Homestead mailing list

[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

Reading and writing are diiificult for me presently.  
I have enjoyed what I could see of this conversattion.

I wish I had the intelllect of these women when I was
a bit younger....as ever bob ford

--- Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw AT chilitech.net> wrote:

> From: "Viking" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> > Are there things I miss?  Sure.  I miss being able
> to go to specialty
> > grocery stores on a whim for something exotic like
> Dungeness crab.(well,
> > it's exotic in these parts, anyway<g>)  I miss
> things like being able to
> > call Dominoes on those days when I just don't feel
> up to cooking.  (I'm
> > hungry right now, can you tell?)  But do I regret
> moving here and living
> > this life? ABSOLUTELY NOT.  I wish I had followed
> my heart earlier in
> > life.  I wish I had made the jump you are about to
> make when I was 25
> > instead of 35.
> 
> Bev; Once again you've said all the things I was
> thinking. City folk don't
> understand the luxury of being able to pee in the
> backyard instead of
> having to take off muddy boots to go in the house
> :-). I was 40 when I
> made the move...should have done it at 25!  It's not
> an easy lifestyle,
> but I'm happy with it. I was miserable as a yuppie
> (are yuppies still
> around?). Today I'm healthier and happier than I've
> been in 20 years. I
> know what you mean about always being 'different';
> even today I've joined
> some internet groups of non-homestead people. They
> can't begin to fathom
> my lifestyle, and I don't even try to explain it
> (they keep telling me
> that I need to take a long vacation somewhere nice.
> Bwwwaaaahhhhhaaa.. I
> can barely pay the electric bill, and who's going to
> weed the garden, take
> care of my kids, put the cows back in when they
> escape, gather the eggs,
> let the dogs out, harvest my stuff, and go to the
> Farmers' Markets to earn
> my living for me? Farmers don't get a vacation
> plan).
> 
> I have a couple extra challeneges...2 kids who hate
> farming but still like
> to eat and buy 'stuff', and no one to help out. I
> never did get much farm
> help, but now I have to do it ALL by myself. 
> Dragging myself in to make
> dinner after working all day getting the beds
> prepared and planted was a
> real challenge this spring...add a school event in
> the evening, and I'd
> have to prop my eyelids open to pretend I was awake!
> That's one truism
> I've learned about farming...you work hard, and if
> you sit down, you fall
> asleep.
> 
> Things have settled down now, with the planting done
> and the kids out of
> school. But the biggest problem is money; it's
> ironic that I worry so much
> about money, because I'm one of the least
> materialistic people I know. But
> I'd fight like a mother bear to keep the farm.
> 
> Homesteading is the perfect 'retirement plan'
> because there is a steady
> flow of retirement money. If you do have  income,
> from retirement or one
> person working a 'real' job, or you have a lot of
> savings and can buy and
> setup your property for cash, homesteading is fun.
> You don't HAVE to earn
> any money from the homestead/farm so you can
> experiment, play around with
> ideas, etc. You can actually take time off to be
> sick or injured without
> losing the farm (you might even have health
> insurance!).
> 
> We never had much money to begin with (we were poor
> yuppies), but when I
> divorced, I had to give my ex a huge chunk of money
> so I could keep the
> farm (we didn't have a large mortgage and the farm
> was assessed at almost
> double what we paid for it, so there was LOTS of
> equity to split in
> half...I refied and my mortgage payment more than
> doubled) so I still need
> money. I've been living on child support and what I
> can earn from the
> farm, but that just isn't cutting it. I have to
> figure out how to make
> more from the farm (my goal is to gross $10,000/year
> from the farm, so
> it's not like I'm looking to become Conag); if I
> can't, I'll have to get a
> 'real' job (there are only minimum wage jobs
> locally, so that's a full
> time crappy job...I'd rather farm). I'm constantly
> living on the edge...if
> I get sick or injured or my 17 year old truck dies,
> I don't know what I'll
> do. I just have faith that things will work out, and
> so far they
> have...the solutions have come along just when I
> need them.
> 
> I can't cut expenses much more...we're living one
> step above Ghandi now
> (well, by American standards). As things wear out or
> break, I'm not
> replacing them, so our material 'stuff' is
> dwindling. Not that I mind, but
> I feel bad for the kids, who didn't choose this
> life. They are great about
> it and don't complain (much).
> 
> Lynn Wigglesworth
> Peasant Farmer
> Tioga County, PA
> 
> 
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