Q. How do you wash yourself?
A. We catch rain water in basins and wash with a soap and a wash cloth. To wash our hair we bend over and pour a bucket of water over our hair to wet it and then add shampoo and then rinse.
Q. Where do you all sleep?
A. Bill and I are now sharing a 7"7 tent. We were in a tent that fit in the back of his truck, but with moving it out every time we needed to use the truck, the tent ripped. The kids are all sharing a 7"7 tent.
Q. How do you go to the bathroom?
A. We are using a bed side commode(you would see them in hospitals) and the method we are using is called a dry toilet. Every time we use the toilet we take a small shovel of peat moss and cover it. We have a 5 gal bucket under the commode and once it it full we dump it. It's part of our compost.(I will post more about this later)
Q. What do you eat or how do you cook?
A. We buy a lot of canned food, mainly because it can be stored without cold. We had tried ice chest, the ice melts to fast to keep anything fresh(ice melts in a day or two). If we buy meat it has to be cooked that day. We buy fresh fruits and vegetables. We have fresh meat once a week. For dinner we cook a lot of chilli, raviolis, soup and rice or pasta. We eat crackers, chips and trial mix for snacks. For breakfast we eat fruit.
We cook on a propane bbg or a stove top. We have three pots. We Gill meats (fresh or canned)( spam), and cook everything else.
All of our food has to be stores in plastic containers to keep bugs and rats out of. I have been woke up to noise and I turn on my flash light and shine it where the noise is and I catch a rat running away.
Q. Where do you keep all your stuff?
A. We have two 20"20's(which are portable canopies), One we have our two tents and two tables.( One of the tables we use for all our boxes of food and the other we use as a table, we eat at or just sit at) the other one we have all of our house hold items sitting on pallets with three traps on it with a rope tide around it to keep it down. We have two dressers and two suitcases we store all of our clothes in. Everyday we have to go under the traps or in the suitcases to get out clothes ready for the day.
Q. Do you have any power?
A. Yes, we have power. We have a solar generator. We can charge our phones and portable DVD players, we also have a lamp plugged in, that we only use when it's dark(like at 11pm when Bill gets ready for work, or at 4:50am we I get ready for work and when we have to get the kids up and ready at 5:30am or if we need lights after 6:30pm). We have learned that we don't need to use that much power if we keep it at a minimum.
Living this way has taught us a lot about what we took for granted. Never once did we think about what or how we got the power when we needed light or to charge our phones.
If we get nothing but rain for a week we have little power we can use,(we have a lot of water)(like we can only use the light if we really need to, we do have lanterns and flash lights. If the generator is low or when we get sun light we have nothing to worry about because we get to charge or generator and then we can use it fully.
Q. Would you ever camp again?
A. No, we are all learning a major lesson. Even though my kids are learning something different and that is only because their thinking is a lot different then an adult. We are really learning that how much harder it is to build a life verse just picking out one.
Camping for a day or two can be so relaxing and enjoyable but camp life is hard work and not that enjoyable. It's like normal life, just without walls, and locks. You hear everything and everything is wet and muddy. If we don't want to be muddy we have to wear our rain boots.
Q. Are you happy for your decision you made?
A. Some days that is a tough question. We all have days that we wish we were where it is familiar. We have been planning this move for fours years. We knew nothing about this would be easy. We came to a different world, yes it is still apart of the us, but life here is very different. We came to an island that has its on way of living. Everything from how fast things work to how they speak. Learning a new language has been challenging and interesting. We are learning Hawaiian history or Japanese.
We are literally building a life from nothing. Not a lot of people can say that. We are almost finished with our cabin. It will be so nice to not be living in tents. No matter what happens we will know that we tried something and worked very hard to make it work.
Q. What do you look forward in the future?
A. I am so excited to have a garden and provide for my family.
We plan on having chickens for eggs and meat and grow veggies and fruits. I know the life we picked is hard and all I hope is that we raise hard working kids that appreciate what they have and know how much we love them and how much we are willing to give up to give them the best life possible!
Q. Do you regret your decision?
A. No, we took a chance and life is too short to not take a chance!Yes it's hard and yes at times it sucks. We are having an adventure! My family has moments where they just want to be home(NV) and even me at times. I know that we can have a great life if we could all just focus on the positive and that the live we planned takes a lot of hard work and dedication! We will be fine because together we are strong and we will make it!!! I love my family and know that my kids will be so much stronger and ready for life because of what we are doing today.
Q. Are you really building your house?
A. Yes, so far we have gotten 2/3 of the way done with our cabin. It's is a 16"24 rectangular. It it's a one room cabin. Almost like a studio. We will have a living room, a kitchenette and a bed for Bill and I, and a triple bunk bed. This will be our temporary home. Once this is finished we will build our main house.
If anyone has anymore questions please comment them and I will answer soon! Thank you for following our blog and supporting us!
