Land Plan (Inch By Inch, Life's a Cinch; Yard By Yard, Life is Hard)

Here it is, mid-(to-late-)June, and I must admit that I have come very little distance in figuring out how I'm going to proceed with my land.

I'm almost resigned to the idea of renting somewhere again this winter – much as I don't want to. I'm just not sure how I'm going to get everything I need in place before the snow flies...

I'm trying to think about things one step at a time. Here is my step-by-step plan. Probably each one of these will warrant its own blog post at some point over the next few months. I'd appreciate any ideas or advice you care to contribute.

Step 1: Research and information/advice gathering

This is the stage I'm in now. It involves doing research and gathering advice and opinions from experts in a number of different fields, including:

• Site design
• Sustainable Forestry
• Infrastructure/Utilities – power, water, waste water, driveway/site leveling
• House design and/or effective winterization of my tiny home
• Financial advice about how to access enough money to complete this project

Step 2: Decision-making

After I've gathered all of the information, opinions and advice that I can, it will be time to make some decisions. I think this is going to be the most difficult part of the process. There are so many decisions to make! And so many possibilities for each decision! I am trying to remember to take these as slowly as I need to and again, one at a time.

Step 3: Skill acquisition

Next up will learning how to do some things I want to know how to do and identifying the right people to help me make this project a reality. I'm enrolled in a chainsaw course on July 18-19, and that will be a very necessary skill to enable me to contribute to clearing my own land. I have to admit that I don't have a great drive to gain many other skills for this project. I am not a handy person. Fortunately, lots of other people around here are.

Step 4: Resource acquisition

Once I have decided what needs to be done, and what parts of it I can do myself, it will be time for budgeting. I have little doubt that this is a project that is going to need to be done in phases, as the availability of money permits. This was a conscious choice on my part, to bootstrap my way into a house. I could have purchased an existing house and taken on a mortgage, but I decided that I didn't want to pay all that interest to the bank, or have a house that was way larger than I needed and painfully expensive to heat. I am only one person and finding a house for sale that is the right size for one person can be a tricky thing.

The more I think about it, the more I think that my financial situation will require one or more years of "roughing it" living in my tiny home on wheels without running water or much electricity. But – step by step – I don't need to jump to any conclusions just yet...

Step 5: Selecting collaborators

I am very fortunate that lots of my friends and community members are skilled and knowledgeable about so many aspects of land development, green energy and building. There are many people who will be able to help me accomplish tasks for which I do not have the skills, like back-hoeing and building and plumbing and wiring.

Step 6: Seeking approvals

Yes, I'm a by-the-book kind of person. Mostly because if I build a home, I'll want to insure it. If my home were to burn down, I wouldn't have enough money to replace it without insurance. That would be a problem. And, I believe that the rules, however cumbersome, are there for a reason. So, whenever it comes time to install the main aspects of the infrastructure, I will be seeking  the appropriate permissions from all of the appropriate people.

Step 7: Implementation

This in itself will be a multi-step process.

1. Access to the site (clearing trees, building driveway)
2. Infrastructure (electricity (on and/or off-grid), water, waste water, Internet)
3. Moving (and possibly winterizing) my tiny home on wheels
4. Building a fixed tiny home with awesome stuff like hot and cold running water and heavy-duty electrical service.

Where I'm at now:

Our summer solstice gathering this weekend blessed me with an even-greater-than-usual influx of advice from a number of smart and knowledgeable friends and neighbours. Some pieces in direct conflict with other pieces, of course – LOL! It will all need to be weighed and measured!

At the end of the day, I know that it is most important that this process and the decisions that come out of it are a comfortable fit for me. And I have to go at the pace that's right for me.

This is going to be my home. It needs to fit my heart.