Better Late Than Never Club

[ccfromnc]

Short background: Husband and I met 5 yrs ago and married . He was 64 and I was 55. I retired and moved to his place. Neither of us had lived on more than a suburban acre or so on the outskirts of fairly large cities, we didn't grow up in this area, we are both avid gardeners/DIY'ers and like learning new skills. So we began to talk and plan about how to best to be more self reliant in these uncertain times on property a little less than 5 acres.
The land had a home, a cottage, a small shed and was very overgrown when we started.

I'm curious. Are there others our age here that have recently started out like we have? The number is probably low but I'd love to know what you see as your homesteading goals in this stage of life. Here in Reader's Digest form are ours:

Provide as much of our food as possible (gardens, orchards, small livestock) and preserving it when harvested

Utilizing and designing the property to renew itself (improving soil, sustainable plants, trees, fruit)

Building infrastructure to provide water, shelter, windbreaks,fencing etc where needed.

Preparing for short and long term emergencies (multiple fuel sources, stored staples, etc)

Enjoy the work and rewards of our lifestyle choice

[Earthling]

We started out many years ago on this property but your post reminds me of something we did plan for way ahead of time and I think it may be something to consider adding to your list. Years ago, after my father suffered a stroke, there was no easy way to get him into his house so my brothers and I built a long ramp system to facilitate this.

Knowing this is the house my wife and I will spend the rest of our lives in, I decided then and there to build my own ramps years before they were ever needed. That way if we ever broke a leg, came home in a wheel chair, etc. we are prepared. We're not needing those ramps for ambulatory purposes yet but they sure do come in handy for hauling heavy things in and out of the house. Just a thought.

[mzgarden]

There are a few of us out here that started as city-folk and jumped to the rural way of life in our ummm, more seasoned years. We planned for years and learned skills and then made the leap almost 3 years ago. We gave ourselves 5 years to get the basic infrastructure together - pole barn wood shop, house remodeled/improved, fencing for animals, soil improved for robust gardening, orchard started, etc.

The most nerve wracking part for us has been the animals - mostly because we want to make sure we don't make a mistake. Make a mistake with a tree - pull it out and start again, make a mistake with an animal, animal suffers and so we go very cautiously there.

We encourage everyone we talk with to take steps to provide for themselves, even in small baby steps.

You're on the right track; check back and keep folks posted. The folks on this forum have been tremendously helpful and honest.

Enjoy and remember, it's the journey not the final destination!

[Maura]

As Earthling suggested, think ahead. Think in term of being old and feeble. Make sure the doorways in your home will accommodate a walker or wheelchair (which also works for crutches). The stairways should be wide enough, 4 feet, for a lift. If you had trouble with mobility, how would you set up the chicken coop and pens and barn? Consider raised gardens. You can prune fruit trees to bring the branches low so you don't have to use ladders. It is better to hire someone to help you than it is to loose valuable time with an injury.

So, yes, it can be done. We are 60 and leaving our house in the country. No more livestock, not even chickens because we are moving into town. All of my gardening will look to making things easy. Raised beds, for instance. Some things grow very well in containers and we will make use of them. I planted hazelnut bushes even though we aren't living in the town house yet (lots of fixing up). Think outside the box. If you want to be self sufficient, think beyond animals you can eat. You can get protein from beans and corn together, sunflower seeds, tree nuts.

[oneraddad]

Originally Posted by mzgarden

The most nerve wracking part for us has been the animals - mostly because we want to make sure we don't make a mistake. Make a mistake with a tree - pull it out and start again, make a mistake with an animal, animal suffers and so we go very cautiously there.

!

My fruit trees will be around decades while my farm animals i'll keep under a year. I prefer my trees over my pigs or sheep

[Maura]

If you haven't had animals before, just start slowly. Get el netting, make a little chicken coop, and get six egg layers. Grow them up. If you start soon, you can grow a second batch as well. The chickens will eat fleas and ticks and kill mice. Keep the chickens behind the el netting at night. Their first night outside should be closed in the chicken coop. During the day keep them within the el netting. Do this until you can see they need more room. Let them out in the morning and when they start coming home (chickens really do go home to roost) put out some grain (whole corn, wheat, sunflower seeds and in the winter add whole oats) within the el enclosure. If you can handle this, you can get a few more chickens, learn how the el fencing works, and think about getting three or four lambs next spring.

See, right from the get go you'll have the best eggs in the world.

[light rain]

My husband and myself are both over 60 and are learning daily about living in the country and the changing economy.
With food prices escalating and fuel prices going who knows where, thinking and preparing seems sensible. We have lived in the country for over 20 yrs. and sort of just took things for granted, (ex. youth and health) . I've got 2 apple trees picked out that I will purchase in the next mo. Early fruiters and resistant to a lot of diseases. We heat with 3 sources of heat so if one goes, we will not burst pipes or freeze. We're are going to do a lot more insulation this spring and summer.

If we were in N.C. we would definitely try to garden 3 1/2 seasons. Since protein is getting so expensive for people and animals, fishing could be very economical and healthy. I plan to fish for carp and catfish for animal food and some for us too.

I've learned a lot from the folks here at HT and am so glad to be here even at this late stage of our lives. So. WI

[am1too]

Originally Posted by ccfromnc

Short background: Husband and I met 5 yrs ago and married . He was 64 and I was 55. I retired and moved to his place. Neither of us had lived on more than a suburban acre or so on the outskirts of fairly large cities, we didn't grow up in this area, we are both avid gardeners/DIY'ers and like learning new skills. So we began to talk and plan about how to best to be more self reliant in these uncertain times on property a little less than 5 acres.
The land had a home, a cottage, a small shed and was very overgrown when we started.

I'm curious. Are there others our age here that have recently started out like we have? The number is probably low but I'd love to know what you see as your homesteading goals in this stage of life. Here in Reader's Digest form are ours:

Provide as much of our food as possible (gardens, orchards, small livestock) and preserving it when harvested

Utilizing and designing the property to renew itself (improving soil, sustainable plants, trees, fruit)

Building infrastructure to provide water, shelter, windbreaks,fencing etc where needed.

Preparing for short and long term emergencies (multiple fuel sources, stored staples, etc)

Enjoy the work and rewards of our lifestyle choice

Well I started bout 10 years ago. Moved here with a well and electric service. Place was over grown. I had trees that thought they were grass - maybe 2 inch trunks and 20 ft of growth you couldn't walk through them. I started with a bow saw. Got most of the brush cut. Burned it like the local idiots. Yeah idiots!! People here on acreage put leaves out for the garbage man. I looked around and their places are over grown. Just as well live in the city. Then I started driving an over the road truck for 6 years. When I got back full time I couldn't find anyone to help me to get it together. Decided I had to cut more trees. They are killing each other. Still have 500 to go on just 10 acres. No one I asked about anything gave nothing clear enough to understand. The search began. First thing I realized is a barn is worthless unless you have something to put in it. Soil improvement is still my first issue. Compost, compost and compost. Stopped some soil erosion with wood chips. Worked awesome. Then the need arose to identify what kind of grass I really had. No local help there either. Still have no idea what I have. Less weeds though. Hey I have more grass than the long time local neighbor with twice the dirt. He just doesn't understand grass won't grow through a thick layer of leaves. Keep it mowed and pull weeds for compost. I haul most of it 25 miles. Still make use of the weeds. The major factor slowing things down is money.

This forum has helped me probably the most.

[ccfromnc]

It's nice to know there may be other older couples like us trying homesteading for the first time. Honestly, most people we know probably think we're a little "off" for wanting to take on this much but we are enjoying it all.

[lmrose]

When we started out on our little 10 acre farm I was almost 38 yrs and my husband was forty. Now I will be 68 this Oct. and he just turned 69 yrs and we want to start over! The way we always farmed required lots of fencing and plowing and haying usig a horse and horse drawn implements. It required a big market garden to feed all of us and sell vegetables. We also needed the old big farm house and a huge wood supply for winter. Now we find this is all too much to care for as we want to enjoy our home not work all the time.

So our idea of starting over is to sell out this place and find a large piece of land with both woods and fields but still near the ocean so I benefit from the sea air. It helps control my allergies
We need the wood lot attached to the fields so Bill can go cut wood a little at a time. Presently he travels five miles one way with the horse to our woodlot. It is too much for both the 30+ yr old horse and my husband anymore. Because it is so far away he feels he has to stay all day to make the cutting worth while. With woods near by a little cutting can be done at a time.

We want a large parcel of land as a buffer against neighbor's noise and complaints about the smell of seaweed and manure and out of sight at butchering time. We also need a very small house that is easy to heat and a barn not so big we can't repair it. We would fence a small yard around the house and gardens. The gardens will all be in raised beds. Any land we don't need to use can be left to nature.

The hard part is to find what we need closer to town. 9 miles without a vehicle is too far as we get older. So this is our basic plan but will have concessions I am sure when we finally settle where we want to be. Then there is the need of money which requires selling what we already have. I asked my husband what his backup plan is if the present place doesn't sell? He said there is no back up plan! We eventually must move!

[big rockpile]

Well we are the opposite I hear my wife saying we have done it all our life, it's time to quit, it's just too hard.

big rockpile

[danil54grl]

I have to say that I love this life! We bought our 10 acres about 13 years ago now and have a nice sized garden along with the critters we enjoy. Hunny is now 62 and I am going on 41. We started out with only a 1/2 acre but bought the property next to us to expand. Since, We have fenced it off into different pastures. . . one for a few cattle, one for a few donkeys, one for some pigs and two for goats. . . one dairy side and one side for meat. We also have a large garden that can sustain us for the entire year with what I can and put up in the freezer. We have a canal that runs along the property, but added in a well to water the garden and different pastures.