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12/11/11, 07:55 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Mechanicville NY
Posts: 95
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So what do Homesteaders do for fun??
I am getting to point in my life where my retirement is getting within site. I have worked 2 jobs since 1981 and weekends also. What little free time I do have I work on old rusty trucks and racecars too. But once I move out into the sticks in a few years where I would like to be growing as much food as possible and have maybe a couple of animals too. Will I have time to have any hobbies???....I have been trying my hand at wood heat this year sorta as a test for my "livin in the sticks" days I so desprately seek for my future. It is not cheap and it is a lot of work. I am wondering what will I have for free time???
So what do you professional homesteaders do for fun??? Do you have time for anything fun???
Just asking for any insight...( kinda wondering if I can even do the whole Contrary Farmer thing).
MikeC
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12/11/11, 08:04 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: MS
Posts: 24,572
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We sit at the pond and enjoy the sound of birds singing and watch our dogs playing.
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12/11/11, 08:23 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: North-Central Idaho
Posts: 495
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I don't know if I'm a professional homesteader, but here goes.
Dinner with friends, spending time with my church family, relaxing and listening to NPR, playing guitar...
On the other hand, all the "work" is fun (sometimes). Milking goats, caring for chickens, eating bacon I raised, teaching the kids, digging in the garden, messing with the tractor, fixing stuff around the farm...
I wouldn't trade my life for anything...
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12/11/11, 08:26 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Pacific NorthWest
Posts: 314
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I sleep. There are usually enough chores to do and some carried over, that time to rest and recharge is precious and scarce.
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12/11/11, 08:33 PM
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 1,085
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I paint, draw, read and just relax. There is a time to work and a time to play. Balance both and life is good.
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12/11/11, 09:26 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 3,567
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mikec4193
I am getting to point in my life where my retirement is getting within site. I have worked 2 jobs since 1981 and weekends also. What little free time I do have I work on old rusty trucks and racecars too. But once I move out into the sticks in a few years where I would like to be growing as much food as possible and have maybe a couple of animals too. Will I have time to have any hobbies???....I have been trying my hand at wood heat this year sorta as a test for my "livin in the sticks" days I so desprately seek for my future. It is not cheap and it is a lot of work. I am wondering what will I have for free time???
So what do you professional homesteaders do for fun??? Do you have time for anything fun???
Just asking for any insight...( kinda wondering if I can even do the whole Contrary Farmer thing).
MikeC
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Let's just say "Free Time" will suddenly become quite costly!
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12/11/11, 09:39 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Michigan
Posts: 16,408
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read, sleep, spin, knit, make soap, sleep, read, play the piano, watch the sunset.
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12/11/11, 09:43 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Central IL
Posts: 1,700
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Well, two days ago we were in a canoe adding the final cross bracing on the new deck on our new pond! It was fun because we didn't get wet! It was exciting because after this dry summer we actually have some water in the pond! I was starting to worry that we just had a big dry money pit!
Also, when my DH came in tonight from feeding everyone he commented on how he loves going into the chicken house at night because all the hens mill around him "talking". Our three y/o granddaughter have the hens so tame you have to nudge them to move them out of your way.
Last edited by SueMc; 12/11/11 at 09:49 PM.
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12/11/11, 09:56 PM
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Pook's Hollow
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4,570
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We haven't turned the tv on in five years. The Goat Channel is much more interesting.
I do much the same as I've always done for fun - read, draw, crafts, dancing and now I show goats!
__________________
"Crivens!" 
Half Caper Farm - breeding Saanens, Boers and Nigerian Dwarfs
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12/11/11, 10:18 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: NE Oklahoma
Posts: 1,150
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Different people have different kinds of fun. I enjoy setting out in the yard sometime during the day or when it rains setting out under the barn porch. Cutting wood is fun to me. I also like gardening an flowers. Love having grandkids and great grandkid here. Fish, hunt, look for antiques, the list goes on and on and once retired you will have more time to decide what is fun and what you want to do for fun. Would not trade it like the most on here would not trade it.
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12/11/11, 11:25 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 51
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I heard a comment from my hubby just yesterday that echoes braggscowboy- my hubby said chopping/cutting firewood was never a "chore'- as he has always enjoyed it - even as a kid. (he is now 65, and we head to the woods each year to fall and buck and stack our year's supply. He splits it as we need it each day.) As a single woman I always enjoyed the challenge of splitting wood too, although not everyone can get the hand-eye coordination-thing right, or the strength to split the wood (but it really doesn't take that much!). The point is, at 5'4" I enjoyed the challenge and satisfaction so much. Don't think you have to be Paul Bunyan to enjoy the homesteading life! The point here is that you do what you enjoy and find satisfaction and enjoyment from that. Evaluate the concept of the things you really enjoy, and then see how they dovetail into the activities of the homesteading lifestyle you envision. and remember -life is a learning experience- every bit of it. loving the learning experience is SO rewarding and fun. it's a very individual experience. best wishes!!
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12/12/11, 04:43 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New York
Posts: 3,891
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I still work a fulltime job; I have a horse and 2 ponies, many goats, sheep, and poultry, and 2 Maremma's. I grow a big garden, and have bee hives.
Other than the stressful job (which provides health insurance, and pays the bills) everything else is my "fun". I enjoy making soap, working with fiber from my animals, making cheese, and visiting with like-minded folks.
I can't wait to be able to retire!
__________________
I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet.
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12/12/11, 06:32 AM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 7,154
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If living in the boonies is your wish, it will be your fun. If not move away from there. Sounds like you would like a one horse town with a big garage of your own to turn some nuts.
Most people do the same thing after they retire as they did when they had a little time before they retired.
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12/12/11, 07:52 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,037
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My life IS my hobby.... I enjoy the special time that comes when one task is completed and there isn't enough daylight or energy left to start another one so you just plop down under a tree and look, listen and smell the nature around you.
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12/12/11, 08:33 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: NE Oklahoma
Posts: 1,150
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OkieDavid
My life IS my hobby.... I enjoy the special time that comes when one task is completed and there isn't enough daylight or energy left to start another one so you just plop down under a tree and look, listen and smell the nature around you.
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You got it David!!
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12/12/11, 09:43 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: South East Florida
Posts: 239
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I must say: I love my business (dog care,training,boarding), and I love my homesteading, too. I love feeding the animals (2 cows, 54 chickens and meat rabbits with goats and berkshires soon). Between our business, the dogs we board at the "farm" (3.5 acres), the animals and renovating the house and restoring the paddocks, we are always, always busy. But we take time to drive to the beach and have breakfast sometimes or just go to the bookstore. It mainly for us revolves around our 2 yo daughter and our relationship. I love my "chores" and consider them mostly relaxing. Other than that, we jumpo in the pool in the summers after a hot day, grill out all year round and drink coffee on the porches...
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12/13/11, 09:25 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: michigan
Posts: 22,571
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I like all of it,but for special fun with a purpose-Antique And,flea markets, livestock sales.I collect and use all kinds of "old" stuff.
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12/13/11, 09:54 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Mechanicville NY
Posts: 95
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Hi Everyone
So I am assuming that living closer to the land is not really a chore but a life style we choose. I am hoping when the time comes to leave the rat race (the hampster wheel of life) behind that I will be able to settle into a little slower pace and enjoy it too. I know when I go to see my son in NE Kansas those smaller towns really do live life at a different pace. I know I have been roped into this unsustainable suburban go go go way of life..I just hope I can settle into a more layed back way of life and maybe not have to work 2 jobs for the rest of my life too.
You folks on here have really opened my eyes to what I have been looking for,for a long time.
MikeC
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12/13/11, 11:41 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 649
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For me, each season brings its own hobbies to enjoy.
In the spring, I love getting out and playing in the dirt in the garden. It is hard work, but come winter when I pop open a jar of the green beans I grew from seed, weeded, picked, broke, canned, etc, the work was well worth it.
In the summer, fishing and spending a hot day at the lake is tops in my book. I usually enjoy hunting for blackberries but I thought the chiggers were going to kill me this year.
Fall and winter I'm all about hunting. Great time to drag out whichever quilt I feel like working on. I'm already planning my next garden, growing my seed wish-list.
Every day I love going out and spending time loving on my goats. Most of them come to me when they want attention and luckily, they don't usually all ask for it at the same time. Going to be having babies towards the end of January so they will keep me quite occupied for a couple of months. (I just cant resist kissing them furry little baby lips!)
We have a fire pit out back, and usually a cold 6 pack in the fridge. When the weather is just warm enough to want a cold beer after a good days work, we toss in some wood, drag out the marshmallows for the kids, and just jabber about life.
-We have lived here in Arkansas for just over a year now. I have pretty much always been a stay at home Mom. The work I have put into my new lifestyle has left me feeling better physically and mentally than I ever have.
The great thing for you, is when you retire, you can do whatever you want! Try new things, you might surprise yourself at some of the things you enjoy learning about and doing. Might find yourself growing gourds in your own garden to make into bird houses, then find yourself enjoying watching birds. Sell some and supplement your retirement income.
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12/13/11, 11:51 AM
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Disgruntled citizen
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Northeast Michigan zone 4b
Posts: 4,458
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Oh, lots of things!
BBQ with friends, various crafts etc, gardening, have Wii get-togethers, winter no-travel vacations in the basement (our next one is to Barbados).... atv wheelin parties.... oh, we do lots of stuff...
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