I am comfortably sitting in my camper van this morning, drinking a cup of black coffee as I do every morning. The curtains are open and I can see the sun coming up over the distant mountains.
Right this moment I can say I have everything I need and I don't really want for much but three and a half years ago, when I moved off grid, I parked in this exact spot my first night on my property and I was really rolling the dice.
At the time I only had my camper van, a cheap trailer and a one year supply of canned food.
By the time I built my shop, I had no money left and I was betting on people being interested enough in what I was doing to support my homestead through my website. And slowly but surely people bought my eBooks, Courses and tuned in to my YouTube channel which all helped me build my modest homestead.
Before long I built small structures to help me live as sustainably as possible. I built a geothermal greenhouse and learned that it can snow pretty hard in the high desert of Arizona.
I built a root cellar although many told me it would never work here and I began to learn that there would be many nay sayers but more often than not, what I tried, worked.
An abandoned dog wondered onto my homestead for food and water, I looked for the owner but no one could accurately Identify her and I've had her for years now. I named her Helga and fed her. She's currently sleeping at my feet.
The first time I saw a tarantula was pretty wild. I thought they would be scarier but they move so slow they're almost cute.
As more people began to support what I was doing, I was able to build more infrastructure. I built an area for my tea business in my shop and I expanded my rain harvesting system.
I harvested my own meat, and grew much of my own food.
I tanned a goat skin to later make moccasins and I made sausage with the meat.
Over time my homestead became a home.
I successfully built a pond which filled naturally from monsoons, I cut native grass and bailed my own hay and my homestead became more and more comfortable.
After you finish reading this blog, you can join my mailing list and get my first eBook FREE! It's an Amazon best seller in multiple categories. Thousands of copies have been downloaded and read. But I'm giving you one for free.
I created my own tire shop on the homestead, since I'm so far from town. I expanded my rain harvesting system to harvest and store nearly 20,000 gallons of rainwater and I build a water tower to provide gravity powered automatic water to my entire homestead. And my homestead just continues to become more like a home.
Most recently I've grown enough livestock to keep 400lbs of meat on the homestead. I can usually harvest enough vegetables or a salad every day and I added a round pen and stable for a couple beautiful horses that I will do my best to train so they can pull a wagon, work around the homestead and be good transportation.
Gambling on my homestead success has been the best decision of my life and sharing it with you all has been both challenging and rewarding and I'm grateful for every one of you.
I have uploaded over 500 videos on YouTube documenting the process if you'd like to see them you can click here.
If you'd like to support my homestead you can visit my website here.
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Thank you all so much for your support. Please leave a comment below and I'll try to respond to all of them.
18 comments
Look again Al.
Awesome pictures! Looks like more fun than work! You’re a 1 man army!
Thank you Matt and Topaz for being supportive of my content. I hope you enjoy the book Topaz and Matt, I hope you find the right piece of land for your future homestead.
I came across your YouTube videos right after you had moved onto your land, and I’ve been watching ever since. What you’ve accomplished has inspired and motivated me to keep learning more and eventually find my own piece of land to build a homestead. Thank you for sharing your journey, and I hope for your continued success!
I stumbled across your videos one day and found them fascinating. I ordered some tea and your books to help support what you’re doing ( I have to wait until I’m finished working this fire season to enjoy them) I think you’re doing a great job of showing people a different lifestyle and that if you can do it they can to.
P.S. Love the Horses