Five Acres and Independence- Part 1, by D.C.

How You Can Do It- Getting Started

Many of us find the prospects of individualism and self determination, on a level of becoming a self-sustaining individual or family or even maybe tribe or community, simply daunting. It is germane to contend in this day and age, some aspects of this are difficult to fully appreciate, where they are so foreign from daily life to be almost inscrutable outliers.

Just where to begin can be an overwhelming situation. Don’t feel alone. There are a myriad of ways to begin, indeed, and the simplest answer is it all begins with each of us. Remember well, individualism and self-determination does not mean to be alone. It must be noted, also, this is liberty. It is provincial and very much agrarian, too. So, in effect, to be self-determining is to be free. At the very least, it is the beginnings and root of choosing, and a most very important choice is here– freedom. Because after all, the first step is a matter of winning your own heart and mind to make that choice.

Okay. Probably what you’re thinking, and you’re right, you are alone; however, you are alone because you haven’t grasped something. You’re not alone in regards to like-minded folks. Sure, there are no easy answers, but action is what counts. You have to start some place, friend. The sooner you begin to defy the matrix and implement alternatives, the sooner you will be creating freedom.

It is in joining “the Honorable Resistance”, a great and noble thing, with humble beginnings, as where the most noble of things begin.

It is very difficult to take even one step out of the system. I, too, had to begin someplace. It was when I did take action that the best aspect of resistance, which I had no idea about, happened.

Take me seriously on this. I’m going to tell you a secret. It is not action, the act, that counts so much, though its value is critical. It is the change in who you are– your dignity and self-determination– that is the transformation. It is winning your own heart and mind. After that, lot of things are easy, because you have changed your thinking. That is where it starts. Then, it is action, the act, that matters, because you have created a zeitgeist, an individual paradigm. And that is where all good things begin.

I imagine some of you are saying to yourself, “Ya’, right. Who is this clown?” Well, this clown is a guy probably not much different than you. However, this clown knows something that is a real paradigm. It begins with me, with you, and with each of us, and once it does, it is not just me, or just you. We become a plurality of freedom. It is motive power and audacity that we are talking about. Maybe it is small potatoes, but the greatest things sometimes begin small, out of all stature to their enormity. And that is the only thing that has ever changed the world for good. It has always been the purview of the dirt people and no one else who changes the world for the better. It takes one person at a time. There is so much motive power in that simple thing that it becomes indomitable, and so can you.

Ask yourself how is it working for you, personally on your level, in relative terms to you. Then ask yourself the following:

  • What am I doing?,
  • Am I a debt slave, a fiat cash cow, or a serf of the industrialized corporate tyranny?
  • ARE there possibilities I can effect that bear fruit?

Be honest, dead nuts frank on this. Don’t lie to yourself.

I know the answer, but do you? Many things are contingent upon your forthright answer to yourself.

Then, ask yourself, seriously, as a heart attack, what is the object, the point, of the trap you’re in? The box that has no escape hatch? The catch-22 you find difficult to extricate yourself from?

Remember, the key is it all begins with each of us.

Maybe, it is scary or even terrifying, but really what are you going to loose walking away from it all? It is a real question, my friend. It is the question. It is the hump you have to mentally climb over.

How We Did It With Humble Beginnings

This is how we did it and got here. Everyone is different, but here I’m offering a touchstone, a reference point. It is first hand experience. I hope you can take it to the bank called Liberty, because we made it work, and we did it with humble means and beginnings.

We– my wife and I– decided it was time we chose. We needed to make the choice to become self-sufficient and self-determined in every facet of our lives as was practically possible with the resources we possessed, and realistically would be able to acquire in the future a life based on our hopes and wishes of personal philosophy, morals, principles, and abilities.

Rid Ourselves of Debt

The first order of business was to rid ourselves of all financial debts. Debt to us was an anchor, a ball and chain. So, we worked like dogs for a year and a half, sold everything we had except for the basics, like guns and gear, tools, bare essential clothes, basic cookware, books, and treasured artifacts. We sold every piece of furniture, bicycles, the lawn mower, and we gave up every electronic except one computer and a cell phone– a pay-as-you-go phone. We also sold every vehicle but an 89 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup. We stripped ourselves to the basics and I mean to the bone.

Buy Property for Cash

After selling our houses, cashing out our 401K’s and investments, and with the little bit of added cash we saved from working extra jobs and overtime in one year, we had $54,000 cash left over. I mean, we put our minds to it and kept the simple goals in sight. We put everything in one large storage unit, went to the bank, got a special bank check for $52,000 plus $2000 in cash, jumped in the old pickup, drove down to West Virginia, and got a $30 a night motel room. We ate out of a cooler and a cardboard box of food. With our laptop, phone, and newspapers, we started searching. We figured after our expenses of hunting for property and moving expenses, leaving us a couple of grand for living expenses, we could alot $46,500 to buy a piece of property outright for cash. Our baseline requirements were: five acres, a livable house, and if possible a garage-type structure for a workshop. Every house we looked at that fit our needs, no matter the asking price, we said real nice like that we had $46, 500 cash, right now, today, and that we will buy this place if they’d show us a clear title, no offense intended, but it is what we have to spend, and we are not getting a bank loan. We told them to think about it and leave a message at the motel for us because we are heading over to such and such to look at another spread. Well, in two days, we owned a place four heirs had jointly inherited, originally listed at $120,000 on six acres with a two-car garage, creek, and taxes of only $275 a year. The total cost for the paperwork, county fees, taxes, et cetera was $378 to do the sale. We found we had ten grand in standing timber, which we sold later, and recouped enough cash to buy many of the components to build an off-grid solar/wind system with a brand new heavy-duty fork truck battery, which we designed and built from scratch. We invested another portion of the timber proceeds in improving our land and house. – D.C.