Thank you for the update! I'm glad you have some steady people there actually living on the land and look at you - going to carpentry school!
That will be a very practical skill to have especially in your situation!
That brings back memories of when we were first building on the land and we came in October thinking we would have enough time to get a home ready for the cold winters. We didn't realize that we were that much further north and the cold weather started earlier here then we had expected. Fortunately folks offered us a place to stay for the winter. Fortunate too, that we had a community all working together and building at the same time, so we had many work bees on each others homes when the weather warmed.
Happy New Year! Enjoy your time by the sea! Looking forward to more updates!