Defining a Dream

I've been asked by friends and family both, “Why do you want to go live in the bush?” I usually play down the fall of society stuff so they don’t start slowly backing out of the room, trying to keep eye contact until they can slam the door and run. The truth however is I am concerned about what might happen from either a collapse of the world economy from the huge unsustainable debt both personal and government that is the norm of western society, or the total redefinition of western life that will be brought about by Peak Oil and Global Warming. Either or both of these problems will have to be dealt with in our lifetimes and as a person with limited means I cannot just hunker down and ride out the storm with my vast financial holdings. Added to this fear of a harsher future is my natural appreciation of nature, my desire to live a lower impact Green lifestyle and the desire to actually create things rather than type on this damn thing 40 hours a week. Finally I have two little boys who I need to protect, teach the skills required to survive the coming changes and teach the true value of work and achievement, something that Nintendo and MTV will not. I need to achieve this all before I become to old and worn out to be of any use.

So what am I to do?

First I must finish defining my goal, which means deciding many things about what my Little Green Hovel will be.

The main considerations are

How much land would I need to become reasonably self sufficient?

Where do I want to live?

What features do I need the land to have?

What will I live in?

What will I grow?

What will be my energy supply? On grid, off grid etc.

What new skill and tools will I need to have to make any of the above work?

How will I pay for it all, while maintaining a real job and another house needed to keep me in the rat race for the time being?

Will I be able to maintain a paying job if I do make this move to my Hovel, if not can I make money from my land?

Is it possible or even advisable to bring in another family unit, to share the cost, labour and risks with?

While not being a Neo Luddite, I have to decide what technologies are viable long term during Peak Oil, economic depression etc.
Can I repair or maintain any innovative technologies I include in my project or should I go as primitive as I can stand knowing I can keep things functioning long term without expensive outside inputs?

Each of these considerations requires time, research and considerable deliberation all while time passes and things get costlier, and the societal problems more pronounced. It seems to be a race that I’m destined not to win, but to bite off more I can chew or take on totally unsuitable land would only place me in debt without any chance of making a go of it. I will attempt to tackle the above questions in more detailed posts in whatever haphazard order my deranged mind wills.

I don’t have all of these answers so any input would be appreciated. The evolution of my plan has made some progress. As I began to realize the vastness of such an endeavor it caused me to scale back from my original pipe dream that was very similar to Tara but the work just somehow got done, all by itself! It guess it must have been manned by those robot maids my wife still complains don't exist.