Building Dreams

For nearly twenty years, I've had a dream that encompassed creating a homestead with a tiny house for my animals and me and being fully self-reliant. It took far longer than it should have because I just couldn't wrap my head around all the hows.

How would I have the power to do anything, how would I have water, how would I afford to buy land, etc? And there were other issues to be sorted out as well. How would I earn money, how would I cook, how would I refrigerate my food?

Truly, there was a lot to sort out and it was overwhelming. I was finally pushed to go or it when I had finally become fed up with trying to get ahead by running a small business and watching my money being eaten up with costs, rent, and more.

By the time I was able to relax at the end of a workday, I couldn't afford to do anything because I was broke from paying the bills for just the basics in life. The worst part was that I wasn't even happy where I was. I had roommates and no privacy.

My home wasn't mine and I was limited in the things I could do all of the time. One of the final straws was having a small pool outside for my dogs and coming home to find that my roommate's ex-husband (who didn't live there) had dumped it out because of his concern for mosquitoes -- I had treated the water if anyone had bothered to ask me first. It was time for me to move forward with my dreams.

This is a good place to let you know that I was diagnosed on the autism spectrum when I was 39 years old after two attempts at suicide. I had great difficulty coping in the world. Constant noise and loud noises bother me a lot. People touching my things bothers me a lot. I have anxiety, PTSD from childhood abuse, and a lot of issues that are just plain harder to come to grips with as an autistic.

For many years I went through life not knowing the reasons for my problems with focus, with feeling odd for not understanding the joke that everyone else was laughing at but I didn't really get (but chuckled anyway rather than look stupid), or being told by people that I was very funny when I wasn't trying to be funny and having no idea what I said or did to be funny.

My emotional IQ was often painfully lower than my actual IQ. I couldn't cope with my emotions like other people seemed to do with ease and it frustrated me. I am disorganized and have to work so much harder to complete tasks.

Keeping a job was just impossible for me because pressure, of any sort, made me crumple-up like a piece of tissue paper. I'd quit, walk out, just not go back after a day off, etc. Sometimes I would sit at home and just rock on the sofa or lay in bed in a fetal position for days. I never understood why or that others didn't do things this way.

I realized that I had to find ways of earning money and be my own boss. For a long time that was dog training. I understand animals almost like second nature. When I finally was able to move to a more remote property, I knew I'd need a business that was truly from home as the population around me wouldn't support a dog training business.

I began working on building myself a business of writing articles from home. I have clients that are in the cannabis industry, pet-related fields, and off-grid clients who are always wanting articles from me. I have also been able to find work doing website landing pages for companies of all sorts and my ASD brain is happy to constantly need to research new things.

It has been a long road, but I've realized a big part of my goals. I stayed with a gracious friend for about six months, in the beginning, to get away from that crazy roommate situation. I saved money to put down on a property that was owner financed. I created a work-at-home income from writing articles as a content writer for companies located all over the world. I have built my reputation as a writer to earn ten times per article what I did back in those days a couple of years ago.

I purchased some things that I needed before I left. I knew, for example, that I was going to need a roof over my head as soon as I arrived. I contracted a company to bring a rent-to-own shed to the property and set it up for me as I was still in another state. Having a shed and the land payment was still only between $250 and $300 per month. This was an amount that I felt was easily achievable each month.

I came prepared with four batteries, two solar panels, some odds and ends, along with my personal belongings. My dogs, my cat, and I set out on our own. I toiled to plant a garden right away. I quickly learned that

Oklahoma doesn't get enough rain to sustain a garden, so I've decided that I need to hook to city water to make this part of my off-grid homestead truly be possible. It will mainly just be for the gardens and refilling the water tanks in the dry season because I prefer the rainwater.

I've managed to live out here for about 15 months now, without any power other than what I produce through solar, and running a generator in the summer to have an air conditioner because it reaches well over 100-degrees Fahrenheit here in the summer for up to 90-day stretches. I've learned to do a fair amount of mechanical work on my generator out of necessity.

I have fenced an area for my dogs to prevent them from roaming. I've expanded my solar system to four 100-watt panels, I've installed rain gutter and acquired a tank to store 275 gallons of water at a time, which is fine for my personal use but not nearly enough for plants.

I compost my waste and that includes my human waste, which I learned about from the Humanure Handbook. I've had zero issues with a smell and my first compost is already broken completely back down to soil now. I have installed a propane cook stove, a propane heater and other than insulation, I still haven't done more to finish the inside of my cabin.

I did manage to recently get a nice new futon with a queen mattress that has enabled me to get up off the floor where I slept on a twin mattress for the first year. I use my cell phone as a wifi hotspot to use my laptop for writing. I'd love a satellite dish someday but that is way out of reach presently. I've got too much else to do.

I have a desire to create another cabin at the opposite end of my 1.3 acres. That will be a guest cabin for people to come and spend a weekend or a week at a time. There will ultimately be miniature goats here for the milk, butter, and pure entertainment and joy. There will be chickens here for meat and eggs, and a lot of entertainment as well.

There will eventually be a hoop house and water lines from the city water running to them for growing year-round to provide food for myself and the local community. In time, there will be a butterfly garden between my cabin and the guest cabin. There will be more solar panels and outbuildings for the goats, chickens and whatever else wanders our way for care and a place to call home.

In the future, we'll teach classes here to people that come and stay with us. They'll learn how to make their own butter, how to care for chickens and collect eggs. They'll learn how to install and maintain solar energy themselves.

People will come here to renew and relax and learn how to get back to the basics in life and be kinder to the planet. We will give to the community, share knowledge with others so that they can do the same, and create a more sustainable world as we grow.

Vacations here will be retreats from the chaotic world to show you the other world that awaits and beckons you back to -- the world we evolved away from and now try to find our way back to as the planet weeps and the glaciers melt. Shambhala is my dream and it is a half-reality now -- a work in progress -- that needs help to grow.

I'm working on crowdfunding the growth necessary to fulfill the dream completely. I've done it all on my own, with some help from friends that have kept me afloat in hard times, like when I had to have my gallbladder removed this spring and go out and move my fencing the next day.

If you'd like to help support our growth so that we can bring knowledge to others and create a safe, carefree space for visitors to our farm, and grow food naturally for our local community, visit our fundraiser here or consider purchasing a beautiful tee shirt or hoodie to support sustainable living here.

Thank you for reading and for your support. Shambhala Farm is becoming a magical place, thanks to the love, energy, and support of so many wonderful people around the world. You rock.

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