today- postponed

Saturday, we finished the entire floor for the tent. It took all day because the floor was suppose to be 16 x 24, but the planks we had turned out to be 16 x 22.4. After the whole frame for the base had been set up, Ken measured a plank for the deck and realized that each one was 11'2''. Since we were laying them vertical in 2's to cover to 24 ft, we would total to 22'4'' not 24'. This was not a huge problem, but it was frustrating because we had to re locate the center at 11'2''. Then we got to work on putting down the planks. By the time the floor was done we had been too exhausted to continue so we called it a day.

Sunday, now that the floor was done we thought we were ready to put up the tent. WRONG! The blueprint called for 4- 2ft extensions on each side with 5ft verticals and diagonals on each one. There also had to be 2 railings attached to the extensions/verticals. Now we needed to get the wood for all of these additional missing parts. Being Sunday the closest place that was open was Riverhead. Ken said to call it a day because Riverhead is over an hour away and being 12 noon, we wouldn't start until at least 3pm and we wouldn't have enough time to get anything done. I was determined to finished to I begged Orlando to take me to Riverhead to pick up the necessary wood to finish the tent. When we got to Home Depot, we realized that his van was not going to fit all the neccessary wood and that our trip had turned into a lost cause and a lot of lost gas and time. The only thing we could do now was pick up a battery for the solar panel and some electrical wire to hook everything up. I didn't get back to Sylvia's house until 5pm! Our last couple of science classes before summer were all on electricity so when I got to the solar panel and battery operation I knew exactly what had to go where and how to hook it up. With some help from Leandro we were able to get the solar panel up and running. With a little extra time we thought it would be perfect to dig our fire pit. A shoveling we went and soon we had a adequate fire pit. We then lined the pit with rocks to make it look nicer and hopefully balance a grill. The fire pit was ready for cooking!

Yesterday, OUR FIRST DAY TURNED INTO A TRIAL RUN! We had decided that yesterday was going to be our first day and we were ready to get going. For breakfast I had hand picked berries and some water from my house. I don't really have a big appetite first thing in the moring so I was fine. We straight to work on finishing the tent. Ken got there around 10am with all the neccessary wood. We quickly attached the extensions with joist hangers and drilled the verticals to them.
Soon we had the finished and complete frame. By this time it was a little after noon and we were starving. Also, the sun had been very bright and beaming the whole morning so we were exhausted and light headed. Ken agreed we should take a break before the tent went up.

Being our first day we were about to have our first off the grid meal. I collected five eggs from the chickens, Sylvia put the old grill on the fire pit and I scrambled the eggs in one of the old skillets my mom generously donated to the cause. Creating a fire was not as easy as we hoped it would be and keeping it going was even harder. We had to use matches, which we hope we won't have to for long, and a lot of kindling was burnt up quickly. Water from the hose in the vegetable garden has been our beverage of choice. Five scrambled eggs with a zuchini and water is not enough food for three growing girls who have been hard at work all day. Although it wasn't much, we were the happiest eating our tasty meal under a shady tree. Now with a somewhat we recharged system we went to put up the tent. Sylvia said the instructions called for 2 people to put it up. BIGGEST LIE EVER. It took Walter, Ken, Sylvia, Patricia, Molly, Tom, and I to put up the thing with all our strength. It took a 30 minutes using all our strength to put the tent in an upright position while still holding it up. Walter, Sylvia, Molly, Tom, and I held up the tent inside with Ken and Patricia quickly tied the outside to the railings. THE TENT IS COMPLETE! Sylvia, Patricia, and I, however, did not feel complete. We were hungry, tired, light headed, and just not very alive. I left to go home and get all my stuff for the final big move. As I was home packing I got a call from a panicked Sylvia. I guess once it really hit us all that this was it we quickly backed up. After talking it over, the way we felt today is not the way we should feel about living off the land. It should not feel like we are struggling to stay alive nor that we are too weak to carry on normally. Also, with the tent set up being an entire project on its own we hadn't had much time to really talk about the project itself. We realized that jumping right into it was not the smartest thing. Yes, we are set back a couple days but we are simply not ready. We need to figure out how to fish and where first, spend a night in the tent to see how we do at night, bike to the places we need to get and see if its too much on us, and most importantly we shouldn't feel nerve wrecked and scared on our first day.

Tuesday and Wednesday we are going to seriously talk over everything we will be doing and hopefully move in on Thursday or Friday. That week that we missed can be made up in September. After talking to my mentor I realized that this attempt was not a fail, but a success. This was just a challenge that we were not aware of and now we know what we will need to work on.


About an hour ago I also got a call from someone in Rome, New York that has a couple of milking goats for sale at a really great price. Surprisingly, his 6 hour distance has been the closest person I've been able to find. After yesterdays experience we also learned that water is not a fufilling beverage. The goat is a need, not a want. The only problem with this is how to get them from Rome to here. It is a 12 hour drive round trip with 2 or 3 goats. I'm working on that right now because frankly, without the goats we will not last very long.