We are not independently wealthy. We no longer believe that this should stop us from doing exactly what we want with our lives.

The first part to making this work is needing less money in the first place.  Like living in a place where property is cheaper, like growing most of our own food, like using less electricity, less gasoline, like not being fooled into thinking we want more stuff.  Luckily, we already wanted to be more self sufficient, consume less for the sake of the environment, work more with our hands, and spend more time with each other outdoors. So these ways of needing less money sound exciting to us, not bothersome.

We are not so naive to think that we can get by without any source of income at all.  So the second part of making this work is finding small ways to pay for the expenses that we’ll still have, like property taxes and an internet connection.  We’ve made a list of potential sources of income that involve work we’d enjoy doing and won’t make us compromise on our values or chosen way of life.  Most of them are just extensions of what we’re already planning to do for ourselves. Here are the highlights:

making beautiful things and selling them on etsy (check it out! littlealexander.etsy.com)
doing freelance illustration work (need some done? alesandrini.com)
selling excess honey, beeswax, eggs, fruits and vegetables at a farm stand or farmers market
selling homemade food, like juices or jams or sauces or cheese or ice cream (the last two are if we have goats)
growing and selling flowers, spices, and herbal tea mixes
hosting guests at our farm in a bed and breakfast like set-up

I doubt all of the ideas on our list will work out (the complete list includes many that are beyond farfetched). We believe that just enough of them will to keep us living the life the want to be living.