Help Melanie Munro's Family in Crisis

My name is Melanie (aka Abigail), and my boyfriend is Sylvain (aka Sly). We need your help.

We're homesteading and building our house from the ground up. But things have gotten bad in the past few months.

As I write this I can feel the oppressive heat of working outside all day in the sun. Trying to get what done we can before winter comes. It’s only June, but in a glass-half-empty kind of way it’s already June and we are not where we wanted to be with building our house.

We’re a couple that left the big city house prices behind to build our own place from scratch. Sylvain is originally from places like where we’re homesteading. I lived in the city my whole life, until now.

Everything seemed relatively okay at first. But the excavator, the heart of our operation, has not worked for months. We need to clear our land to have an open area to build the house, instead the excavator is gathering dust. Winter is so far away but it’s already the end of June.

We budgeted the build so carefully. But did not plan for the tractor to be on blocks until the new rims came in. Such that the tire shop could attempt to put on new tires, for the second time. Hopefully the second time the rims won’t break and ruin another tire job. Until then it’s on blocks. So I don’t have a tractor either. Well, I have two tractors, but the first one is in an even worse state.

The chainsaw works, but it’s not fast enough, or safe enough, to clear the land we need opened up to build the house. Not when our part-time skidder, the tractor, is on blocks.

I stay up at night worrying about our first winter. We budgeted everything so carefully, to be sure we would have more than enough. For the property, for the mill, the heavy equipment, every screw, even the camper I’m typing from inside right now, taking a break in the shade from the sun. But we did not plan for a second tractor, or that the good-second-tractor would end up on blocks as quickly as it did.

On top of everything else, I’m pregnant. Which means in several months I will be unable to work as hard as I did today, so we’ll be down a pair of hands that can do all the work. Of course after the baby is born, there will be even more work to do. While juggling building our house, there will be so much to do. And so much broken-down equipment not working for us right now.

We didn’t plan for an iron spike in the ground, left behind by a previous owner, to pop one of the tractor tires.

I did not plan for the excavator to not start. We still haven’t figured out why it won’t. I just want it to work for us at this point. Even if Sylvain has to limp it through clearing a few acres before it’s too late this year.

And there is nowhere in the budget we could fit more time. There wasn’t enough money to buy more time, there never is.

Winter is coming and it’s already June. We have a baby on the way. And we’re running out of time to finish the house for the three of us to live in this winter. Where we live the winter's are harsh, and not being ready for it is bad. And we're already months behind schedule on our winter readiness.

This summer was always going to be a time crunch, but so much is falling apart I don’t know what else to do. We need your help. To finance the necessary tractor repairs. To get the excavator in working order or get a better used one from our area. If we can afford it, with your help, I can make the excavator someone else’s problem. Actually getting some work done while there’s still time. But that means getting the money as soon as we can to do this.

We need your help, all three of us.

Update (July 6 2024):

The fundraiser is off to a strong start I just wanted to cover a few things with this update.

"Why ask for so much?" In our area, used excavators cost close to the amount I'm asking for. But in liwu of raising the full amount. Your donations can still cover the repair costs of our current machines. From new rear rims and rear tires of the tractor (totalling $7k). To a new starter on the excavator ($1k). I hope the starter is the only problems between us and the excavator not starting.

Once the excavator is running again we can continue with clearing more acres to place the house on. And levelling the area. Our prospects for the coming winter are not great. But we have multiple plans in place, dependant on where we are financially by the end of August. Every donation helps. But we do have plans on the go, such that winter will be passable. Just more or less miserable depending on this fundraiser. But passable one way or another.

Again, thank you for every donation, every share. From my family to yours.

Update (July 17th 2024):

The excavator works! Sort of.

Thanks to your donations, we were able to replace the starter on the machine. It starts when we want it to start. While it limps along at half horsepower, apparently due to the age of the engine. but it works. We still need more time. But it's one more machine that is working for us now, not gathering dust.

Thank you