I accepted and welcomed my impending homelessness with open arms and a smile.
After the job of a lifetime had turned out to be nothing but bullshit and near slavery, the offer from a ‘friend’ gave me somewhere to stay, a ruined house and somewhere to pitch my tent.
When my friend let me down, I knew that I was going to be homeless, something that I realised I was gradually heading to, so I wasn’t unduly shocked.
I calculated that I needed to raise $7 a day for my animals and myself to survive. I find myself, eighteen months later, trying to live on less than half of that. It’s a struggle.
I have set up a Patreon channel where I share posts and videos of my, less than ordinary life, that is where my income comes from, a handful of people subscribe, but, nowhere near as many as I need.
I set the subscription baseline at $1 a month, less than 3.3 cents a day. With nearly 600 followers on my facebook page I thought that I could achieve $210 a month.
I was wrong.
I make craft items and leatherwork.
I don’t set prices, I let people pay what they want, or can afford, still very few takers.
This week I visited ‘rabbit town’ (yes, it’s a town with rabbits living in it!), a friend was taking me to see some bull calves (I am looking to buy two calves to pull my home as I travel around Europe).
Talking to the owner, he mentioned that he was going to another farm on Sunday to buy some more, and yes, if I wanted to come along and find two for myself he was happy to take me along.
I have the money saved for mydraft animals, but,with Spring having arrived, thenumber available is shrinking rapidly, and their price increaseswith their size.
The thing is, I am short the cost of transport, insurance, vet fees, feed and equipment, a total of 380 euros.
This is probably the last time that I will be able to afford animals this year and that will put my plans back a minimum of a year.
Frustrating, but, I’ve put items for sale, I’ve asked for help and some friends have been kind enough to send some funds, I’m still two hundred and fifty euros short and, two bullcalves arefacing slaughter.
I’m not expecting handouts… well I suppose that I am, but it’s frustrating that to live a moneyless life, I need money to get started.
Last night, as I lay awake (no, I’m not sleepless or despairing.) I had this idea that if I could get people to subscribe to my Patreon channel for one month, and then cancel, (remember the $1 a month I mentioned earlier?) well, this would go a way to solving my challenge, and, I will have stories to tell about the bulls, their training and our travels ( I will be writing anyway, I’ll just have more to tell.)
I can’t do it myself, I’m looking after the animals, I’m in the process of rebuilding my home on wheels, I am off grid so don’t have access to the internet 24/7
So, I am being extremely cheeky… I am going to set a challenge…
Can you find one person to subscribe to my Patreon channel for one day?
$1 will be debitted from their card or bank account.
They can cancel the next day… it’s easy and simple.
And, I will be one dollar closer to saving two bull calves, the goal of travelling Europe the old fashioned way and sharing my stories as I go!
And, here I am. Patreon.com/vardolife
