I'm the oddball of the family.

Here it is an endangered antlered ungulate that hangs out in the high country, but apparently elsewhere they sell coffee?

North American term for reindeer. Examples: Rudolph and co-workers.

Peg

It is very different when it is your choice to live what some would call "poor" and being poor because that is just the way it is. My parents grew up in the great depression so they were very happy to finally be able to afford a bathroom, electricity, fridge, etc. My older siblings swore they would never touch another hoe if they could just get grown and leave the farm. Life was more modern by the time I came along so I've always been inspired by their old stories. I can remember stories about dad going out to milk the cow before the sun came up and then rushing off to work so I wanted a cow. Everything is relative. Your kids may or may not love this lifestyle.

__________________
Living Large Down on the Farm.

This is very interesting to me. For your father, chopping wood and gardening represented poverty and hardship. For someone else it represents self-reliance and plenty.

I love to garden. I can't believe the degree of mediocrity in the grocery, the poor quality food, the withered limp produce, the flavorless meats, the additives and preservatives, and the risk of contamination. For me, being able to raise much of my own food brings true flavor back in to my diet, as well as freshness and cleanliness. So many don't even know what's been lost to the American diet because they haven't experienced the real thing in so long, if ever. To me, THIS is where the luxury is!

__________________
‎"The trouble with quotes over the Internet is that you never know if they are genuine." - Abraham Lincoln

You may be different - and you may be quite a bit alike at the same time. One of the wonders of families!

Growing up, everyone said I took after my Grandfather
Now that I near 60 I take after my Father
But I look more like my Mother every day.

All are gone now and I look around and feel closest to my Grandmother. The more I learn of her life and heritage, the closer I feel to her and the earth. She grew up dirt poor on an Oklahoma ranch, walked beside a covered wagon to New Mexico. Nearly starved for the year they were there and walked back to Kansas to stay for 50 years. Grandad had a tough time getting her to move to Oregon in 1953 after his 6th summer with heat stroke. She loved Oregon once she got here, the trip was very tough for her. She cried near all the way, she only went back to Kansas to bury Grandad and to be laid to rest beside him. I was born here and I will be die here. I am not a traveler either....James

Me too, but mine is because I'm not a racist, homophobic, misogynist, barely educated, functioning alcoholic redneck. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

__________________
People say I can't multi-task. Well, I can tick you off and amuse myself at the same time.

I chose the simple life over the rat race. My family is just the opposite.
I drive a car that still runs great but is 12 years old. My brother just spent over 250k on cars earlier this year. My parents retired and bought 2 new cars for themselves. They all look at me and say they dont understand how I can live like I do. I look at them and wonder the same thing. The surprising thing is I am happy, they are only moderately so. They take on debt(Even though they dont need to) to buy stuff they dont need thinking it will make them happy. I'm happy knowing everything I own is mine and cant be taken away, including my homestead(Provided I keep paying the taxes of course ) I live a simple life, have good friends, go hiking and kayaking and enjoy life. They have no clue of the beauty in nature and all that nature can provide. They still love me and I them so in the end I am thankful that they are accepting of my lifestyle. They also appreciate and enjoy all the homegrown produce I provide as well as canned items like salsa that I make.
I try to break it down to them like this;
You go to work everyday to make payments on a car or home, put food on the table and in the end all you do is support Gov and bankers.
I have a roof over my head and food on the table and a car that runs. I dont need a lot of money to be happy or to survive and I live my life much more in harmony with nature.

I think the MSM has done a great job of brainwashing the masses and unless that changes we will see more of the same. There's no profit in homesteaders and certainly they dont want to many people waking up and realizing there's a simpler and better way to live. Instead they will complain about why they never get anywhere in life never understanding the constant cycle of debt is what keeps them down.

Not a thing..just trying to show that she is opposite from me by needing much more maintenance. She gets them done about once a week whether she really needs it or not..me, maybe once a year. I need short nails for typing anyway and a manicure is a waste of money because it wears off... My "manicure' consists of making them shiny using one of those 3-sided boards. I shy away from chemicals too, so for me this is a win-win!

Anyway, glad to know I'm not the only one choosing a different path than their family.

p.s. Around here 'caribou' usually refers to the coffeeshop. They do have really good coffee!

Fun thread for Friday too. Thanks.

Guess I am different from my Siblings. I was up at daylight this morning slaughtering a hog---getting it ready, packed it in a cooler on ice for a couple days, then I will make link sausage, and cut it up the way I Want it. Then I picked some vegetables in my 2 acre garden and fed my other hogs, meat rabbits, chickens, mixed some homegrown, home ground corn feed, hoed a little in the garden, etc, etc. My 3 Sibling chose the Simplier Life-----they got up and went to work at their public jobs---LOL. They do not raise animals or a garden! One Sister does have a few things in a little garden. We do not have Mega Bucks But We sure Eat Good!!

Its a coffee house chain in the north central U.S. similar to a Starbucks

__________________
Apocalyptic and Survival Fiction - Readers and writers welcome

I am the "less is more" person in my family as well. I grew up in an upper class family with all the luxuries one could wish for.

I lived in many places areound the world and after living on Cape Cod for 25 years (of which I hated every day) I now I live on a 10 acre farm in OK in a house that dates from the land run years. It needs a bit of work but I have never been happier.

When I read a book about my family (why somebody, non related, cared enough to write one remains a mystery) I discovered that many of my forefathers were involved with agriculture one way or another. That may be where that "gene" comes from.

__________________
Critical thinking -- the other national deficit

OH! I was wondering what caribou had to do with coffee!

Yeah, there's not many in WI (if that's where you're located..judging from your username). There's one in Menominee..probably Hudson and LaX..not sure if Madison has one? Thank goodness you can get the packaged coffee at stores outside of the Twin Cities, MN.

ppl are always asking me if I learned this or that from my mom or family. soap making, cheese making, etc. nope. mom won't even grow one mater plant these days. thinks milking is just way too much bother as she chugs her soymilk. thinks even a few hens would be too much bother. she does buy some of this stuff at local places but won't even try. really doesn't matter much to me. I love my mother and she has many other wonderful traits, but once in a while I know she is wondering where i came from!

but even from a young age, i'd always watch out the car windows whenever we went somewhere (and we went allll the time, to lots of places within a few hours drive, i was so very sick of going anywhere which is probably why i seldom leave the place now!) but always looking at those cute little acreages, with just enough land for a few horses, a small house, etc. and that's what i have now.

ditto

__________________
Brenda Groth
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

Since I do civil war reenactments and living histories, and think its the best fun to spend a weekend at an event, in a tent, cooking over fire, not having a shower, and wearing a corset, and day dress, I don't think my family will bat an eyelash when they learn I'm turning my place into a small homestead.

As long as you all respect one another's choices, different is good. Your visits can give each other a taste of a different life and either stretch each other's boundaries or make each of you appreciate why you have chosen your different lives.

My family, on the other hand, does not accord us such respect. Two of my brothers consider me a grave embarrassment to the family name. We chose to give up our city home (as well as the mortgage and high property taxes that went with it) for acreage, a mobile home (for now) and no mortgage (at least until we build). The idea that we would actually choose to live near what they consider a white trash town makes my husband and me traitors to all that is right and good in their minds.

The hysterically funny part is that one of these brothers is a lifelong environmentalist who would love to buy land and put up "shelter"...but obviously only in a yuppie-approved area!