Homestead Dreams

It’s been about a year and a half since we bought our dream home in the suburbs. It’s been an interesting ride, because we were so focused on the big life goal of buying a home – against all the odds and expenses in the way – that we really had to reorient ourselves in this new reality.

As our family spreads out in this new space, we start to wonder what to do with all the mental time and physical space that have opened up for us. Now that we have the goal, what do we focus on? What do we work towards?

With today’s mortgage rates and amounts, keeping the house is obviously the immediate goal. But that’s not exactly a sexy or exciting one, especially for someone like me – an overachiever with too much energy and adhd. I kind of need a goal to function, and have let myself really dream and wander and wonder about what my life in this house will look like.

And those dreams 1000% landed on the same dream I’ve dreamt so many times since moving to Hawaii: a homestead. I’ve always wanted to raise my own chickens, manage a garden, grow my own food, and fight the power by providing my own sustenance.

I’m lucky enough that my husband has also been drawn to the same thing – we’ve always had a veggie garden, no matter how small our rental space was. Now, with our own house and a smaller, suburban-size backyard, we have a blank slate to create the micro (& HOA-allowable) homestead of our dreams.

When we moved in, we immediately planted apple banana, dwarf orange, and dwarf lemon trees, a papaya tree, and installed two large planter boxes with the help of our friends & family. We’re growing tons of bananas, Swiss chard, green onion, and flowers, and are hoping to successfully add in onions, Manoa lettuce, mint, cilantro, tomatoes, basil, and peppers on various pots and planters all over the place.

Our homestead will probably take years – if not a decade – to flesh out and flourish. But hey, we’re going to be here anyways! And I’m still gunning for some chickens, although we will definitely have to rearrange some things to make it happen.

So, a bit of a ramble, but long story short: let’s fight the power by feeding ourselves. ✌🏼