As I mentioned in my last blog post the first 2 steps to successfully achieving our dream are completed:
First step: Have an inspired dream: Our dream is to build our own energy efficient round house on property large enough to grow fruits and vegetables and start a sustainable lifestyle, mostly off-grid and self-sufficient.
Second step: Figure out where you want to live and buy property:After multiple trips to the Big Island of Hawaii and countless hours of research on different areas we found a property which suited our situation. We figured out where we wanted to live, placed an offer which was accepted and now we are ready to move onto the very long-term third phase.... The bonus factor is that we managed to buy 3 acres instead of the 1 acre we originally visualized.
Third Step: Create a sustainable house design and draw up plans: Now comes the hard labor as we intend to design and build everything ourselves. The land is raw and untouched, with beautiful Ohia lehua trees, endemic to the Hawaiian islands, which we intend to keep as they are, medium sized brush and bushes and shorter ferns and grasses.
Once we've had the property surveyed and staked we plan to cut our way into it with machetes to get an idea of the lay of the land. After we've done this initial exploration, we'll be able to envision how we'd like the driveway and house pad to be positioned. Once we've made that assessment we'll create a plot layout plan and do the clearing with a grader.
Baby steps....one foot in front of the other but we're stoked, the dream is morphing into reality.
