Homesteading In Retirement

After lurking for a few weeks, I thought I would take this opportunity to
introduce myself. My wife and I currently live in a rural area near
central Arkansas, where we keep a few chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and
goats. We garden in a moderate way, and through the animals and the
garden, produce a large part of what we consume. We don't currently hunt,
but gifts of venison from friends and family who do so supplement our
diet, as well. We are both employed full time, but are moving into the
next stage of our lives. My soulmate and best friend will retire soon,
and I look forward to following her in a few years.

For many years, we discussed our dreams of a homesteading/offgrid life in
the Ozarks. A few years ago, we purchased some really rough Ozark land,
and have begun taking steps toward preparing a homestead to which we hope
to retire. About five acres of it have been cleared for our cabin,
outbuildings, garden, and fruit trees. Last summer, we began the process
of building a small cabin, and although the winter weather finally forced
us to delay our work, the upcoming spring will see us continuing our
labors. We hope the end result will be a simple offgrid homestead where
we produce a large part of our own food as we do now, supply our basic
electrical needs through solar power as we currently do in a very limited
way, get water from the spring, and harvest firewood from the wooded
mountain land on which we live. Because we will be an "older" retired
couple, doing all of those things as simply as possible is important to
us.

I would very much like to receive any advice or suggestions from anyone
who has walked the homesteading-in-retirement path. I look forward to
benefitting from the collective wisdom of the Steemit Community.