Homesteading, slpain me this

The simple life aint simple!!!!

A simple life to me would be living in a tent on government land and forging for my food by myself!! Other than that there is no simple life!! Farming on even a small scale is very hard work during Spring, Summer and Fall when other people are planning vacations.

Our simple life involves getting up at 5:30am 365 day a year to feed animals and clean out the barn. It is planning the garden so it is flexible enough to survive whether the climate is cold, damp, arid and dry or too wet and whether the sun shines or not.

Planting time and harvrst must be on time to have the most produce. We are always playing beat the weather trying to jam as much as possible into a fine day because the next day it may be raining.

Summer over; fall arrives and harvesting the bounty. By winter we are exhausted snd glad to stay in by the fire and stay warm. One problem with that is first we must make several trips to the woods to cut and limb trees. The wood has to be brought home on the horse cart. There it is cut up and stacked to dry over the summer. Afterwards it has to be put in the wood shed. Later it needs to be brought into the house and continuously fed to the heater stove. It is a long hard process to getting to sit by that warm fire all winter!

This is not a simple life but we enjoy all the work. Have a nice day.

I would call it a good life.

How many vehicles do you own?

Two, a truck and a car. The truck is for hauling feed, stock, whatever. The car gets better gas mileage.

Do you take vacations?

No.

Do you have satellite or cable tv?

Yes, we have all the home entertainment gizmos. This is because we do not go to movies, plays, concerts, bars, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Do you have a telephone?

Yes. It is packaged with the cable television and internet.

Cell phones?

No.

Golf club membership?

No.

Do you buy candy, cola, or snack food?

Yes, every time we go to town, we get a soft drink.

Do you do a weekly grocery store trip?

No. About every two weeks, we do a major town run. We buy stock feed, groceries, visit the library, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Do you have magazine subscriptions?

Yes. Countryside Magazine, Hobby Farms, Backyard Poultry, and Hobby Farms HOME, along with some quarterlies for goats and bamboo. My mother gets every quilting magazine known to mankind and some that are only available from the planet Zegbr'kght.

Do you have your hair professionally styled?

No. The last time I went to a hair stylist to get my hair trimmed, she whacked it off uneven. Now, I just have DH whack it off even.

Do you go out for meals or buy takeout on a regular basis?

No. And we don't get delivery either. It is 26 miles to the nearest town.

That all being said, we DO spend money on home electronics. Those are considered our "Entertainment Budget". We have a Play Station 2 that my mother and I play. We have laptop computers, and high speed internet access. We consider it fuel-conserving entertainment.


It is a simple life if you don't have an outside job. It is not so simple if you are attempting to juggle a full time job with 100 critters and 3 kids that all have 4 extra-curricular activities each that are THE priority, etc., etc., etc. So you have to be reasonable and really budget your time and labor.

Remember that in EVERYTHING, time and labor are the high cost items. A really nice, new, well made western saddle doesn't cost $1,000 because it is hard to find saddle leather....it costs $1,000 because the time and skilled labor involved is freaking long. Same with gardening, dairy, etc.

The simple life is only simple if you are simple minded.

__________________
Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

Attempts have been made here to define "simple life", and the answers are subjective.
Another definition should also be made: the difference between "Hobby Farm" and "Homestead".
If one, or both partners has a full time job in town, then technically, it is a hobby farm...(sorry).

Of all the farms in the U.S., 80% are family owned. The average income of all farms in the US is $23,000 per year. Of all the family farms in the US, 80% of them have at least one family member working full time in town. So technically most commercial US farms are "Hobby Farms"...they are NOT supplying a living for the owners.

Farm life is not "easy" from a labor point of view. That city job is not easy from a mental point of view. It is difficult to put in an 8 hour day at a desk when your mind is in neutral (thinking about the cow who is off of her feed, or the hens that might not have enough shade in their pasture, or those weird blotches on the potato leaves).

From this thread. The simple life is the wrong term. It's only really used by people with ideas from books or romantic notions. These folks live in the burbs and go daily to a job they hate. Kinda like the notions of a Tractor Supply commercial. The stuff you need out here. Yet those stores aren't out here. Nothing is "out here". That is why it's "out here". Get the idea?

When you move to the rural property. You will realise you are the only one with livestock for at least a few miles except that farm with the dairy cows or the hog operation. No one will have chickens, hogs, and cattle. Just you! You have the biggest garden with the only variety. Everyone else raises corn or beans. Everyone goes to the way over priced and cruddy local grocery store. It's this way because it's the only one for miles. No one "homesteads" want to know why? It's darn hard. It's darn expensive. They figured it out. Will you?

When has being "independent" ever been the easy route to take? Life just doesn't work that way. But IMHO independence is worth it!

Do you consider the guy that raises 5000 acres of beans a homestead? He shops at the grocery store for all his food, vacations in the Bahamas, and lives a totally modern life style. But his job is on the "homestead" and all his income is from it.

I think your "average" is skewed. I figure most make about a dollar. A few "make" plus/minus about 100 bucks. Then one in 15 or so make 250,000.

For me, the "simple" life isn't about where you live, how much you grow, how many animals you have, if any, etc. It's about eschewing "Keeping up with the Jones'" and only doing what you love.

I've lived on acreage, and in a condo and now in suburbia. I'd love to move back to acreage, and get more "homestead-y", but we aren't there.

I notice that, no matter where I lived, I felt at peace when I took care of myself and my home the way *I* wanted. When I tried to keep up with the Jones-es, I was miserable. I really could care less about where the hot spots were to go out at night, what the "right" car to drive was, etc. I loved my pickup truck. I was happy when I stayed home on weekends, so I could get up early and ride my horse and tend my gardens. I didn't need a cleaning lady, as I didn't mind cleaning up after myself all the time. I participated in a Search and Rescue team and CERT team. I turned down invites to go out, or to B-day parties, or whatever,and just did what *I* wanted.

When what you do, regardless of whether it's a chore or pleasure, is a labor of love, that's the simple life, regardless of acreage or $$$. I think too many folk don't love the labor or their way of life, and that's where they fail, no matter where they live.

In my opinion the greatest mistake a person can make with homesteading is growing things to sell to the public.

Concentrate on keeping yourself fed and take a part time job if you need some cash flow.

Keep the ignorant miserable masses from your doorsteps and your quality of life will improve dramatically.

__________________
Some folks are well off. I'm just a little off.

This.

Being in control. Self determination. I think that is really at the heart for most.
It is just sooo much more unpleasant to have to do something that you don't care for (getting up early, getting dirty, working hard, getting in your car etc) because, at the end of the day, someone else made you. Rather than YOU made the CHOICE do do it.

All the hard work everyone is doing on their homesteads, or farms, or working two jobs to go home and be with the goats- I don't think it would be possible without motivation that comes from the inside...

Listen my friends if you don't think it is a wonderful simple life then beware when the day comes and you can't do it . It's like losing a love one . God i want to cut hay .

Amen. If you and the Mrs. have found peace and happiness living a life you both choose, I can't think of anything better.

I understand and I feel for you~ Vickie

Post of the year.

<<<hugs>>> OMR.

__________________
" It's better to ride even if you get thrown, than to wind up just wishin' ya had."

Chris Ledoux

Living here in the middle of no where where I see maybe one vehicle a day go by, or living in the city or outskirts thereof where you wait 5 minutes to gain access to the public road because of the irritated mass of drivers. My current location is much simpler.

Spending my time plowing, planting, tending and harvesting my food on my schedule because I truly enjoy the tasks, or pushing my way through the supercenter food store with a thousand other people that are irritated and each seems to feel they are entitled or have the supreme right of way, then waiting in a long line because only two cashiers seemed to have shown up that day... Currently my life is simpler

Having the time to enjoy watching the sunrise in the east over the mountains, or watch the sunset to the west in the evenings. Compared to flipping through 200 channels trying to figure out what will entertain me until I feel the urge to climb out of my recliner and head to bed... Once again my idea of simpler wins out again.

The key to my "Simpler Life" rests solely on a single idea that my wife and I shared several years ago... Going to work everyday to pay for something you already had which was no longer new and great, but still owing years on it was ridiculous behavior. We had to get out of debt to make life simple. A three year plan was developed (all the while we farmed and raised animals on a smaller place) to get out of debt. We did it, moved to our paid off BOL (or homestead) and now I don't owe anything to anyone other than the cheap annual taxes and a low monthly bill for wireless internet.

Our TV (though not turned on for anything resembling a regular schedule) is connected to a satellite... But with no monthly bill... It is called Daystar and cost me a one time fee of $199.00 for the dish and receiver and never a monthly bill. It is Christian based and has 70 channels including 3 24/hour news stations. It is our rainy day entertainment. Frugal but not completely without. Not having to write a check each month for $100 or $200 for all the sports and news I can handle, makes my life simpler... I'm not addicted to or a slave to my T.V. any longer and neither are my children.

It would be hard for me to call this the simple life if I had a mortgage on the place, if I had to get up everyday and report to my old high stress job just to make the money each month to pay for everything I already had, and then try to squeeze a little out for food and needed items... Heck I'd be stressed out when I couldn't find the money for the new radiator for my tractor... Working everyday just to pay back the past is a complicated life, nothing simple about it.

I spent a lot of my life working high powered jobs with high powered stress attached so I could make more and more money. I climbed the ladder until the truth hit me square in the eyes and I stated climbing back down. I will go back to work someday, for me to have some more savings under my matress, not to make payments. I'll probably work at our small town hardware store which is filled with locals telling big stories all day. Going to work to talk with friends is much simpler I think.

Living the simpler life is a mindset that can not be defined by anyone other than the individual living it. I enjoy my chores, I enjoy watching my homestead grow and expand, I enjoy each day because it was granted by God, and I thank him for everything I have and every minute spent doing his work first and then mine. My life is much simpler now that I'm working hard at doing the things I enjoy. So I have to say this is still the simpler life. Less stress equals simpler living by "my personal yard stick".

This thread really hit home to me. I was in the Airforce and lived in town and the whole urbanite life style. It was rather easy and simple in term of work. When I got out I thought that I would stick with the main stay of life for a while a do a farm for money, be it cattle, or produce, or horses or what ever. Well horses is what I tried and failed to make much money at it. Then with working a job and the wife working to and seeing our kids grow up that way I said screw it I am out. So we moved back on to my family farm which I own and started to live the "simple life." Well things not been simple or easy this world is to wraped up in the money game to be able to really homestead the way that it use to be. But we are getting there our kids are being raised in what we feel is a better way, we feed ourselves for the most part, and things are starting to come around. Ya know that whole light at the end of the tunel type thing. So rather it is the simple life or not I still think that is the better life. We don't have awhole lot of extra stuff like high speed net fancy cell phones, sat. t.v. blah blah blah. But I get to work 10-12 hours a day and all my labor is dricertly for my family and the feeling that gives a man can not be toped.

__________________
http://whiskeyrunfarm.blogspot.com


Freedom Loving American
All right reserved without out prejudice or US. UCC1-308

Seems pretty simple to me: Get up and work the place for a few hours, clean up and go to work. It's peaceful, no neighbors bothering us, freezers full of meat. I can pee off the front porch or the back one and not ruffle anybody elses' feathers. I prefer to think of it as having life by the short hairs rather than a simple life. Either way I prefer not to give it a title, just call it livin.

__________________
"Only the rocks [and really embarassing moments] live forever"

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands..." tick-tick-tick

On the subject of the nearings. They were vegetarians and I have noticed a lot of people are into to keeping animals. They mentioned that animals make A LOT more work. I am also a veggie, and want a simple efficient homestead one that includes no domesticated animals ! I agree that this is key to keeping it simple.

Simply hard work and clean living. It may be simple to some but certainly not easy.. The lessons learned are priceless and the confidence of doing for self is a bonus.

Exactly. We have 7 kids & made it clear while they were gorwing up that we do not have the time or extra $$ for gas to run them to any activities. We have work to do. None of them have complained or cried about not being able to do that. Of course their father & I do not get into any type of sports so they did not grow up watching games or getting into certain things. Their activities are bike riding, playing in the creek, exploring the woods, camping, & playing ball here at home.
The oldest girl has moved out. She is 20. The rest have chores to do. We work together to grow our food & preserve it. Yes, they complain at times, but for the most part all pitch in. They know this is how we eat. They know how food is grown & preserved & the work involved. It may not be simple, but it is very rewarding!

__________________
I can't believe I deleted it!