PAUL EDWARDS

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With five bedrooms finished, the entire house is now very comfortable (although not fancy). And even though we cleared all the foliage from around the house, deer still come to drink from our spring in the backyard.

Somewhere along the way—as we scraped paint and hung new wallpaper—MOTHER came into our lives and we decided to become self-sufficient. The plan and requirements for self-sufficiency are, of course, different for every individual or family, but we've found that one prerequisite for success overshadows all others: namely, tremendous desire and commitment. This one important ingredient, we think, can make self-sufficiency work for anyone . . . given time, planning, and lots of hard work.

As proof of that, we now have nine head of cattle . . . a good sow for our pork . . . chickens, guineas, and ducks . . . a one-acre vegetable garden . . . and a small orchard with ten new trees and ten more on the way. We also have black walnuts, a small nut grove coming in . . . even pines for our Christmas trees. Our own gas well and furnace provide free heat. (We spend no out-of-pocket money for the operation of our wood stove either.)

We still have 12 to 18 months to go before we're completely self-sufficient—fields for corn and hay are being cleared, our 22 acres of pasture (which we just fenced) need to be built up and reseeded, the barn needs structural work, and so on—but at least our goal is now within reach.

My wife, Jan, loves to can food and I personally enjoy working with animals. But what really keeps me going whenever we hit a snag is the simple knowledge that in a few short months my eight-to-four rat-race job will be behind me . . . while ahead lies a new life of adventure and challenge to share with my loved ones.

It'll be a simple way of life, but one which we think our children will always remember fondly (no matter what they choose for their own futures) and one which my wife and I will enjoy together for many years.

Yep, thanks to Jan's never-ending energy and our library of reference books on gardening, animal ailments, etc.—and, of course, MOTHER—we're almost there. Almost self-sufficient!

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