Originally, we had planned on getting some sheds erected on our property shortly after our arrival. Our hope was to be able to unpack the hold in the Moody Blue, thus lightening her load and giving us access to much of our stuff. With this in mind, we purchased a couple of “cheap” shed units from Canadian Tire on our first trip to Campbell River.
Well here we are, nearly three months later, and we have only just gotten our sheds up. So much has happened, and our priorities have changed as we have tried to tackle projects in the most efficient order.
Even with modern equipment and the knowledge and wisdom of the many who have “homesteaded” before, there are always unexpected challenges. For us, the old ivy, planted by the original homesteaders at this site, and the native wild roses, have made clearing the site much more work than we had expected. Liberally mixed with salmonberry and thimbleberry, these plants formed a nearly impenetrable briar at the old homestead site. We cynically referred to the wild rose and “blood briar” since each bush seemed to extract a price in blood before it could be removed. Sadly, I love wild roses, and hate cutting them down, but I know that there will be many left once we have a place to live!
However, even though we have had a few unexpected challenges, I still fully believe that we will ultimately achieve what we have set out to do – find a way to live sustainably on this land, in harmony with nature. A recent visit to a neighbour’s home provided ample evidence of the wonderful fertility of this land, and what can be done with love and perseverance. Laden with gifts from their garden and orchard, we returned to our site with our vision refreshed.
And so we have our sheds up – the first “buildings” on our site. We look forward to unpacking the Moody Blue and finding lost treasures!