I figure a bit of background information is in order before we plunge into the joyful chaos that is our life...
Describing our group is a task in itself. We are 7 in all, 5 adults and 2 small children, living together in an antique farmhouse in rural Maine.
Sam and Jake own the house that sits on 5.7 acres. Jake is a welder and Sam a work from home seamstress.
Charlie and Laura came next with their two beautiful children: Noah (3) and Violet (10 months). They came from the city and wanted desperately a yard for the kids to play in and a life geared away from consuming. Charlie works in the meat department at Whole Foods and Laura stays home with the kiddos and makes beautiful needle felted tapestries.
Carl was the last to move in, bringing with him 3 fabulous goats. Carl's move was entirely un-planned. He was going to keep his goats in the chicken run temporarily, and crash on the couch every once in a while. We decided we liked having all of them around and they became a permanent part of our lives.
When talking to people about our new way of life I am often tempted to say it is a commune.... "but not the creepy cult kind! We don't sit around drinking the Kool-aid!" Nor are we partaking in free love hippie-style. We are a group of close friends with the same back-to-the-earth mindset, helping each other out so we can all get by and have a little bit of a fuller life.
It has been about a month now since we started our adventure. As the excitement of the newness wares off and we have settled into a routine we are happy to say that we are all still in love with the situation.
I plan to post on what we think make us able to stand living with each other soon, as well as lots of fun info on homesteading.
~Sam
