More of my ramblings........

I enjoy reading your posts. Makes me thankful for my own parents who always believed you should do what makes you happy. I think my MIL still thinks we're crazy but I think she's crazy! She shouldn't complain because we take very good care of her. My parents wanted to know what I wanted for a college graduation gift & they got me pressure canner which I still use. My brother, sisters, cousins, nieces & nephews call me "mother earth." One cousin says we live in little house on the prairie. BUT they are all sure thrilled when they receive a quilt from me and they all ask for the lye soap! My husband built our house & all buildings. Our son was 4 when we moved and the first night we had an outhouse & only running water inside was in the tub. I am happy to say 12 years later, things are much nicer, easier, even if the house still needs some work. My son is wonderful. I am basically the bread winner & I can't lift much but I still do lots of work. Our summer projects are raised beds and paint & work on the house. Have fun on your adventure...I promise you it will be! DW

I moved my 2 girls age 5 & 3 onto swampland (yup, we bought swamp land in Florida!) with only a VW camper so the oldest could start and finish all 6 grades at the same elementary school. It was the best thing I ever did. I hauled milk jugs of water home from work each night and dumped it in a metal garden watering can and held it up over them for "showers". We camped w/o amenities for months before pouring a foundation for the metal building (20x30) and thought we had really come up in the world when we drove the camper into the "barn" and had a floor. It took several more months before the ends of the barn we filled in. With each improvement we celebrated. Eventually we had a hose for running water and a kiddy pool and a Petty Coat Junction plywood semi-sourround for a shower. I think every sub-contractor caught me using it at one time or another. I'm not sure if they billed me more or less for that! When we had the shell of the house up and installed a real toilet, all of us had to take a turn flushing it before we believed it was real!

Just trust in the Lord and you will be fine. Don't worry what others think. Just tell them you are a Christian Homesteader. It's great to have a name for what we instinctively need to do. Your descendants will thank you. As for the ascendants....I imaginge Columbus' and Marco Polo's families told them they were nuts,too!

Your ramblings touched me greatly as I can read from the posts they did many others also. My main concern for you was how your wife felt about it and the God thing. From reading your wife's post, I say God is leading you in the right direction. God bless you and your family.

Jagger, you can find some good very old books online at www.soilandhealth.org, here is an excert from one.

THIS UGLY
CIVILIZATION

by

RALPH BORSODI

NEW YORK

SIMON AND SCHUSTER

1 9 2 9


Above all, this civilization is ugly because of the subtle hypocrisy with which it persuades the people to engage in the factory production of creature comforts while imposing conditions which destroy their capacity for enjoying them. With one hand it gives comforts--with the other hand it takes comfort itself away.
The servitude to the factory which it enforces uniformly upon all men harnesses skilled workers and creative individuals in a repetitive treadmill which makes each muscle in their bodies, every drop of blood in their veins, the very fibres of their being, cry out in voiceless agony that they are being made to murder time--the irreplaceable stuff of which life itself is composed


It is the factory, not the machine, which has transformed man from a self-helpful into a self-helpless individual and which has changed mankind from a race of participators in life to a race of spectators of it. By destroying the economic foundations of the home it has robbed men, women and children of their contact with the soil; their intimacy with the growing of animals, birds, vegetables, trees and flowers; their familiarity with the actual making of things, and their capacity for entertaining and educating themselves. If we live in flats and hotels, eat from tin cans and packages, dress ourselves in fabrics and garments the design of which we only remotely influence, and entertain ourselves by looking at movies, baseball and tennis and listening to singing arid music, it is due to the fact that we have applied the factory technique, not the machine technique, to sheltering, feeding, clothing, and entertaining ourselves

Thank you all,

I cannot tell you in words how i am feeling at this moment. I have read all your replies and then reread them then read them again. It might sound childish or i might sound like a wuss, but those remarks and comforting thoughts from you all made me cry a little. I sit here reading them with a tear running down my cheek. I cant thank you all enough.

It makes me feel good that there are so many warm,caring people in this world. You all have helped encourage me so much. I feel as though you all are my friends, my brothers and sisters. I had doubts about my post. I actually wrote it all then i almost deleted it. Some of the things i said made me feel kinda weak and helpless. Like maybe i wasn't even a man. I wish we were all closer together, it would be fantastic to have you all down at the river swimming and having a good time, burning a few burgers on the grill. Having a real shin-dig.

I turned in my notice at work today, told them june 18th was my last day. I told them i would be willing to work extra time the last week and they didnt have to pay me overtime. Just my flat rate. She said she would see what she could do. They could stretch it over 2 weeks.

Well another thing that has me very excited as well as a little scared. Dorothy my wife, has missed her monthly thing. She is 8 days past due. She has never been this late since we have been together. So we think she might be pregnant. This is a mixed blessing i think. We have been trying to have a child together since we have been married. I got paid today so she is going to go get a pregnancy test while im at work tonight, she will take it when i get home. I'm not sure if it is too early to tell yet? I have alot a mixed emotions about this. I want another child. Preston our son has been asking for a baby brother or sister, alot here lately.

Well i have to goto work now. Whoopee!!! It is awful hot here the humidity is murder. The grill should be nice and warm. Well ill talk to you all later. Thank you again for your support and kind words.

Be good
Jagger

Please read this story, this man did what you're getting ready to do and has never regretted it - I think it will be inspiring to you:http://www.tennessean.com/features/...ent_ID=28620763
And I don't believe you'll regret it either! It's your family and your future. Things can be overwhelming in the beginning when you're starting something new, but it can be so wonderful and adventerous too. I hated the city and people thought we were fruity too, but we did it anyway and we've NEVER been sorry. Now they love to come visit us!
Hang in there and hold on to your dreams - their worth it!!!
Vickie

Here goes:

You don't need your fathers approval.

You don't need your mother-in-laws approval.

You don't need your father-in-laws approval.

Get the picture?!

Quit thinking about the "what if's" of the world. What if the sky falls, etc.,etc. That stuff probably won't happen and if it does, you will deal with it all then.

Now go for your dream!

You have a wondeful dream and a solid plan. Of course there may be obstacles along they way, but it is much better to try than to always wonder what might have happened. I would not stay stuck in a life you hate, when a life you can love is waiting for you. Best wishes. I hope you have a wonderful future and all of your dreams can come true. I am going to be a little sad not to get to read the rest of your story, so I hope you can get to a computer once in a while and tell us the next chapter. I am sure it will be a "book" worth reading. Sometimes I wish I was in my 20's again and starting out. We did the whole thing too... cutting down the trees, living without water and just minimal electric service, always scrambling for the next dollar. Looking back they were great days that build such character and give you so many memories. You can do it! All of us here have faith in you and your dream.

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Lots of people on this website have done what you are going to do and never regreted it for a minute. We did it 30 years ago and it was the best move we made. We have had some tough times along the way but we would have had tough times anyway. Life is like that. Follow your dream, even if it didn't work out what do you lose except time? At worst you'd end up where you started. I'm sure you'll be just fine. You wife supports you who cares what anyone else thinks. Keep us informed, we'd like to know how you're doing. How wonderful for you, a new little one and a new life too.

I keep telling my husband ( Jagger ) that as we go on this" Journey" together we should both keep seperate journals about what we think and how things go. Maybe we could write a book or something.It could be a best seller. I know i would buy it and read it.

I am counting down the days just like he is and I am getting more and more excited about the whole MOVING TO THE OZARKS thing. I know we will have hard times, but we will get through them.

We are both over whelmed and excited at the same time. We are going to have a new addition in our family in about 8-9 months. We thought about waiting and all , but we both feel strong about going now. We have a 4 year old and if we wait until the other child is born we will have to take a new born to live in a camper with us. We would rather go and get it done so our baby has a home to go home to instead of living in a camper.

I know that being pregnant I won't be able to do as much as last time, but I will do all I can. Jagger said he knew in his heart that I was pregnant and he is so excited... I laughed and told him... Well, that is one more room we will have to add on to the cabin...lol I am just anxious to get there and happy we are taking the "LEAP" into the wilderness. It will have a new meaning--"barefoot and pregnant"

We are trying to decide when to tell our families about the move and the pregnancy,but I think I am going to wait until after we move and then tell them. At least that is when I am going to tell my family. I AM SO EXCITED!!
I have a smile from cheek to cheek. We haven't told our son yet, because he will just blirt it out while my family is here to visit from Las Vegas... He keeps asking all the time--Am I going to ever have a baby broder or sister? Well, he will and I think it will all be good.

I am sure when Jagger gets home from work he will be on here reading all these replies. Y'all just lift his spirits high and I want to say thanks...

Later-
countrygirl26

Congratulation on both the baby and the move.

Tambo

It's wonderful to know you Love and support each other in this, then no one else's opinion counts because you're a family unit working together. Congratulations on the new baby and stay strong in your faith, it will get you through everything!
Love and Blessings,
Vickie

Hello all,

Dorothy and i went to go to a couple yard sales this morning. On our way over to a sale, the ring and pinion gear decided that enough was enough. It blew a hole the size of my fist thru the rear pumpkin. Better now i guess than after we have already left and were on our way or something. Had to lock in the front end to drag itself to my dads garage. I'm not sure what the total of the fix will be. Just depends on what i got, i have to pull the pumpkin cover to read the numbers. Then ill know, what kinda dollar amount im talking. I dont want to patch it up. I want to fix so i wont have to worry about it for along time. This old truck has seen some hard years. It has been rode hard and put away wet. I got an incredible deal on the truck, just been fixing all that goes wrong. I pretty much got it all replaced, and in good working order. I knew when i traded for the truck that it would need some work. Them old chevy trucks take a licking and keep on ticking. I like old iron.

I am very excited about the new baby. I knew she was pregnant something just told me so. I figure this is now more than ever the best time to go. I even have a named picked out if its a girl, Alexandria. This is something we have both wanted for a long time. I thought i might have had a problem. I used to work in the tree care industry. I was a spray tech. I mainly sprayed pesticides. I had an accident with a product called Dursban. I was accidently sprayed in the face and full pressure from the spray gun. I ingested this and it flushed my eys and nose. It wasn't much fun. Dursban is now banned. When its sprayed in can cause birth defects in childern. AS well as killing many small animals. Its terrible stuff. I thought maybe that stuff had made me sterile?? but i guess not. Well off to work i go, bye

Jagger

Jagger and Countrygirl26: congratulations on the new baby. Now I have an excuse to buy baby things and toys. :haha: Hope the truck is not a big expense.
You got to get those wheels in gear for that big move. How long a trip is it for you folks. Its a 6 hour drive for us to go door to door from Illinois to Missouri but its worth the trip. Take care.

__________________
FolioMark

Mus uni non fidit antro. ~ A mouse does not rely on just one hole.----Plautus

Have a dream.
Make a plan.
Work like he!!.
It will work out. Everyone is much stronger and more flexible than they realize. it takes a challenge to make us see it.

Don't ever lose sight of the dream.

Good luck.

Eric

Ps. Congratulations..there is nothing better in this world than being "Dad".

Congratulations!!!!

These last few days will be your hardest. Once you're in that truck and on the road I think you'll feel a load lift off you.

As FolioMark said on the other thread "it's Missouri". Not like you will have to radio the bush pilot to come and fly Dorothy to labor and delivery!

Now I've got to start knitting!

Love to you all,

P.L.

I second just about everyone in t his thread. I remember my mom telling me about two friends of hers that went to Montana to live in the boonies. No electricity etc. That was about 30 years ago, they are in their middle 70's and still love it. They don't want to live anywhere else.

That is why I got a milk cow. I will soon be 49 and I knew that I would have serious regrets if I didn't get one sometime in my life. I know that is small compared to what you are doing, but it's a biggie for me.

Go for it! Have a blast, the world is still gonna be here if you decide that you need to get more modern.

Arkansas Transplant

Congrats!!!

What a great thing. When I first joined your post about moving to the Ozarks was one of my first ones I read.

Talk about inspiring me. I have 10 acres and I have not been very persistent at getting things going here. Many projects only half done, many not even started. After reading your post I really felt the inspiration to try to be more self-sufficient. I've spent some time evaluating what I want to provide and what I will be happy buying. One thing about growing your own, you dont have to worry about the hormones added, the bacteria laden, second rate foods offered in the stores.

Good luck on your new life style. I think with your plans, your past experience with it etc you will do great!! And like so many others have said...if it doesnt work...you have gained many wonderful memories and lost city smog, city noise, city crime, etc etc etc.

Please do go to the library from time to time and post how things are going.

Mountain View Missouri ????

Oh my I think my brother lives there.....he is a farm hand and likes it.....last I knew.....smart guy, hard worker, likes the hard stuff too much. Rough bunch glad he lives so far away! Think he keeps an illegal cash crop too!

Good luck, hope my brother aint your neighbor! :haha:

Please remember: "It is the journey not the destination."...Joan