It’s been a long long while since I last visited this blog. Life got in the way and I wasn’t feeling up to sharing at the time. Now, this coming new year, I’m moving into a new and exciting phase of my life. Here’s the story of what happened.

As you know, I was planning on building a house but council rules and regulations were getting in the way of my ultimate off-the-grid dream. It was looking less like the house I wanted and more like the house the council wanted. I was getting really frustrated too, so I busted out the old spellbook and got cracking.

I cast a spell and thought, ‘Great! That’s going to clear the path forward for me.’ The funny thing is, instead of removing the obstacles blocking progress down my chosen route, the magic ran around behind me and punched me in the back of the head screaming, “Wrong way, bitch!” Typical magic moment, really.

My goal was to live in my own house in the southwest. The problem with houses in the southwest of W.A. is that they are generally unaffordable to me (at least in my current job which I love and will not change). That’s why I had decided to build my own home. It’s one thing to try and get the funds all together in one enormous hit, it’s another to slowly build as funds come in. The problem, I soon discovered, was that new builds, particularly owner-builder projects, are so heavily micromanaged by local government. I’m not talking about safety concerns here, I’m talking about absurdities like what colour water tank you plan to have in your backyard etc etc. It all needs to be specified on the plans and woe betide you if you pick something they don’t like. You know something is dumb when even I think we are delving into nanny state territory. The only answer to that problem, that I could see, was to buy a house already built, in a rural location where the council wouldn’t hassle me unless someone complained. Circle back around again to where buying a house already built is unaffordable and so on and so forth.

Two days after my spell, while trying to figure out how to get council to pass my sewerage application and house plans, to let me live on my own land without connecting to mains water (hint: they won’t), a break in the cycle occurred. I saw a house in the southwest that I could afford, and then another. My spell had kicked in but instead of it clearing a path through council bureaucracy like intended, I was being presented with some new previously unseen choices.

Well, I found my perfect dream home, in my perfect dream location at an affordable price (using my block of land as collateral for the loan.) It’s a pretty little 2 bedroom a-frame cottage on a 1/4 acre, there’s room for my orchard and veggies and it’s already off-grid for water so the council can’t do anything about that. There are some minor renovations to be done to make it my own but it’s ultimately going to cost me a lot less than building the council’s dream house.

Now that I finally have my own place, I’ll be delving more into homesteading. I’ve already set up the orchard. I’ve planted an apple, peach, orange, lemonade, olive and macadamia tree, grape vine, boysenberry and blueberry bush. I’ve started my herb garden in the front with lavender, rosemary, peppermint, sage and curry leaf.

I have loads more in mind and that isn’t even including the veggies that need to be set up round back. I’ll wait until I’ve permanently moved down there before starting on that.

Magic lesson for 2017: Never dig you heels in regarding a particular pathway to your goal. Let life take you off track and see where you end up.