Where to start??

[thelocknestmother]

My DH and I would ideally like to change our life in the next 18 months or so...changing from DH working a LOT and having a mortgage to match, in a subdivision, yada, yada...to DH working minimally and homesteading...We would like to be fairly off the grid but not completely, but in the meantime we have a lot of learning and thinking to do...Where to start?  What blogs to read? Books to read? Should we get a subscription to MotherEarth News?  And any thoughts on where to move?  We currently live in MI, but would like to move somewhere either warmer or more temperate...plus, somewhere were our liberal, non-Christian life will be accepted. ;)  Near water (lakes and/or ocean) great.  I realize this is a lot, but any thoughts/input will be greatly appreciated.  

[Ldavis24]

The single book that I randomly found at the library one day that changed my life is, The Self Sufficient Life and How To Live It...

I don't remember the author...Anyway it offers a broad over view of the basics, doesn't get into super detail about everything but I loved it, it opened my eyes. DH read it too. I went out and bought it shortly after returning it to the library.

I don't have anything else to offer at the moment either, but I know lots of mamas have lots of blogs etc they love..

As far as area...DH and I will buy land up in northern Vermont in the Champlain Valley when we have the money. We went to college in Burlington and we both absolutely fell in love with the lake and just the entire state.

Goodluck!

[QueenEsther]

UGh...I am not a fan of these reply boxes on this forum! It just erased my whole typed-out entry when I hit the space bar. What's up with that? Anyway, I had put something like: I don't have any advice to give for the most part, but just wanted to encourage you! Our own family is getting set up to live that way, too. The biggest challenges we are facing right now is: where to settle and how to create more income from home. We already have a couple of home based businesses, but would need more money - at least in the first few years of doing this thing. We are also in the process of getting out of debt 100%. We will be selling our farmhouse and getting as far away from the mortgage life as possible. Recently, we purchased a yurt with cash we've been saving up all year. Next, we need to pay down a few things and then we are FREE! As far as moving, we are looking to go out west because land is cheaper there and it doesn't cost as much to live. [Right now, we are on the east coast]. So $700 an acre sounds much better than $17,000 an acre!  o.O  Also, this whole thread is making me think of that book about how to be totally self-sufficient on just 5 acres! I need to find it!

[limette]

We made the move last August. I've been blogging about it. I wrote up a blog post with a bunch of the resources I've used; books, web sites etc. Here's the link to that post.

[Ldavis24]

Originally Posted by QueenEsther 

UGh...I am not a fan of these reply boxes on this forum! It just erased my whole typed-out entry when I hit the space bar. What's up with that? Anyway, I had put something like: I don't have any advice to give for the most part, but just wanted to encourage you! Our own family is getting set up to live that way, too. The biggest challenges we are facing right now is: where to settle and how to create more income from home. We already have a couple of home based businesses, but would need more money - at least in the first few years of doing this thing. We are also in the process of getting out of debt 100%. We will be selling our farmhouse and getting as far away from the mortgage life as possible. Recently, we purchased a yurt with cash we've been saving up all year. Next, we need to pay down a few things and then we are FREE! As far as moving, we are looking to go out west because land is cheaper there and it doesn't cost as much to live. [Right now, we are on the east coast]. So $700 an acre sounds much better than $17,000 an acre!  o.O  Also, this whole thread is making me think of that book about how to be totally self-sufficient on just 5 acres! I need to find it!

I know there are a couple out there, but the book I mentioned does just that? He does it for 5 or 10 acres and gives you the entire set up, in words and pictures of what a possible farm could look like.