New beginnings in 2010

Lots have happened in the last couple of months, more on that later. My goal to having a blog is to share the changes I am making in my life. The big areas are where I live, how I live and what food I am purchasing and putting in my body.



I want to change the way I shop for food and start to purchase food grown locally and sustainably. This is a big change from my normal habits as I was not really picky about what I purchased or ate. I am doing a lot of research and reading on what goes into getting food, how animals are treated and what they are feed. I just need to control myself and not try to do too much and then drop the change. I also want to start providing my own food by having a garden this spring and summer. So wish me luck.



The really big change that I want to make is to sale my house in Marion and move to Shantikunja, my house at Wisteria (more on Wisteria later). Shantikunja (Shanti) is about 900 sq ft and is off the grid. I have a small solar panel and 4 batteries. It provides enough to have energy for lights and a TV with a DVD player.



There are several reasons for wanting to make the move this year instead of waiting for a couple of years. One is that I am having physical issues that make living in a 2 story (3 if you count the basement) house really painful. Both knees are in bad shape and my fibromyalgia has really been kicking my butt and managing stairs have just gotten really hard for me. I never expected to be at this stage when I purchased my house 6 years ago. I also just feel more relaxed and happy when I am at the Shanti. The downside is that I would be about 3 hours away from my family and I will miss being around them all of the time. But it is not like I am going to be on the other side of the country.



So this blog will cover, among other things, my plotting, planning and actions to make the move possible. I will also discuss my issues with fibromyalgia and how that works with the changes I am going to make in my life. I hope to stay on track and maybe this will help keep me accountable to making it happen. It will talk about what I am doing at my home in Marion to get it sold, moving to the Shanti, sustainable foods, gardening, fibromyalgia and living off the grid.

More later.