Why Homestead, Part 1

Standing on the shoulders of giants.

Why did I choose to do this?  What makes a man leave his comfortable home 10 minutes from Walmart and move to a small hand built cabin 30 minutes from the closest gas station?  I can only speak for myself but I know I am not alone.  It started with Thoreau in high school, then again after the breakup of a young relationship and one more time during a short term contract position with one of those internationally known companies.  In that time from high school to working adult Augustine’s Confessions opened a door that led me down the hallway of the Gospel of Christ, first through Luke and then to John and St. Paul.  Through those influences and others, the call to simplicity has been a persistent, albeit distant drummer tapping out a back beat throughout my life for over 20 years.  

Over the years I’ve looked down several roads that led others to frustration and could feel myself slipping into that mode myself.  It was during my early 30’s that a few things began to crystallize

in my worldview that would lead me to this place.  There was never ‘that one thing’, but rather a crescendo of divergent tunes that would meld into a peaceful symphony of certainty.  I’ll outline those here for a few different reasons and a few potential readers.  For those that may hear that distant drummer, perhaps a nudge from a like-minded individual can encourage your belief that it can be done.  For those that are certain folks like us are out of our minds, perhaps a little insight into the ‘who and the why’ will broaden your perspective.  But for the most important audience, the most pressing need to explain is based on my desire that our children know why their parents choose such an uncommon path to lead them down in the hopes that, as they grow, they will savor the richness of the experience and drink deeply from it.  We are each given a short time to grow, live, learn and decline.  In that short span of life, the fleeting vapor if you will, we seek to live as richly, deeply and meaningfully as we can.  For me that has meant an unintentional but equally undeniable awakening to the reality that we are more than just consumers to be marketed to, metrics to be measured or constituents to be pandered to.  We are free men, at least in as much as we will allow ourselves to be. 

About 16 years ago I landed my first ‘real’ job.  Previously I had run fast food joints and, while the money was pretty good for a guy in his early 20s, the prospect of a meaningful life working those hours was very slim.  I picked up a few night classes in computer programming and parlayed those into a temp to hire gig at a local software company.  In the span of 2 months I moved from answering phones to building websites and, as the 3 month temp gig drew to a close, was taken to lunch by a VP.  They explained that they had been really impressed and were offering me a full-time position starting in 3 weeks.  We shook hands and I was told the paperwork was on the way from HR.  4 days later that firm sold to their largest competitor.  From my cube outside the boss’s door I watched as grown men… ‘old men’ from my 20 something perspective…wept in the bosses office.  They were angry, confused and more than a little scared.  How would they tell their wives?  How would they keep their homes?  A few of them had babies on the way.  This was no time to be looking for a job.  Obviously, my temp job ended a few weeks later.  I left with several superb reference letters and a growing resolve to never be in that situation personally.

Over the next 10 years I ran the gamut from database/technical writer to youth minister, private trust administrator to corrections officer (yeah, that was an interesting story for another time).  When I landed back in the IT world I had come of age with a wife, 2 daughters and a son on the way.  This was it, I had arrived.  I hustled, worked long hours, looked for opportunity and moved my way into an IT Director role at a decent firm. The salary rose, but so did the hours.  During that period I watched time and again as desperate men came and went, the pressure of their crushing debt held their feet to the flame even as their prospects for ‘making it’ ebbed away.  It was during this time that our family grew again from 2 small children to 4.  I began in earnest my quest to buy land and have something to show for all these sacrifices of time away, long nights and no weekends.  As burnout encroached and another round of cuts there left me facing even more work for no less pay I hustled again.  I traded that position for a new one with better pay and better opportunities.  We bought the land, emptying our savings account to pay cash.  3 weeks later, my first experience with a lay-off hit.  Fortunately we had paid cash for the land and, regardless of what happened, we owned it.  It was during this time that I camped there for the first time, again reading Walden and St. Paul.  The symphony was coming together now, gelling and increasing its intensity.

It took 9 days to start my next gig.  I had survived being unemployed and took a short-term contract making an hourly rate that eclipsed anything I had made previously.  I knew this gig would end in 3 months but we took that opportunity to shore up the finances, replenish the coffers and get ready to make some headway on the homestead.  I was sold by now.  No longer interested in trading 50, 60, 70 or more hours per week to make someone else money, I had the fateful conversation with my wife.

It's safer than it looks, I promise.

There was no way to win this fight playing by the rules, I explained.  If we keep doing this 30 year mortgage, 2 cars, pay the bills, and go to work game I will be 55, own nothing and have a life time of missed opportunities to be a dad haunting me from the rear view mirror.  What about self-reliance?  What about godliness with contentment being great gain?  What about living so simply that if an enemy were to take the town I could walk out with the shirt on my back and lose nothing?  What about those folks that we had read about in Mother Earth News?  What about those folks on Youtube?  What about our children?  What about their inheritance and our legacy?  What if we stopped playing nice and started playing to win.  What if we channeled our determination into carving out a life that was ours and theirs, memories that would turn into character for our children and satisfaction for us?  What if?

Well, this is what if.

Can you believe they rented that to me?

Over the past year I have taken a position that pays me a fraction of what I’ve made over the past 6 years or so.  But the trade off is that I have nights and weekends to be a dad and to make a future.  We have spent every spare day off taking the raw wooded acreage and beating it into submission.  Along the way we even were able to pay cash to double our land holdings.  We’ve cut a driveway, dug our piers and, as of last Sunday night, poured our footers and set the blocks.  All that remains now is to level them and lay the beams upon which we will build our sub-floor, cabin and family’s security.

Countless hours have been invested into reading the stories of others that have hopped off the treadmill and into real life.  Blogs, magazines, books (so thankful for Amazon and their ability to get me the old stuff for pennies on the dollar) and a refusal to lay down and accept the rat race have produced a plan.  The plan is being executed.  Lessons are being learned.  Memories are being made.  And, most of all, we are finally winning the fight.

I know this life is not for everyone.  Again, Thoreau and Paul warned me of that.  But for those of us that hear the drummer, nothing else will do for long.  If you want to follow along on this adventure, come on friends.