We've decided to live in a tipi. We will be purchasing an 18' foot tipi very soon and we found a local campground that will let us camp there monthly for a very reasonable price probably starting in September. This will be a kind of testing ground for us, to be able to spend the winter in a tipi, and we will be collecting whatever equipment we will need for our move to the homestead. To do this we will scout Freecycle, garage sales, thrift stores, antique stores, Craigslist and whatever else we need to do. I will post our list of items when we've worked that out.

The next step will be transportation. We currently have a tiny two door '92 Geo Metro, which is excellent on gas but may not do so well with 20' poles strapped to the roof. For this we will be getting an older diesel Suburban. We decided diesel is a requirement so we can make biodiesel if we so desire.

After that we have some educational requirements as well. We need to learn about horses, and drivinig a draft team and how to use harness. Fortunately we have a few connections that way. I will be working on cooking everything from scratch over a fire without sugar. Whatever we need that we can make, we'll make.

After we've saved a bit more money, we'll be buying the land, most likely in New Brunswick, Ontario or Nova Scotia. This will happen by March or April 2009. At that point we'll buy a second tipi, a permanent 30' one that will be built on a wooden platform. Our 18' tipi will also be put on a platform, and at that point we'll have a woodstove in one as well. We are working on a master plan for our priorities with developing the land so we can be self-sufficient, and I'll post that here as well. Here's a couple of pictures of what I ultimately want (that someone else has done already):