playing 30 questions

one acre homestead in ohio wants to know more about his readership.

Basic Questions About You
1-What is the biggest goal of your lifestyle?

To be liberated, to achieve that often talked about, never worked towards sense of balance, to finally grab the tiller on this boat and steer my own course.

2-When did you start this lifestyle? Very gently about 5 years ago.

3-What was your main motivation? Fear, I don't know if I truly saw this stuff coming or I am just paranoid and made a lucky guess.

4-Did you have any previous experience in anything you're doing now? Childhood of occasional baking, gardening, carpentry.

5-Does your spouse/signifiacant other (if you have one) share the same ideas? Not exactly, but she's not against it either.

6-Do your friends and family understand and support these choices? What about your kids? I guess you could say "Kinda, sorta" to each.

7-How happy are you with your achievements so far? I wish I was farther along, but so far so good.

8-Are you more of a gardener, homesteader, prepper, health concience, "green"' or a combination of several? I started out a panic-prepper, but now its more of the other categories, I realized the destination wasn't the goal, as bikers say, its the journey that matters.

9-Has this change of lifestyle affected your personality? I would say definitely, its made me more conscious of waste, but also of the potential to change. If its possible, I think I have become simultaneously bitter and optimistic.

10-Has it changed your view of your life before? Not really, I am who I am.

11-What about how you view others that don't understand it or naysay? I can't fault people who make choices based on the data at hand and the lens of their particular worldview, its people who manufacture a web of ideology for convenience or just because they don't want to change that I find annoying. I'd rather focus on dealing with people who are at least receptive.

12-If you could convince someone to live the way you do in ONE sentance, what would you say?

By voluntarily choosing how you will live, you will remember what its like to be truly alive.

Other Questions-

1-How large is your vegetable garden? several areas spread out for about 200 square feet.

2-Do you grow any fruits, and what and how many? we have a smallish blackberry bush, a pair of pawpaw trees that have yet to produce

3-Do you have any animals and what are they? (other than pets) just dogs

4-Do you can/dehydrate/freeze/store your own produce? to some extent, soups and jams

5-Do you work with mainly power tools or hand tools in your gardens and others? (wood cutting, splitting, tiller vs. broadfork etc...) In garden, I work exclusively with hand tools, its small enough that one person can do it in a reasonable amount of time.

6-Do you compost? absolutely

7-Do you recycle? absolutely

8-Do you consider yourself energy consience? (conserving to save $) yes

9-Do you make any of your own household cleaners? no but its been on my mind

10-Do you make your own bread? there is no substitute for warm crusty homemade bread (baked a loaf last night in fact).

11- If in an emergency situation, are you able to not leave home for a week? How about a month? A year?? a week maybe, but no longer.

12-Are you tired of answering questions yet? I can do a few more.

13-If you prep, what do you consider to be your most useful tool/items the phrase "don't panic"

14-Are you able to heat your home without gas or fuel oil? does electricity count?

15-Are you able to cook without gas or electricity? got a grill out back and I know how to use it.

16-Again, if in an emercency situation, could you live in the wild or out of a tent? ( camping,hunt/fish, cook,etc.) I probably could, I used to camp with a very minimum of supplies in H.S. but I haven't done anything like that lately (its been at least ten years, lets put it that way)

17-Have you ever practiced your prep skills? (turning off main power for a day or 2) How did you do? (this can include a power outage due to weather as a test) Not voluntarily, but when it did happen, we did just fine.

18-Do you have the knowledge & skills (plus tools) to hunt and fish for food? I probably could, but my dietary choices do not make it necessary. I considered whether I would voluntarily kill and prep and animal to eat, and decided that since I couldn't stomach the process I had no right to eat the product. In a "lost in the wilderness for weeks" situation I probably could if I had the tools. I did fish a lot as a child.

19-If you don't prep, why not? It would likely drive my family nuts, and put me in a very obsessive mental state.

20-Do you or can you sew your own clothes and make your own bedding? I just made a window shade as a matter of fact.

21-Can you field dress a deer, drink a coffee, smoke a cigarette, make a cell phone call, light a fire, AND answer all of my annoying questions at the same time? lol thanks for playing! I can multitask, but not the same tasks as you.