2015 BREAK FROM GARDENING

I’ve been getting catalogs and emails from several of the seed companies I’ve ordered from in the past, and it’s sure tempting to take a look! Normally this time of year I’d be spending hours planning my garden and deciding which seed varieties I’d like to try. Not this year! 

Even  before we decided to buy our new property we had decided to take a break from gardening in 2015, our seventh year of gardening. It seemed an appropriate time for both ourselves and our soil to rest and replenish. As it has turned out, yes, the soil is resting, we are resting from gardening projects, but not exactly resting! We are now busy planning for our new home and our move to Guffey this spring.


Today we are at the property, staying in our new (temporary) future home, the RV. Tim’s project for the weekend is to put skirting around the bottom to protect it from freezing. It’s nice to be here, and we sure look forward to being here permanently!

THE ROAD AHEAD

We are now making plans to change our lifestyle by eliminating a great deal of our stuff, eventually selling our home and moving to the mountains.  We are now in contract to purchase a lot near Guffey, Colorado, where we intend to build a small home where we will retire.  We will be Golden Gaits Ranch, Guffey.  (GGRG)

 
We visited the area on a recent vacation, and “fell in love with” the land there.  This “trip” truly did begin a new path for us, as we immediately began to consider moving to this location.  It’s at about 9000 feet, where the summer temperatures never go above 85 degrees.  Wahoo!  We both dislike hot weather.  Considered a “banana belt” by nearby locals, there should be equal to less snow there than what we experience here, and a great deal less wind in addition to the lack of hot temps.
 
In the next weeks and months we will begin working on our timeline of how we’d like to proceed. This is bare land.  We will need electricity (which is already there), a well, septic,  fencing, barn, workshop, garden, probably ducks or chickens, and a home–more or less in that order!  We are purchasing a fifth-wheel that we plan to live in for 1-2 years while we build.  Prior to our actual move there, we will visit on weekends and vacations to both work and relax.  Eventually, we’ll sell our current home and make the move, maybe in 1 1/2 to 2 years.
 
For the home, we plan to build something small and energy efficient.  We want to keep our accumulation and retention of stuff to a bare minimum.  Living in the RV while we build should be quite an experience, and help us get accustomed to that new kind of lifestyle.  We may build a yurt, if we can get county approval; or if not, another circular, open type of structure.  We’re thinking of a small living space with a basement for storage & work space that won’t need to be heated all the time.
 
I’m thinking I may start a new blog to document the process.  If I do that I’ll post the address here.  I don’t want to just talk about the building and moving process, but include some of our thought process and how this all fits in with our desire to “seek first the Kingdom of God”.  That is really our goal in this change, and we really want to follow Jesus and the life God wants for us.