Homestead mailing list

[Celia Morgan <paxamicus AT earthlink.net>]

Alrighty then. I retired from commercial horse showing at the same my husband 
retired from the government. We opted, for a variety of reasons, not to stay 
in Virginia even though I still miss some things very much. I have thirty 
acres now, with an adjoining 15 I lease from the farmer across the street for 
hay. 

Instead of doing horses, I am doing hair sheep and sheep dogs, and as far as 
horses all I have are two ponies for my kid to bomb around on. This kid is 
eleven and no rider, so they and the kid are just buds, and comfort for me.  
One of the ponies turns out to be an excellent guard animal, and he also 
pulls. I've made money on him carting people around at weddings and stuff. 

My youngest is now eleven and homeschooled. My oldest made it into UVA after 
a Waldorf/Friends combo of schools. I am proud of her. 

The sheep are paying their own way as well as the dogs'. They are Katahdins 
and I've spent the last five years or so on the learning curve for a new 
species. I'm up to about 30 nice ewes twinning and tripling and I had eerie 
good luck with one I'd love to brag on if anybody twists my arm. I gave up 
not making money on the lambs when Roy retired and now truck everything to 
New Holland that isn't bought off the farm. 

I have four dogs currently in work and some students. I don't breed but I 
have sold/trade/bought to have suitable working partnerships. 

We've been rehabbing this old hole we live in slowly, one major project a 
year, with little stuff on the side. We may finish before we die. Fencing, 
septic, roof, electric and insulation, next summer it's painting. The goal is 
the house, the wooden barn, and the shed. Laugh with me. One ongoing project 
is constantly retro-greening the house. We removed almost all of the south 
west walls, put in some serious windows, and a lot of stone on the floor. 
Slate. I like it. And it doesn't get too hot up here for that, either, in the 
summer. 

We finally made it up to two years ahead on wood this fall, I have these 
fantastic soapstone stoves with converters that came with the house. Which is 
good, because the place is a freaking sieve even with insulation. I figure 
this is good because we will probably NOT die or carbon monoxide poisoning or 
radon. 

I barter with my next door neighbour for organic eggs, beef, and milk in lamb 
and sheep cheese. I'm working on perfecting my faux Manchego. 

I don't garden, I am still the black thumb of death, but the Ithaca Farmer's 
Market is stupendous and I am supporting local organics so I'm ok with that.  
I put stuff up all summer long. A million jars or tomatoes, I think. What we 
are the lucky recipients are of a gardener's home. We have apple trees, pear 
trees, blueberries, blackberries, rose hips, fiddle head ferns, watercress, 
and more. We pick the berries off the branches as soon as the dew has dried 
and freeze them. SO lucky. 

I was still replying to the list regularly when we were looking to move. For 
what it's worth, I could not love Ithaca more (unless maybe we could have 
just a teeny bit more sunshine). It is wonderful here, and the local culture 
and economy supports the concept of sustainability in all its myriad guises. 

I hereby swear off politics, except environmental stuff. I think we all come 
from the same place there so it shouldn't cause arguments.

Cheers,

Celia

On Dec 29, 2012, at 12:20 PM, Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:


On Dec 29, 2012, at 9:04 AM, Rob wrote:

> I woke up this morning wondering what happened to the homestead list.
> 
> An e-mail list is (was?) a new type of community, a group of people 
> with almost instant written communication drawn together around a 
> common theme. In this case a the concept of homesteading.
> 
> For many years this was an active & vibrant place to be and then it 
> wasn't....
> Did everybody give up the homestead dream? Did the world change so 
> much that the group was not necessary?  I think "not" to both of 
> those, there are still active groups in the internet world and 
> somewhat on facebook. The dream (or necessity) of doing it yourself 
> is still there.
> A lack of leadership? Maybe, leadership on a list is hard to pin 
> down. The leader could be a knowledgeable regular poster or a list 
> owner who both posts & keeps order it is rarely the totalitarian who 
> rules with the iron fist, lists have to be at least a little fun to 
> keep people.
> Did one person manage to poison the well? That is possible, people 
> left the list rather than deal with the poison.
> 
> I think enough people left (for whatever the reason, I'm guessing 
> poison & no leadership) that the dynamic of the list fell apart and 
> the community that was people, their words and ideas collapsed & is gone. 
> Sad.

Rob, I agree with all you have written above. Lee was the owner but she did 
not care enough to manage. The unrestrained political garbage posted by two 
members repelled me.

Gene

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