Greetings to all Tennesseeans, whether native or brand new!
Being able to find like minded people geographically close to you: a very appealing feature of traditional Freesteading.com.
Each month, the county homesteaders group local to me goes around the room and introduces themselves, explains generally where they are located*, what they are doing, as well as what they hope to do, on their homestead/farm/smallholding. Also what skills you bring to the table, or what you hope to learn to further your goals. What made you decide to be free, and what does that path look like for you right now.
I'll be happy to go first. I'm a fourth generation (at least) East Nashville native who had his childhood home destroyed in the series of tornadoes of March 2020. The national Corona situation hampered recovery efforts. We decided to sell the lot. Later that Spring, the Mostly Peaceful Protests hit Nashville as well. Where I worked (and blocks of the downtown area) street furniture, statuary as well as buildings were allowed to be damaged in the demonstrations and allowed to remain in a vandalized condition for months. At the end of that year, a disturbed individual detonated an RV full of explosives two blocks away from that near a national telecommunication exchange. All of this along with rising property taxes, failing schools, roads and infrastructure, and a series of politicians and administrations bent on catch and release of criminals, led us to want to move out of county as retirement age is upon us.
Progress on our dream to move near family an hour West of town is proceeding slowly, on modest means, as God Wills. My Bride is currently planning the interior space to go into a truck-delivered, Mennonite-built cabin shell, on a site where a trailer recently burned.
We are both far more familiar with city life than rural life; the skillset of practical living is coming to us slowly. Should we live to see it to fruition, the aspirations are to have several small systems in place for food trees, bushes and gardens, for fruit, vegetables and herbs; raising critters for eggs and meat, --each steps to reduce dependence on grocery store items and OTC meds with incomprehensible ingredient lists. Most of these goals remain in the hazy future. (Is some of this also true for some of you)?
Our hope is to someday be able to credibly provide a place of shelter to our now-adult children and stepchildren and their families, should they wish to exit the hurly-burly of modern life and choose to live proximate and be able to enjoy the close support of each other. This is only if they choose to. More than one of them is currently enjoying a nomadic lifestyle and we encourage them to live their best life as they choose before the encumbrances of maturity settle firmly on them; even as we signal to them the potential of a quieter refuge to return to if their circumstances or priorities change.
Equally important as all of this is Connections. We strive to form 'close-in' connections with like minded individuals in Dickson and Hickman counties, as well as beyond to people who are building out systems to market things like fresh eggs, raw milk, plant starts, herdshares, knowledge sharing and support.
Some folks that we have longer distance relationships with are those that long distance commune with Hippocrates Garden on a weekly basis; the people that keep Living Free In Tennessee on YouTube from Lancaster Tennessee (and the Self Reliance Festivals in Camden, where Tag has been a frequent participant).
That's a little bit about us, living in the middle of a three-division state which is 440 miles long and 112 miles wide. Here's hoping You Find Your Tribe, wherever you end up settling in!
-Packrat
Being able to find like minded people geographically close to you: a very appealing feature of traditional Freesteading.com.
Each month, the county homesteaders group local to me goes around the room and introduces themselves, explains generally where they are located*, what they are doing, as well as what they hope to do, on their homestead/farm/smallholding. Also what skills you bring to the table, or what you hope to learn to further your goals. What made you decide to be free, and what does that path look like for you right now.
I'll be happy to go first. I'm a fourth generation (at least) East Nashville native who had his childhood home destroyed in the series of tornadoes of March 2020. The national Corona situation hampered recovery efforts. We decided to sell the lot. Later that Spring, the Mostly Peaceful Protests hit Nashville as well. Where I worked (and blocks of the downtown area) street furniture, statuary as well as buildings were allowed to be damaged in the demonstrations and allowed to remain in a vandalized condition for months. At the end of that year, a disturbed individual detonated an RV full of explosives two blocks away from that near a national telecommunication exchange. All of this along with rising property taxes, failing schools, roads and infrastructure, and a series of politicians and administrations bent on catch and release of criminals, led us to want to move out of county as retirement age is upon us.
Progress on our dream to move near family an hour West of town is proceeding slowly, on modest means, as God Wills. My Bride is currently planning the interior space to go into a truck-delivered, Mennonite-built cabin shell, on a site where a trailer recently burned.
We are both far more familiar with city life than rural life; the skillset of practical living is coming to us slowly. Should we live to see it to fruition, the aspirations are to have several small systems in place for food trees, bushes and gardens, for fruit, vegetables and herbs; raising critters for eggs and meat, --each steps to reduce dependence on grocery store items and OTC meds with incomprehensible ingredient lists. Most of these goals remain in the hazy future. (Is some of this also true for some of you)?
Our hope is to someday be able to credibly provide a place of shelter to our now-adult children and stepchildren and their families, should they wish to exit the hurly-burly of modern life and choose to live proximate and be able to enjoy the close support of each other. This is only if they choose to. More than one of them is currently enjoying a nomadic lifestyle and we encourage them to live their best life as they choose before the encumbrances of maturity settle firmly on them; even as we signal to them the potential of a quieter refuge to return to if their circumstances or priorities change.
Equally important as all of this is Connections. We strive to form 'close-in' connections with like minded individuals in Dickson and Hickman counties, as well as beyond to people who are building out systems to market things like fresh eggs, raw milk, plant starts, herdshares, knowledge sharing and support.
Some folks that we have longer distance relationships with are those that long distance commune with Hippocrates Garden on a weekly basis; the people that keep Living Free In Tennessee on YouTube from Lancaster Tennessee (and the Self Reliance Festivals in Camden, where Tag has been a frequent participant).
That's a little bit about us, living in the middle of a three-division state which is 440 miles long and 112 miles wide. Here's hoping You Find Your Tribe, wherever you end up settling in!
-Packrat
