A Homestead on Guam

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LAND AND SHELTER AHOY!

Our first goal—once we'd survived Betty—was to purchase land. And since Guam—as of 1950—is an American territory, any U.S. citizen can own property here. However, we soon found that land was (and still is) at a premium on the island, mainly because there's so little of it in the first place. As a result, the property that was available was priced way out of our range ... at about $10,000 to $20,000 an acre! So with the option to buy land no longer open to us, we turned to the next best alternative and decided to lease a small plot of acreage to farm.

Our second goal was to build a house from recycled lumber (using techniques we'd learned in the States), but we soon discovered that scrap wood, like land, isn't a common commodity on Guam. In fact, there are hardly any trees here large enough to log, which means that most lumber is imported and therefore very expensive (one 16-foot 2 X 4 can cost as much as $5.00). Aside from its being rare, wood is very temporary building material in the tropics ... because if the ever-present termites don't destroy it, chances are the annual typhoons will!

Feeling more than a little discouraged at our thwarted attempts to put down roots, my family and I even considered the possibility of constructing a thatched hut to live in. However, the sudden vision of the straw roof being blown away in a blustery wind quickly squelched that idea! Finally (and again reluctantly), we settled for the only other affordable choice ... which was to rent property that had a concrete house in place. It's certainly not our dream home, but this storm-resistant shelter has helped us to accept (and learn to deal with) the frustrations of living in paradise.

EATING RIGHT

Although homesteading in the tropics does have its share of disappointments, it also has a wealth of rewards. Take, for example, the abundant array of food that can be either grown ... caught (in the sea) ... or hunted here. Thanks to the island's endless warm weather and plentiful rainfall, we can raise more than enough fresh produce (on our relatively small garden plot) to fill our needs. We've found it easy to grow tomatoes ... corn ... lettuce ... squash ... and almost any other vegetable you could name, as well as some of the most exotic fruits in the world: coconuts, bananas, guavas, mangoes, pineapples, papayas, and more.

There are ample sources of other types of food here, too. Fishermen bring in daily loads of seafood (lobster and octopus are among our favorites!) ... the island farmers raise pigs, cows, small goats, and carabao (the local name for water buffalo) ... and some folks hunt the wild deer, pigs, and fruit bats that are still quite common. All things considered—and even though we may not own a paradise farmstead yet—we're sure not going to go hungry while we work toward achieving our goals!

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