A look at our new (transitional) home in Berea, KY! (Photo taken in early spring)

We have landed in Berea, Kentucky. We… live here now. That’s a strange thing to say, after investing so much of our lives into Dancing Rabbit for so long. April and I are both intensely excited for our future here, and it’s merely just begun.

I guess we haven’t officially moved just yet, as we are still DR members. Until the day we sell our two homes, we need to retain membership. And we haven’t moved everything out here just yet — basically just the essentials for living here through the spring. Our bee hives, valuable furniture, boring machines, scaffolding… you know, things that wouldn’t really fit in a small vehicle have been left behind for now.

Anyway, here’s what we’re looking at for our new lives in Berea for the next few months.

We have been blessed with a transitional place to live from our new (and very generous!) friends. April and I are sharing living space on a lovely homestead with our good friend Jacob, who is our partner in this new adventure we’re beginning. In the coming weeks, we’ll begin our hunt for land with Jacob. We’d like to acquire enough (and appropriate) land to start a collective homestead and sustainable living and natural building school. That’s how we are characterizing it now, anyway. Part of our work this winter will be carefully defining what it is we want to create.

As best can be stated now, we want land to build a functional homestead, where we can grow most of our own food, raise animals, practice regenerative land management / permaculture / sustainable food production. We also want to create a homestead brimming with creative opportunities, where we (and others) can practice the work of creating a more self-sufficient life. That includes things like constructing our own natural buildings, doing woodworking, spinning wool and making clothing, making candles, etc. You know, the good life. The “simple” life. (More on the “simple” theme later…) Education will be a major theme, for ourselves and providing opportunities for folks interested in a living a little more lightly.

Next week, we’re going on our first trip to look at some potential land. In the meantime, we’re looking forward to seeing some of the folks we’ve met earlier in the year. And… there’s talks of doing some natural building workshops this year, too. More on that later, though.

This is a lovely area that we’ve found ourselves in.