It is amazing how invigorating this kind of life is. We do a lot of work ourselves: knocking out walls, painting, sanding and staining floors, putting in bathrooms, moving heavy equipment, fighting carpenter ants…

All of it “experimentally”, meaning half the time we don’t know what we’re doing. We’ve done the research, we’ve read a book (or five) and ferreted out online advice, but actually *doing* it always turns out to be something else. It comes down to estimating the risk, the cost, and the potential of success (or failure) if we do it ourselves. For the boiler and the woodstove and possibly the carpenter ants, we get the professionals in. As for the rest: we enter a steep learning curve and try to have a good time. We have learned to say “ah well,” and move on.

That said: all we’ve done garden-wise so far is a couple of tomato plants and herbs!

So yes, it’s very different than city/condo life, where everything is done for you. Here, *we* are the management. It was a big step to take, and in a way a step we need to keep on taking for each project, but once we take it, I feel it’s good for the body and good for the soul, not to mention the planet if you do it “green”.

That is what got us going: the green angle. If we weren’t after a more ecologically sound lifestyle, I think we’d still live in a condo apartment in Brookline, sipping coffee at Peet’s. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and I still occasionally make sure to visit. But it’s no longer the best thing for us.