I read an awesome blog about this except that the woman and her family did it for a year not 6 months. I wish I had the link for you.
Are you a member of freecycle? You might find it useful.
Is that Linda ****burn? She has a book now called Living the Good Life based on it. She is now in Tassie with her family and contributes to Organic Gardener. I would post the link, but it I think it falls under being a commercial link.