CheerioLounge
Dessert Dreamer
Hi everyone! New to the site and have already found a lot of great info!
A bit about us... I am retired from a large electric utility and living on a fixed income so stretching every dollar is a priority. My partner is fashion designer/pattern maker by trade and we have set up a small studio in a corber of the house where he currently does alterations for the Marines stationed at the nearby base. We spent several years in Samoa in the South Pacific and 6 years in Hawai'i before coming back the US mainland. So how did we end up in the desert?! We wanted to own our own place in So Cal to be nearer our families and this was about the only place we could afford to buy anything with some actual land. We are loving it out here!
We bought our 440 sq ft cabin on 5 acres about 3 yrs ago and are trying our hand at homesteading. We would love to be completely self-sufficient eventually. Solar and/or wind power seems like a pretty viable option out here as we have very few days that the sun doesn't shine and it is usually pretty breezy, if not downright windy! Our biggest stumbling block in that aspect is the cost of installing a solar/wind setup. We would also love to dig a well, but it's very expensive and we get VERY little rain so we'll probably have to keep our "city water."
We currently have chickens for eggs and will be expanding our flock this coming spring. Thinking about adding some meat birds to the mix, but are still doing some research (and trying to determine if I will have the fortitude to kill them when the time comes...) We are also looking at goats for milk and are weighing the pros and cons of pigs.
We tried a vegetable garden last spring, but the desert squirrels completely wiped it out! Working on a better set up for the next attempt.
We would love to hear from other desert folks who may have similar aspirations or who have already become self-sufficient.
Thanks!
Mike
Edited for clarity
A bit about us... I am retired from a large electric utility and living on a fixed income so stretching every dollar is a priority. My partner is fashion designer/pattern maker by trade and we have set up a small studio in a corber of the house where he currently does alterations for the Marines stationed at the nearby base. We spent several years in Samoa in the South Pacific and 6 years in Hawai'i before coming back the US mainland. So how did we end up in the desert?! We wanted to own our own place in So Cal to be nearer our families and this was about the only place we could afford to buy anything with some actual land. We are loving it out here!
We bought our 440 sq ft cabin on 5 acres about 3 yrs ago and are trying our hand at homesteading. We would love to be completely self-sufficient eventually. Solar and/or wind power seems like a pretty viable option out here as we have very few days that the sun doesn't shine and it is usually pretty breezy, if not downright windy! Our biggest stumbling block in that aspect is the cost of installing a solar/wind setup. We would also love to dig a well, but it's very expensive and we get VERY little rain so we'll probably have to keep our "city water."
We currently have chickens for eggs and will be expanding our flock this coming spring. Thinking about adding some meat birds to the mix, but are still doing some research (and trying to determine if I will have the fortitude to kill them when the time comes...) We are also looking at goats for milk and are weighing the pros and cons of pigs.
We tried a vegetable garden last spring, but the desert squirrels completely wiped it out! Working on a better set up for the next attempt.
We would love to hear from other desert folks who may have similar aspirations or who have already become self-sufficient.
Thanks!
Mike
Edited for clarity
from Missouri
Welcome from Kansas!
