One word? When seven would do…

So. We can’t possibly do a third winter in the static. A second one has proved challenging beyond words. The fact is that we spent way too much time simply surviving and are actually not moving forward during these winter months. I want our lifestyle of off grid, low impact living but, BUT not at the cost of our health, happiness and energy and enthusiasm levels.

We crave baths, living space and a proper solid base to shut the weather outside. We can’t throw our all into developing the croft when so much of our time is just spent tending to our basic survival. I am on the one hand incredibly proud of our getting water, the compost loo, solar and wind power up here. But in the last week we have spent one full day getting firewood up the hill and a second full day just processing laundry. If we took out of the equation all of the carrying firewood, food, gas bottles etc up the hill, removed the big deal that is getting warm and dry after a days work, having a space to take wet muddy clothes off, emptying the loos, filling up the generator, dealing with problems happening to the wind turbine, the water supply etc then we would actually be able to put in full time hours on the crops, the animals and start to consider a proper house build. Oh and focus on some of those other things like down time with the children, socialising at things like book groups, having people round for coffee.

That leaves us with 3 options if we stick to our pledge not to be in the static next winter.

1. have a better house on the croft. Given our failure to sell Osborne Drive last year, our secure and reliable tenants in there now and my reluctance to liquidate all our assests and invest them here just incase at some future point we decide this no longer works I am very worried about trying to sell the house again -both the implications of selling it and the long term consequences of doing so. Rum is perfect for us for now, I believe Ady and I have a good 20 years here of finishing raising our children and then focussing on our own end of our working lives by realising our dreams of self sufficiency, permaculture, volunteer hosting etc. But then I don’t know if our long, long term future is here. I don’t know where Davies and Scarlett will settle or the direction their lives will take them in. I don’t know what our health will be like in middle and old age, I don’t know what will happen with my parents and in which direction we could feel ourselves pulled in the next two decades. To chuck everything in to such an uncertain, remote place seems a little rash even to my fairly reckless standards. Medical provision on the islands is poor, access and infrastructure is likely to be very slow at progressing and given our fairly harsh physical existence just now I forsee a future when a gentle stroll to amenities, good access to the doctors and a ready supply of sunshine and warmth and comfort may well be something we crave at 60 and 70 rather than mud, rain and extremes. All of that talks me out of trying to sell Osborne Drive and build a proper house here on Rum. Along with my yearning for something a bit different. I really want to build something alternative, green and different. My current (and for at least a year) dream is a cob house. I am currently planning to spend the winkle money on going on a course to learn more about it and hoping to maybe persuade my parents to pay for me to attend the course as my birthday present (they said we could talk about what I wanted when we go down) and Christmas present combined so that we can spend the winkle money on Ady coming too. It’s a four day course in Norfolk so Davies and Scarlett could spend time with friends or family while we were there sometime this summer (various dates through May, June and July. I know it would be a two year or so build but if we could learn about it and get started this year then the plan of eventually having a low cost house on the croft would happen without selling the house, done by us using local materials, with plenty of scope for volunteers, WWOOFers and friends to come and help.

Which sounds great but won’t of course be ready by next winter. In which case house on croft option 1 is something else temporary. I am waiting for a nissen hut quote but it’s a long time coming and although until it actually comes in I am not sure whether it is financially viable or not it will still require either borrowing money, begging money or a quick earning of money in order to make it happen this year. It remains option 1.

Option 2 is renting a house on Rum. We are on the housing list and while there is no imminent house and we will have no real idea of when a house may come up it is at least a possibility. Up until now we would have said that we didn’t want a house in the village. Indeed it will be financially crippling and by no means ideal in terms of being off of the croft but it would enable us to have a sensible base to work from on making things happen on the croft, have people to stay, have a bit of respite from our extreme lifestyle and a bit of a taste of normality for a while. We would personally pledge to only be there for 2 years or as long as a build on the croft took us but freeing up the static to earn money by renting as holiday accommodation or using to put up WWOOFers would mean all of that would happen so much quicker anyway. This is an out of our hands option but is there in the background. I think we would give this until September to happen and if it didnt then it would decide us to go with option 3.

Option 3 is to become fair weather Rumachs. To take three months or so off every winter to get off the island, learn more, travel a bit, experience different things and not just exist through the winter. It would mean no turkeys, reducing general livestock to a very small number and working out the logistics but could be done. We could then either look at housesitting, WWOOFing or trying to get work of some sort over the winter so that we could go into more suitable accommodation over the cold months before coming back next spring ready to get cracking on house build and either finishing or doing the same again in Winter 2015/16.

There is a part of me that clings to the idea that the harsh winter months are the trade off for the amazing summer months but actually they need not be and I think after two of them we have done our time, earned our stars and get to just skip off with a note from our mum excusing us next winter. Still lots to think on, still waiting for that nissen hut quote, for a house to become available in the village, for getting that cob training course booked but at least it feels like a germ of a plan.