The Idyllic Life: Perspective

Tango · #21 09/01/04, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countrygrrrl

This morning so far: discover the half torn down barn filled with horses which don't belong to me. :haha: ...

... save a skink from sure death in the bottom of a trash barrel ...

... watch hummingbirds divebomb my front porch ...

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood..."

I once saved a skunk family from certain death (mom and two babies) and they repaid me by digging into into the crawl space and setting up camp beneath my house; after ripping out insulation. I am very allergic to the skunk smell and it was a hard time for several months since the smell would rise through the floorboards. One of them had babies under the house. My dogs were constantly getting skunked for months- I think I should own stock in DelMonte by now

I finally asked my son to shoot them as he saw them at dusk running from the house to the wooded area. I hated to do that but the asthma attacks had to end. They caused a couple of hundred in damage and a lot of work I 've yet to complete

Now I just enjoy them from afar when I see them. They are like ferrets, always playing around.

Tango · #22 09/01/04, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravenlost

Two years ago we traded life in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex for life on 96 acres in Backwater, Mississippi. I'm not about to trade back!

We lived in The Colony for nine years. My entire county now has fewer people than that small city had back them

Tango · #23 09/01/04, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JulieNC

[Makes me appreciate even more how much hard work those folks put into the place. I hope the new owners are up to the task. It's a shame to drive by it now--very depressing.

The neighbors I mentioned in the original post purchased ten acres and a huge new mobile home. They cleared all the land and planned to live comfortably there. It was beautiful. with only two dogs, they've been unable to keep it up. I'm probably 30 years younger and I am outside all morning and evening and sometimes, like when the tractor broke down, the place looks like a shambles. The turkeys might break open a bag of mulch on the front porch. The ducks dig up my pond plants. The chickens eat up the grass. The fire ants build tenement homes all over the place overnight.... My piglets rooted up our vegetable garden this year

I have to plant another one...

But , no, I like this life and can't see trading the work for liesure time in the burbs with bass blasting music, sirens, and chemically treated water.

Tango · #24 09/01/04, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mudwoman

Tango, I hear you! Dh and I have been here on our land for 2 years and the amount of work ahead of us is overwhelming. We got moved into the house 2 months ago, but we still have only insulation on the ceiling, subfloor, temporary workbenchs for cabinets in the kitchen and old tablecloths hanging at the doorways for privacy. There are days that we look at the checkbook and almost hyperventilate from the worry. Two years ago, we had the option of moving to Wash DC instead of Dh being laid off. Dh would have had six-figure income. Housing there has gone up 80% in the last 4 years. But we are sure we made the right decision for us and we have no regrets for the decision. No amount of money could make us go back to the city.

Congratulations

That was an admirable decision. Having been a fan of Little House on the Prairie in my youth, I couldn't have done it differently either

Gercarson · #25 09/01/04, 11:22 PM

Tango - you are sooooooooo beautiful.

livviesmom · #26 09/02/04, 12:56 AM

I really enjoyed the post by Mainefun40 about going to town and being appreciative of everything around us and the choices we are so blessed to have.

charles · #27 09/02/04, 05:08 AM

I learned something watching my grandad after he finally got to buy his farm. He loved living there, he'd dreamt it all his working life. Cattle, a garden, chickens, a pond, country town, etc. But long before he died he could'nt keep up with it, could'nt keep it "pretty", could'nt keep his projects going. When I last visited he was desperate to have me do some repairs for him, which I did. He wanted my to stay but I could't have with my grandmother there and besides, I was 20 and had a girlfriend I was following around.

Since then, I've had places, houses, and projects that I built up to please my eye and then watched them gradually lose the beautiful order I'd given them.

So, my current farm is a hobby farm. I don't keep stock animals because we could'nt travel, they would need care. Plus they need fences and fence maintenance and can wear out sloped land. I don't produce commodity crops because its a lot of work, alot of time and it becomes slavery. I don't want large yard or other mown areas - once you get them you have to keep mowing and spraying, and fertilizing to keep them in shape.

I want most of it naturally wooded with paths to walk throught the different interesting areas with tall canopied trees, persimmon tree patches, poke-plant patches, rocky areas, etc.

I wan't a low maintenance life and low maintenance growing stuff. Grapes, fruit trees that don't need spraying, Fish growing by themselves in the pond for when I feel like catching them. A fort for the kids. I'd like to make herbarium speciems and identify all the plant species on the farm at all stages of their development. I'd like to piddle with research proects at which I don't have to succeed but will have fun. I'd like to piddle with generating electricity, even if just a little to run a very small resistance heater. I like to pre-heat water solarly
and pre-cool air around a condenser using mists for coolin effect. I want to dig up the supposed indian burial mound and play archeologist. I'd like to make a spud gun and see if I can fire a potatoe across the pond. I'd like to add curves and inlets to the pond margins with more fishing stops.

Anyway that's idyllic for me. If I tried to make a total living at it it would enslave me. A stand of trees would be only something with commecial value to me, not a neat woods with a soft floor of moss.

That's what I RFALLY want out of a farm, the enjoyment, labor yes, but no drudgery, nothing that MUST get done. The dreams are better and more lasting than the accomplished reality anyway.

MorrisonCorner · #28 09/02/04, 06:36 AM

Oh, isn't it the truth Charles? The "pretty tasks" are always the ones that give you the most stress. I can slaughter 50 chickens, not turn a hair. But if the chicken coop starts looking shabby it gives me the willies. An unmowed lawn? AAAKKKK! Right now I'm trying to convince the sheep that their lot in life is to mow. The sheep are convinced their lot in life is to eat the tenderist treats and let the clumbs go. We look like we have mange.

T

Cyngbaeld · #29 09/02/04, 01:06 PM

"Are you looking for porperty now? Colorado is a trendy state; when that happens goodbye to prices any of us can afford. I know you will find what you are looking for. "

Thankyou, I believe the Lord will send the right place at the right time, IF I will sit still and let Him do His thing! LOL. At the moment I am renting a house in OK, waiting on my house in col to sell. Then I'll be looking for our new home. I'm thinking about NW missouri. I was in Bible College in MO in 73/74. Still have some relatives in the area. Looks promising. Just mainly waiting on the Lord.