Marking Possible Dwelling Locations

Today I marked off and started clearing the 1st of 3 areas, that I discovered last week, which seem like possible dwelling locations.  I did it!!!  All cleared, a great big area …. big enough for a dwelling and large deck area.  All that is left is a few dead trees that will need to be cut down.  I sat back resting, at the end, and took in the quiet of the space and the pine trees around it swaying in the breeze. It was a good days work.

Logistically, it was a hot day today. This IS Florida. While I am grateful and live in Florida for the reason of warmth, working in it is quite a fiasco. I found myself wondering about 0-So-Deep things like: how the heck do I do this work safely and still stay cool??? I already got lighter weight pants and this week I broke down to my skinny tank top and finally threw the hat back in my cart. So … NOTE TO SELF: look for light weight, let-some-air-in snake gaiters coz’ these knee-high boots are way too hot and heavy to keep wearing when the temperature reaches the 80s.

I guess this is all trial and error. Just like with me figuring out the tools a step along the way … I will keep figuring out my clothing too.  This is clearly a new and different kind of dilemma from picking out the right stilettos and skirts years ago.

I give big acknowledgement to all those folks I watch on YouTube videos to learn from.  They all seem so competent, whipping their tools around, acting calm as a cucumber as they move through their land. They even manage to keep their cameras moving with them.

Speaking of cameras … OMG … I laughed at myself too many times to count today.  I brought a tripod along for the first time.  Genius idea, put my phone on that, use a remote shutter control and capture videos of me working. INFORMATIONAL NOTE: My bachelors degree was in Fine Arts in photography & film making … please, keep this in mind. Now back to the day: Think I could get the tripod level??? Nop.  Think I could get the tripod to pan smoothly? Nop.  Think I could even keep the camera focused on me???? Right … nop again!  Facepalm!!! I became an absolute camera novice with a simple little iPhone.

AND I got the first possible dwelling area cleared anyhow!  The plan is as follows now:  Move on next week to clear 2nd possible area & then … you guessed it …. onto the 3rd.  Clear them all. I know that somewhere in the work is where the magic will happen. I will decide and a place will become THE place.  The other two will serve other purposes.  Nothing wasted.  No time thrown away.

As for the next steps on the land:  Clear path into land with forestry mulching, get electric power on property with temporary pole, drill a well (do PERC testing) and install septic. I am putting in a temporary electric pole for the moment until I can get my dwelling built to be fully off grid including a fully functioning solar system built in. I will be doing things a step at a time from grid to hybrid to fully off-grid.  Do I have a clue what I am talking about?  Probably not!  LOL!!  But, I have the general idea and keep taking tons of notes from folks that seem to know more.

Dwelling?  I have fallen in love with an A-Frame home design from Den Outdoors. My intention is to buy the plan, have them do some basic modifications and then get it constructed as plans dictate.  The hold up now, to the fastest route, is getting a construction loan (once again, as a self employed person this is more challenging than I thought … my finances do not fit the “normal” conventional systems, even with money in the bank, some investments, no debts and a really good credit score). 

As things stand right now it may need to be a slooooooooow route …. maybe get a small, light RV trailer or tiny modular dwelling dropped on the property until I can get construction going and complete. It is not so much that there are no options for this intermediate step … but rather that there are too many.  WARNING WARNING to those of you I know who are “handy” … I may be taking you up on your offers to help me build this house!  LOL.  You know I am bat-sh$t crazy!

One thing I do know is that living on the land is the way I would get to work the land faster vs. only being able to drive up here for an hour & 45 minutes, work for a few hours and drive back. So much to learn.  So much to figure out.  So much Joy and Pleasure in all of it!