This was a whirlwind year . Two trips overseas , a novel child , building a nursing home and writing books – fussy !
I was in a funk before Christmas as we prepared to move to our land , thinking how I did n’t get much done over the trend of the year . No matter what goals I set , I generally sense like I ’m scram less done than I should .
Yet as I started to head for the hills through what was accomplished , it bring forth to be more telling than I think .
Let ’s run through the year , commence with the year ’s grownup stress – building a house .
We close on our state on Christmas Eve of 2018 . Then we started working towards get it cleared , adding urine and electrical service , etc . We quickly get word that many local contractors were not competent , and I resolve to establish the full house myself .
I start up with a little shed , build with a hammering and nails and a skilsaw . :
I could n’t decided on a house architectural plan and I turned a caboodle of unlike thing over in my head . I had get building estimates from a few contractors on a few different plans previously , but it was too expensive to build what I was think about – and I did n’t know how to do it , either . I ’ve never build a house .
I was front with palsy , not trusted what to make or how to make it .
Then I had this crazy thought : why not build a piffling circle of diminutive house , like a village ? Building one little building would be good praxis for another one , and there ’s not a pot that can go seriously incorrect when you build something small .
I met an out - of - employment South African who claimed to be a contractile organ , and on June 12th we go bad to work building a humble cabin . Neither of us had done much ( if any ) wood framing before , so we made some stupefied mistakes . I learned from the mistakes as I went , however , and we got the first little building up in a few weeks . Here ’s a shot from July 2nd :
There were plenty of mute mistakes made on that little building , but it still get together into a very cozy piddling cabin . Having accomplished it , I decided to build an office next , using what I ’d larn .
That turned out substantially and stronger than the first building , plus it reckon better inside and out . After completing it , I resolve to add a laundry room lean - to to the first cabin , followed by a larger shop list - to on the side of the office .
Then I travel to Indonesia in September as an agricultural advisor for Kingdom Workers . When I came back , my South African contractile organ had done more work alone – this fourth dimension blockwork – and it was becoming obvious that his idea of good body of work and mine did not line up , so we part ways genially and I decided to attack the quietus on my own . I ’m quite grateful for the irrational self - trust he shared that got us started on this projection , but now I have become more than capable of make out the rest of the house - construction .
We started with nothing on the land at the offset of 2019 and terminate with a 12×16 cabin , a 3 - bank identification number compost lot made from concrete pulley , an earth-closet , an 8×12 art studio / office , an outdoor shower bath , running piss and electric car , an 11×15 workshop , an 8×12 laundry room , an outdoor covered work area and a merchant vessels container – plus a big understructure build this month , as I take a contractor to put in a serious concrete slab for a principal theater that I will build in 2020 , Lord willing .
Despite my approximation of stimulate footling cabin , I determine I would rather be under the same roof with my crime syndicate , rather than get us circularise out . It just feels more loving and cheeseparing , not to bring up safer .
If you ’d wish to follow the house - building escapade , you cando so on my Unauthorized . TV channel . More on that in a second .
Near the beginning of the yr , as we were making programme for our house , we discovered to our shock that Rachel was expecting our 9th ! This was a bit of a complicatedness as Rachel had trust to avail document the home - construction and be more of a part of the process , rather than being staggeringly pregnant – but we were still happy for the approval . Our short girl get safely on November 11th , and there was much rejoicing .
She was born at home at 11:55PM . What a great child !
One of the reasons house - building got started later in the yr is because I was finishing upFree Plants for Everyonenear the first of the year .
That has get the best review of any of my books so far and I am thankful for all the funding and sales .
I also get by to polish off writing the first draft ofGarden Heat : A Jack Broccoli Novel(AKA Jack Broccoli II ) , but did not get to finish editing and re - write it yet . That ’s a project for next year .
On my natal day in July , the family unit and I planted a nutrient forest on our land , filling the front yard with fruit trees of all sorts :
I also started planting an comestible hedgerow along the edges of the land :
We also started planting coffee bean tree :
At the beginning of the year , we also embed multiple bed of yam plant and cassava but those have been eaten by the jungle as we ’ve been building . I ’m sure we ’ll dig some roots out of all the mess at some point .
I make 237 videos , of which 117 were livestreams .
too soon in the year , I launch the regular evening Goodstream where we had a large prison term live , speak horticulture and other topics . It was a success , though it proved hard to keep up and I put the show on hiatus about a calendar month ago while we move and construct . Our new land also lacks internet , which will make livestreaming more unmanageable .
In March I gave two talks , one in Ft . Lauderdale at The Great South Florida Food Forest Project , then another one in Carolyn Smith ’s backyard northward of Gainesville . About two hundred the great unwashed attend and we had a great time . I ’ll in all likelihood do another , foresighted tour of duty in 2020 .
In September I was sent to Indonesia to do some agricultural audience work for Kingdom Workers . For two weeks I confabulate multiple villages and gave input on gardening organically and economise water and hommos .
The people there were marvelous and I was blessed by the experience .
It took too farseeing to get started on house building this year , which keep us paying rent longer than I would have like . I also did not supervise to get Jack Broccoli II published during the twelvemonth . YouTube revenues were also flat . Gardening was almost non - existent , except for the many small trees I uprise on the front porch . Unlike most years , we purchase almost all of our food instead of produce it . I found out speedily that work up a house and acquire gardens are very difficult to do at the same fourth dimension .
My momma impose this year , which was wonderful . We were also blessed with a new little female child , which is fantastic . And , as I type , we are now living on our own estate at long last .
It was a good year . I trust yours was as well . Glory be to God , who prolong us and provide more than we need !
