Landfall Day

Today, we celebrated the first anniversary of our arrival at our homestead. We decided to call it “Landfall Day”, since we arrived by boat a year ago, and landed on the shore in our little skiff, hoping that this piece of land would become our home.

So much has happened in such a short time! Sometimes I feel like I am in a dream, and will wake up and find myself back in Prince Rupert, back to the daily slog of living in the city. At the same time, life out here is so real, so immediate, so all-encompassing that it couldn’t possibly be a dream.

Would I do it over again? Absolutely yes! Although the work may be hard, and sometimes I am tired and achy, I have finally found a place where I belong, where I am a part of the whole, where there is a sense of deep peace and the world is turning as it should. Neither Ken nor I have any desire to return to the “rat race” of city life.

Was it what I expected? Yes, and no. Some things worked out as we had planned, others were totally unexpected or required major revisions to our ideas. While Ken and I came here with a fair bit of knowledge that was useful in homesteading, we also needed to learn a great many things, and are still learning much more. Long ago, I never dreamed I would be building my own house, but here we are, and I sit in our cabin knowing that I have been intimately acquainted with every piece of wood in it.

Was it hard? Yes! Probably if I had known it would have been this hard, I might have hesitated, and taken a little longer to get here. But I still would have come. I often make light of our trials and tribulations, but there have been some real transitional moments for the two of us, tears shed, blood spilled, bruises, aches, pains, irritations, worries, and frustrations. And yet, we faced many of these same things back in our city life. The big differnce out here is that you have the power to make your own solutions; you are not trapped in an endless loop, but can take action and make things happen. I have always been a person of action, someone who gets frustrated with endless meetings, discussions, working groups, and talk fests that go nowhere, just repeat the same old thoughts and concerns ad nauseum. The life out here suites my nature.

Would I recommend this life style to someone else? Yes, and no. Yes, because it really is the right thing to do. We all need to find ways to make ourselves sustainable and resilient if we are going to survive the future. And it truly does feel good. I love our land and I love our lifestyle. My health has improved and my humour has returned since I moved out here. What else can I say! However, it is not for the faint of heart or the unprepared. This is a wild land, and we live far from the city. Help is not immediate. We have to be prepared to deal with anything that might happen out here. It makes you develop a real sense of responsibility for your actions and the outcomes of those actions. And I think this is a good thing!