Dreamers Blues

[B2bKen]

It is 16 degrees outside, snow on the ground. I've been looking through the seed catalogs that came over the last two months. Re-reading my magazines on Homesteading and Country Living... Been going through my large library of books on Homesteading and Country living... AND I AM BLUE! Not because I am waiting for Spring to arrive, but I am not a Doer as most here in this forum, but a dreamer (not out in the Country and living the Homesteading dream!). I can taste it every moment (I grew up on a small Farm), I Dream it every second, I can feel it coming one day... But I am Blue because I am anxious to live that dream! How many more of us dreamers are out there that are part of this Forum? What are your plans to hopefully get out there and live the Dream! What are you goals to get past the obstacles that are keeping you back? I hope a discussion of this among us Dreamers may give us inspiration to make plans and goals to hopefully reach that Dream of Homesteading... And the Doers are very welcome to participate to give us suggestions and hope! I personally have started a solid plan (a new business) that I believe with all my heart will help us reach our dream within the next couple of years (to get past our financial paycheck to paycheck life). So again I hope this thread will one day help alot of us to be Doers!
Thanks all...
B2bken

[A'sta at Hofstead]

Never ever give up!
We bought our homestead in September '06.
We thought we would be stuck in our dw mobile home for the rest of our days and then the perfect opportunity came along.
Even as self employed borrowers we were able to get financing. I had to bend over backwards to get it done, but I did it!
It can be done, you just have to really want it and never give up!
Good luck and keep the faith!

[electronrider]

yes sir! I'll scoot over a little bit so theres more room in this boat! My fiance and I are saving saving saving, so we can get back to the land. I too grew up homesteading, and constantly daydream about the perfect homestead layout. Right now we have a few small plots that we plant with veggies, so at least we can have fresh veggies when they get ripe. Hold steady on your course, and stay true to the dream!

[Shadow]

I was raised in the country, married a city gal and lived in town for 25 years. She was not going to live in the country. I landscaped the yard did raised bed gardening, bult a deck poured a concrete patio brick walks to the garden surrounded by a rail fence.
I built a garden shed for the yard tools and the lawnmowers. Then I would help friends build whatever, kept collecting all the tools at yard sales where ever. The after 25 years the kids were grown and we just did not have all that much in common, she went her way I went mine. Two years later I bought the first 35 acres. That was 24 years ago. We still remain good friends, but once I asked her where would we be if we were still married and her reply was "you sure would not be out on that God forsaken farm" That about sums it up.
Me and the second wife (her and the first refer to each other as wife in laws,) now have 120 acres, three dogs, a huge raised bed garden a rose garden/herb garden with 28 raised beds, a remodled older house, a studio/summer kitchen 1600sq ft a 3200 sq ft wood shop and four pole barns for wood drying and two gazabos and planning a cabin down on the clff over looking the creek at the two over looks and fire pit.
God forsaken yea to some heaven to others
Dream but do something every day to get the dream closer to reality. Some times I think I should have just put the kids in the car and told her stay or go but we are going. Can not say it was a wasted time as I did learn and prepare but now as I get older I sometimes wish I had been here longer. HUMMMMMMM

[bqz]

I'm with you friend!!
I'm currently working toward getting out of the city a.s.a.p. ,as you know it is a working progress.I'm getting real close though .My family and I have been prayerfully considering moving to the country for about 3 years and finally are about there.I got an offer from someone in the family who wants me to come to TN and help work some land (400+acres)he has the machinery,barns and all I need to to do is get there ,so I have been reading,breathing and dreaming livestock ,grass,barns and equipment for the last year or so and we are still some months out.So I can identify how you feel with those blues.My wife ask me all the time what are thinking about(When she sees me talking to myself and smiling) and I say "cows".
so,I would say do your home work and don't quit !! Its coming but takes time.
I think Will Rogers said (paraphrase)"the trains coming but if you just sit on the tracks you'll get run over" keep plugging away and be patient it will all come together soon.

[Auric]

And you never stop dreaming, even after you DO find your little piece of heaven. I lay awake at night and think about all the projects that I have going and what all I'd like to get done yet. Some might feel overwhelmed, but I also feel NEEDED.

Why just last week, I dreamed that I totally rearranged the workshop, allowing me to pull either the minivan or truck in to do oil changes. I also created space on a workbench and hung a grow light so that I'd be ready to start some seeds. But it wasn't until Sunday that I actually started on all that...

[Cheryl in SD]

I have dreamed so long, I almost can't believe we are so close! Now to decide practical is the best option, when dream property is there in front of me.

We started on our little place with a 2 goats and a few chickens. All that did was make us realize that we really do want to be homesteaders and this is not set up like it needs to be.

Last fall we decided it was time to quit being dreamers/wannabees and moved forward with plans to sell out. The realtor wouldn't even put us on the market until we finished our remodeling. It has been hard, but each time another project is finished, each box I pack, each room looking good, I realise we are getting closer.

We hope to have it on the market in March and Lord willing be on a new place in May in time to put in a garden!

It took 10 years of work here to do it, but it will be WORTH it.

If you are working towards your goal, learning how to do what you will need to do, and making progress then you ARE a doer, not just a dreamer. But remember only you have a dream will you ever be able to be a doer. So dream on, dreams do come true!

[dragonfly1113]

I am a dreamer too. It wasnt not to long ago that moving to the country was all I thought about. But my plans have changed for now. I am not giving up but just putting it off for a while. My DH wants to wait so wait we will. My dreams included him being with me and if he is not then I dont want it. He wants to move to the coutry but does not want to start all over at this point. We live in a very, very small town with no stop-lights and very few stores. Its almost like being in the country. I can have chickens but no other animals that would be on a farm. We have a large fenced in yard. So I can have a garden and I have already planted fruit trees, strawberries, and grapes. So we will stay here for now and I will keep on dreaming about one day....

[mayfair]

I am a dreamer, too. It is easy to get discouraged. I have been dreaming for many years. I watched the area around us get built up and out of reach financially. Even if we could afford it, I don't want 2 acres surrounded subdivisions.

I have several plans- none of them is perfect. I keep waiting for everything to be perfect- at some point we will need to take a calculated risk. Hope it is this year.

Keep the faith. I have had a garden everywhere we've lived in town. I have fruit trees, berries and chickens, too. I want to have a milk cow, larger garden, more chickens than we are allowed here. I have no illusions about making a living off the land. I grew up on a farm and know how hard that is. At least one outside job is in the plan.

[Jim S.]

We bought our place in 1990, and I am STILL working on it, as far as bringing it to be the farm we want it to become.

To quote Geoffrey Colvin in the Oct. 2006 Fortune magazine: "Even the most accomplished people need around ten years of hard work before becoming world-class, a pattern so well established researchers call it the ten-year rule. The ten-year rule represents a very rough estimate, and most researchers view it as a minimum, not an average."

Colvin's Fortune piece was quoted by grass farming guru Allan Nation in Nation's January "Stockman Grass Farmer" column.

Nation goes on to say lots more about the long view, but I'll just add one quote from him: "To put this in an agricultural perspective, visiting an accomplished farmer or rancher's operation teaches you much less than you think. And, in fact, can mislead you because it looks so easy and simple. Again, British researchers found no instance of easy success in any field."

Hence, my advice to you: Take the long view. It cushions you against momentary setbacks to always have a long-view goal, and it tends to straighten your pathway to the day when you achieve your desire.

Your path will not be direct at any rate, and there will be temptations -- from the oversaturated colors on the seed catalogs to life's little sidetracking opportunities and setbacks.

Keep your eyes on the prize, because the picture is never really finished, and it is in the PROCESS that so much learning and satisfaction can occur. Good luck!

[LMonty]

just moving from dreamer to do-er....

we close on this house on March 1 and the new one Mar 2, Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise!

I have rented soem acerage and an olld farm house before, owned 2 1/2 acres, raised chickens, goats, bought and raised piglets to butcher, had horses, etc. Never for more than a few years at a time, never all at once.

Now with the new home (17 acres pasture in already) and its all ours, way back in the woods, I can finally start!

I am counting the days. Last day at work is Feb 16. I'll miss the place, but its very hard to pay any attention to what I should be doing, when I keep thinking about the new place and all that we need to do to move, start the new job, and get the place set up for livestock.

Thats why I'm living on this board lately, its my viacarious daily homesteading fix!

[MoGrrrl]

I'm dreaming too. We've got some goals to reach that are generally unrelated to farming/homesteading, and that should take a couple years. But I'm reading, learning more about gardening/farming, making our own food (I made italian sausage and breakfast sausge for the first time this weekend).

May all our dreams come true!

[e.alleg]

"God forsaken yea to some heaven to others" well said.

[virtualco]

B2bKen, I know what you are feeling.

I started dreaming of a homestead in SW MO a year ago. I remember reading the homesteading magazines, as I subscribed to several of them. I still read and reread them. I planned my homesteads land size, out building placement, what type of house, animals. It almost filled all my waking moments. I have in my library Carla Emery's book, books on living off grid, water systems, gardening, communications, you name it and if it involves homesteading, I may have it.

I researched property values around where I want to live, researched the jobs in and around Springfield I would probably get, and pretty much prepared for relocating. There is health insurance to consider, new bank accounts, new drivers license, new tags for my car, just a whole lot to consider.

But it was my wife who was the biggest obstacle to me homesteading. But wait Johnny, what is behind door number one!

It was six months ago when my wife and I were talking about our goals and dreams. She knew I wanted a small farm and it was during this session of heart to heart she said, "Lets make it happen for you." Her dream is her career and she is living it now.

What my wife agreed to was this...

You go to MO and setup a homestead, and I will stay here in FL. She said she would miss me terribly and for me to phone/write often.

My wife does not like the cold but will join me for six months and then back to FL for six months. She will start that in the spring of 2008. She is in the health field so changing job locations will be easy for her.

So, at age 50, I will have my dream realized. My last day at work is May 31, 2007 and then it is retirement for me. The State of FL has been very, very good to me. I will still be working but it will be for paying off the homestead, and with luck I will stop working all together when I turn 59 1/2. This is my dream. This is the second part of my dream.

Of course I am hoping the wife will like the slower pace of SW MO, the country living and having most of my family around as they still live in and around Springfield. We'll just keep the FL home for our 'really' old age.

Read all you can on the topic of homesteading and continue to plan, plan, plan.

So, hold on to your dreams and never let them go.

[hmsteader71]

We are big time dreamers but are doers also. Others on here in the past have said to start where you are, even in town, so that is what we are doing. We live in a town of 1100 with no stop lights except at the highway. We have 1 little market, grain elevators, a few shops and so on. Because it is a small town we are allowed more freedom than in bigger towns. 2 of my neighbors have chickens and for a while I was trading homemade bread for eggs. We are going to do the raised bed gardens this year, plant trees around our property to hedge it in, I already do almost all of our cooking from scratch and can freeze and can food. There is a lot to learn yet but I can only do what I can. My husband works at a job 20 miles from here so he leaves home in the morning at 5:00 and gets home in the evening from 6:00-7:00. So that doesn't leave a lot of time for him.
We have a budget set out and have started it this year to get out of debt, that will help immensely in getting where we want in the country or mountains.
I know what you mean about being blue sometimes, but keep your chin up and you will start to see the light. Start where you are, even if it is a little garden, making homemade bread (I have a super easy recipe if you need it), learning to can and preserve what comes out of your garden and so on. You can find all kinds of good resources on the internet. We have even thought of buying property and putting a yurt on it and living in it until we could save the money to build our cabin.

[Jim S.]

Originally Posted by LMonty

I keep thinking about the new place and all that we need to do to move, start the new job, and get the place set up for livestock.

LOL!

Sorry, it was the "all we need do" part that brought the chuckle. There's maybe years of work in that one sentence.

I have yet to find anyone who farms who has their place "set up for livestock," and some of these folks were born on their places! Heh. It's never done! That's part of the challenge and the satisfaction.

I would encourage you to set it up as much as you can before you get the livestock. It is easy to want animals so badly that you'll say, "I can do that later," but once the livestock chores start, later can be an eternity. Meanwhile, you will be much less efficient than you would have been had you set it up as much as you could beforehand.

I just spent a cold Saturday last weekend doing gate work in the barn to make my goat handling chores less of a hassle. Been meaning to do that job for 16 years! It's just that there are so many jobs to do on the farm, those where a make-do solution tends to work get shoved too far down the list for something more urgent.

Since we moved here in '90, my farm to-do list in the kitchen has never had fewer than 10 items on it. Never. I am glad I like to work. Stuff breaks a lot, ya know? And there's a lot more stuff to break on a farm than on a quarter-acre in the city.

In fact, My belief is that the highest compliment a farmer can pay another farmer is, "He (or she) can really work!" If you hear an oldtimer say that about you, you are entitled to puff your chest out with pride for one full day! Heheheh.

Best of luck, it's a great lifestyle overall.

[speedfunk]

Dreaming and researching ...that has been the last 3 years. I'm sure if you want it bad enough it will happen. Sacrifices do have to be made though..dreams don't dome true with out some work.

Our sacrifise has been huge amounts of stress buidling a house to sell on speculation so we can become mortage free and now fixing our house up to sell. Later this year we will be 28 and be living in a camper on the land with a new born baby going from a nice 1400 sq. ft house to a 300ft camper. I am so proud of my wife and her flexiblity, I know most wifes woudn't be to thrilled at this trade ...so like others mentioned it's good to have a SO that is willing to share your dreams.
The year after 08 we will start building our home. It was good that someone above mentioned that dreams are a process and the process should be enjoyed as well as the outcome . I find it tricky to slow down and enjoy what we allready have.

Good luck, it will happen if you want it to.

[wy_white_wolf]

I bought my place in 2001 and been dreaming about the day I actually get to live there ever since. Started last summer on a cabin to make those dreams come true!

Keep up the dreaming and someday you'll put a plan in action.



More pictures available at:

http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...te_wolf/Cabin/