Kingfisher Cottage

One of our many Kingfishers who visit   We had found our dream land and had a plan for Kingfisher Cottage. Apart from saving costs (part two of the series) we also wanted to make an income from the land. We love growing and seeing the land blossom. When we bought the land at Matakana in 2009 it was part of our ten year plan to become self-sufficient and stay active. The land had to be more than a park, it needed to pay for itself. In 2004 we sold a three acre property in Kumeu . For over eleven years we struggled to grow and keep the land there without earning anything from it. We were working as workaholics in a consulting business where I was away for weeks and often driving late at night to get from one job to another. We also ran a management retreat in a second building we constructed after three years there – it was good to roll out of bed and into a facilitation job! The homestead at Kumeu. Our first property on land.   In our spare time, we worke...

  Finally living at Kingfisher cottage on four acres of land, we can develop our long term dream, part of which is self-sufficiency. In the next decade, we aspire to cutting or controlling as many living costs as we can. Keeping costs under control will help us to spend on things that can earn us income in the future, and give us that warm feeling of independence. We also get to eat and drink more healthily as a side product of this too! So far we have made easy changes: ·          Reducing waste and re-purposing Year ago we cut costs where we could in order to save enough money for this home. We have continued just about all of these – there seems no good reason to go back to old habits. We wash out all our snap lock plastic bags and re-use them…they are often pegged on the line to dry! We don’t have a dryer – all washing is hung on the line or dries on a rack inside. We keep our old cars – while they are reliable and do the job...

One year into a ten year Plan for self-sufficiency     One year ago this week, we broke the curse of twelve years renting. We affectionately called it or time in the wilderness. During that time - unable to plant anything, improve things around the house or even have a pet, we planned our escape. We had a dream. That dream was not a fabulous architect designed home with 'bells and whistles'. It was a place that would also enable us to be self-sufficient and even earn income. A place with a 'homely, comfortable' feel about it rather than a 'don't dare to spill anything' atmosphere.   Our dream was very pragmatic: A permanent place we could develop for at least ten years A home that would lower our living costs An opportunity to be self sufficient in food A plan to earn money from the land as part of a portfolio income stream into retirement A property that could 'learn and grow' by adding buildings as we could afford it. A...