7 days- and counting

"My main focus is the sustainable benefit from goat milk, chicken eggs, and other animals. Part of staying local would also include volunteering at local farms in exchange for other goods. This lifestyle intends to explore the benefits of living off the essentials with minimal energy. We will produce our food from land, our livestock will provide us with other nutrients, our shelter will be hand build from surrounding resources, and our means of transportation will not require any fossil fuel."

That is my mission statement in the works :)

A week from today I will not be sitting on the two person couch in which I am comfortably situated right now. Instead, I will be blogging in the comfort of a wooden floor inside a platform tent. With only a week left until I move into the
backyard homestead
which has been built on Sylvia's property, I find myself anxious, yet nervous because I keep thinking off what we still do not have. Right at this moment all we have is the chicken and goat pen set up and part of the platform tent base. If it had not been for the help of Orlando, Tom, and my grandma, we would probably not have any of those right now. In terms of the pens and tent, all we need to do is set up the individual chicken nesting boxes, put doors on both pens, line the empty space with plastic covers, get the wood for the tent base, build the base, and build the tent. That alone is a lot of work.

I also have to get the chickens and situate them in their new home. But with my luck, which is very bad, the chickens happen to be eating their own eggs and I can't move them until they stop. If they continue to have this problem by Monday I will just have to get chickens from Garden of Eve.
The goat. WHERE IS IT?
Turns out its going to the NY State Fair. Yes, I am excited that it is that special, but what about my project? With less than a week left, I don't know where I'm going to find one.

I have organized a list of things I need to get and do before Wednesday.
I need to go to Riverhead and pick up the food and containers for my animals, find more wood for the doors and create hinges, get a copy of L'etranger at Borders, order my solar charger from ebay, buy a memory card reader for my camera, get rechargeable batteries for my camera, and find my camera. Also, I should probably pack all my stuff and see what personal items I am missing. The only thing I am not worried about is my bike because
I bike everywhere already.

If you've read this and are worried, I tend always been this stressed with time lines, but I will meet them. The goat is my main problem. I was thinking if I can't find one by Saturday then I could volunteer at local farms in exchange for milk. Or I could continue this project into September, which is when the State Fair goat will be available again. I must say, the hardest part so far has been finding the animals. You'd be surprised at how impossible it is to find farm animals for sale within a 300 mile radius.

I've been volunteering at the wildlife rescue center of the hamptons to help me prepare for any wildlife encounters. It's a lot of fun and the people there are the nicest around. I'm probably going to continue volunteering once a week throughout my project. Only difference is its going to take me 2 hours, opposed to 10 minutes, to get there (biking from Bridgehampton opposed to driving from Hampton Bays).

Everyone I've told at work thinks I'm crazy, even though my store is all about being one with nature. I work at Annies' Organic Cafe and Market. I'm very excited about this whole experience! This is exactly how I want to live later on in life, of course with a more stable grasp on everything. I have so much e-mailing to do to everyone that is involved in my project and updating them on how it's coming along and finding what I still need. Even though this was a venting welcome to my project post, it's turned into my personal to do list. Very helpful for these updating days.