Parents' or grandparents' opinions?

My parent is very supportive of it. She comes over to play with the dairy goats and make noises at the chickens on a fairly regular basis. She has even done some research of her own and once in a while comes up with some kind of a really innovative tip for us. She has never lived on a farm or around livestock. In fact, she has lived in a small city her whole life. Given how foreign it is to her, we really appreciate her support.

FIL doesn't really seem to care. He gets a kick out of the animals and has tried some of our meat, but he doesn't seem to have an opinion on it one way or the other.

MIL is very opposed to it. She regularly says that she thinks we are getting in over our heads. When the topic of processing our own animals comes up, she makes a lot of thoughtless comments and concludes that we should just keep all of our animals (including cornish rocks) as pets. While many others have tried our eggs and meat, she absolutely refuses and considers it gross. It's a tough subject for us because her disapproval really bothers my wife.

V-NH if there is ever a disruption in the food supply I bet your MIL's attitude changes in about 10 days...

Grandparents all passed before I began my homesteading journey. My parents aren't thrilled about it because it severely limits my opportunities for playtime and to visit them out of town.

My mom raised me on 3 acres so you would think she would be all for it. Instead, although she acknowledges some of the blessings from it, she also complains what a burden it was to have to care for that much land in the country and thinks I am making her mistake.

I on the other hand love it. I just wish I could do it full-time.

we are parents, our son grew up here and chose to take a small piece of land next door to build his house 6 years ago..we love it.

however, my husband had a bad experience as a child, his parents moved away from town and he really missed his friends and cousins..and hated chores and animals

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

My husband and I don't have any living grandparents.
I don't talk much to my parents and they haven't told me their opinion of what we are doing.
My inlaws, on the other hand, are full of comments. We dreamed of having our own home and land to raise our own food for seven years. In those seven years we tried to do what we could in the city. I tried to plant a garden, but learned we didn't have enough sun. I got a lot of comments on how much cheaper it was to just buy it all at the store and why would we want to work so hard for our food. I learned to can. They said it was cheaper to just buy it at the store, but they would give me any jars they found. I tried to talk my fil into keeping chickens at his house (we would take care of them), but he grew up with chickens and hated them, their eggs, and the mess they would make. Finally we were able to buy our own place, but it meant leaving CA for MO. They still don't understand why we want to do all this when "it's cheaper to just buy it at the store" and "why would you want to work so hard for your food?". They don't like the idea of us eating any of our animals, either. Mostly they are mad that we took their grandkids away from them when we moved, although they knew for seven years that it was a real possibility. They were just in denial about it. Now that we are out here they feign interest, which isn't really too bad. It's just a little deflating when you are excited about something and you can tell they aren't very interested in hearing about it.
My siblings and my husband's siblings, on the other hand, think what we are doing is awesome. A few of them have even made comments about how they want to do it, too.

Daddy is dead and so are how parents and all five siblings sans one, so no thoughts there. My mom keeps her opinions to herself though she did seem pleased with my cow transactions this past spring and sent me a text recently saying she was proud I was seeing my monster garden through and making a little money off it it. Of course two years ago she spent the better part of eight hours sending me text messages telling me I was a horrible, selfish person for taking my girls out of the suburbs and away from the local charter school when things were "fine" where we were so who knows what she really thinks ?

Her father and his wife (who's been my grandma for over 40 years) think it's awesome. He was a dairy farmer and has always had a substantial garden, hunted, raised meat, canned - and he's helped and supported me immensely since I started all this. He's also helped keep my mom in check several times.

My MIL thinks I'm nuts but really couldn't care less.

My grandparents were the first generation to leave the land. My dad yearned from an early age to farm so I grew up on a variety of farms. I swore I would move to the city, but after I got married I wanted to homestead. At first my dad thought it was a stage but now he thinks I will stick with it. He is vey helpful. My mother mostly tells me she doesn't remember stuff when I ask for info. She still gardens but likes her city life.

What is it about mom as forgetting things ? I can ask my my questions about how she canned things (she used to can a little with my favorite grandmother) and she can't remember a thing.

PrettyPaisley, does your Mom have memory problems with other things? Could be age/medical. Or, she may fear if she gives you the wrong info she would be responsible for you and your family for getting food poisoning.

My husband's family have all the canning recipes distributed between them and if one doesn't have a favorite pickle or beet recipe the other one does. Just have to do some calling and requesting. And try to figure out how the names of recipes have changed with the passing from one branch to the next.

I don't know about my dad's parents they were gone before my parents even got married. My mom's parents would be proud. They lived in town but had a huge garden. When Grandpa retired he made half his garden into a small orchard. They always butchered hogs in the winter. They always cooked from scratch, canned or froze everything. He had a small window cold frame, and invented whatever he didn't have on hand. My parents would also approve.

My dad died when I was an infant and I wasn't allowed contact with his family. My mother is an evil spawn of Satan whom I haven't seen in ten years. Her opinion doesn't matter.

My FIL was raised dirt floor poor. He wanted us to have the best of everything prior to his death. My MIL was raised well to do. She never understood frugality. My FIL's mother was my hero. She raised eight children on next to nothing. She was a wealth of knowledge and never once thought I had lost my mind.... She redirected my ideas sometimes, but never made me feel stupid.

I married into the best family.

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A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. - Will Durant

My dad's stepfather approved, farming was always in his blood.

My dad's mother tried to convince everyone that the only thing I was interested in were "farm boys". (I started looking at real estate when I was 12 and still thought boys had cooties.)

Then again, she was convinced that everything I did was for the purpose of "catching a man", which was ironic given that she was one of the worst man-haters I knew.

My mom's parents think I'm weird, but it's an ok kind of weird.

Mom thought it was just a phase I was going through for a while, but since this "phase" started when I was 4 and hasn't let up yet, she's accepted that this is just how I'm wired. When food prices started shooting up, she encouraged me to expand the garden and can more produce so it wouldn't go to waste.

Dad . . . oh, dear Lord, how do I explain dad? I'm 33, and he still speaks to me in baby talk. He waits until something is producing and then tries to destroy it. I found out that there is a very real possibility that the mysterious string of health problems that have kept me unable to move out on my own, might have been caused deliberately because he can't cope with the idea of me growing up. (Caught him putting weedkiller on something he knew I was about to pick and eat. I'm trying to get out now.)

Homesteading? He can't even deal with me walking yet!