THE DIGITAL LIFE HOMESTEAD
____________________________________________________________

First, welcome. You have somehow stumbled upon a personal work, something put together for the purpose of collecting information to help me, and right now me alone. I am not promoting this, you won't see any advertisements or sponsored links. I wanted to have a resource where I can go to list the information that is important to me. As such, there are going to be a lots of links to things that I have tried or wanted to try. I will welcome any comments from anyone who happens across this site. If you have a great idea, I will likely reference it, just in case it benefits me later.

In 1990 my wife and I became concerned with the economy and potential problems should it collapse and moved to Southern Kentucky, where we still live. During Y2K we took things seriously (overboard in the eyes of some) and learned to prepare for a worse case scenario. While we don't ride a buggy or sit on the porch with a shotgun to defend what's ours, we have learned a lot of valuable lessons that have caused us to look at things a little differently than most. For instance, where we live. We live in a very isolated area. The main problem with this kind of living is that we have a longer drive to do anything than most people. But, there are so many positive things that it really is rarely a consideration. I will discuss moving to the country at length later.

I want to also make it clear, I am not one of these nuts who has a stockade of automatic weapons waiting for the end of the world. I have a few weapons, and I do believe that someday the world will end. But these are not the things that keep me awake at night. Instead I think about how to provide for my family, pay off the mortgage, and wonder why the Cincinnati Reds can't seem to field a decent team anymore. I drive a gas hog with 360,000 miles on it not because I am trying to make a point but because I like it, and it works. If I could get a hybrid for the price I got my Suburban ($3k at an auction) I probably would.

Finally, I am going eschew most of the graphics that I have come to love. If you want to see great photograph check out my photo blog at www.TheDigitalLife.net, otherwise just enjoy the ride. I am producing this for the express purpose of being printed. I will number my pages in a somewhat unique way so that if you are going to print like I am, then you can insert the added pages in the appropriate place.

This web site will be broken into the following general categories:

• Self-Reliant Living (living without the intervention of traditional sources)
• Frugal Living (saving money by doing things differently)
• Preparedness (planning for the unexpected)

It is hoped that each of these areas will help me think things through, and report what worked and didn't work. Each of these areas will have practical lessons, bibliographies (web links as well as print media), and plans. I am big on plans!

As I said, this web site is going to work more like a book than a traditional web site. Everything will work from the Table of Contents. Each page will have a link to the TOC, and that is it. Might change it later, probably not.

On with our show. Click here.