Welcome to my Website! I hope you’ll join me as I keep this online diary of my adventures as a permaculture homesteader– on just half an acre in the mountains of western North Carolina. I’ll be attempting to turn this little half acre of red clay and rock into a viable, sustainable homestead that will provide 80% of our food, 80% of our heat and about 50% of our energy needs. All while “learning on the job.”
Although I’ve done a lot of reading and research on permaculture principles and sustainable lifestyles, I’m going to be learning through simple trial and error. This mountain weather and soil (or should I say rock!) is new to me, so it will be quite a challenge. I will pass all my experiences along to you – good and bad! I want to give you hope that, if I can do it, you can! I’m psyched and ready to get started! And as the name of the blog reminds me . . . “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”
So join me on this journey to self sufficiency and living small!
Mountain Homesteading
We’re at 3,000 feet altitude and our property slopes upwards at 15 degrees– 26 to 30 degrees in some spots. There are no flat places. Our area is known worldwide for clay that’s perfect for pottery and has attracted hundreds of talented potters who live in these surrounding mountains.
But one person’s blessing can be another one’s curse.
Mountain people know the best natural soil lies around creek bottom areas. In many places on our homestead, however, the topsoil is only an inch thick– covering solid red clay. And it’s rocky. We have a family saying: scratch this red clay a couple of inches anywhere, and you’ll find a rock the size of a football or larger! So we had to start by hauling in soil for raised beds until we could generate enough compost. It was during one of our many workouts lugging 40-lb bags and wheelbarrows of soil up to the top of the garden that we named it “climbing Mount Suribachi.” Gallows humor can help! And we had to to cut down fifteen trees to get the minimum of six hours of sun in most areas. Believe me, I have plenty of stories and helpful hints for any gardener who is faced with challenges!
Close to the Earth
Each day amid all this beauty is its own reward. We often talk about how, after we escaped the urban grind that was our jobs, we became very sensitive and tuned in to weather patterns, temperatures, skies, the animals and the surrounding forest. When we were urban dwellers these were things we used to just “deal with,” and move on. But if you farm or raise a garden you are almost completely dependent on the weather. So weather has become the new main topic for us!
The above photo was shot from my back door on one of those cool, misty spring mornings when we wake up among the clouds. It illustrates only one of the beautiful moods of our beloved mountains.