean (brown seeded) and at least 20 feet away, a Yellow Wax Bush Bean (white seeded). We have vigorous pollinators. I hope that is far enough appart to keep them pure.

• Black-Eye Peas – related to beans, but don’t cross with them – I’ll grow out just one type – and this year I will grow LOTS as 20 plants last year was not enough.

• Yard Long “Asparagus” Beans – not supposed to cross with anything, but I will keep them away from the black-eye peas as they are more closely related.

• Maybe a tomato type or two – but I’m not sure I am ready to “bag & tag” flowers before they open to keep them pure from all the other types of tomatoes that I hope to be growing and eating. I’ve heard that some varieties won’t cross pollinate due to the shape of the flowers, but that some will.

• Sugar Snap Peas & Snow Peas – going to grow one in the spring and one in the fall so they will be separated by time.

Not much hope of keeping my squashes or pumpkins pure at this point as they like to cross breed like crazy and I am not going to go and “tie” flowers before they open and then “hand pollinate” them. Not for the 2008 season, anyway.

So, trying to learn new skills but not be overly aggressive, less I become overwhelmed and not do it at all.