| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Pamntx |
Posted - Feb 11 2005 : 12:57:45 PM
My husband and myself are fixing to move on two acres of land and remodel his grandmother's 1954 farmhouse. I have lived in the suburbs my entire life, but always wanted to live in the country. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in rural areas. I would love to hear from other women who have made this transition and learn from your experiences. |
| 18 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| lamarguerite farm |
Posted - Oct 17 2005 : 11:05:58 AM
I grew up in Illinois and didn't move to Washington until i was 15. Even though I was exposed to a lot of farm communities, we always lived in town. I was always very drawn to it though. We didn't move to a rural community until last January. We have a few neighbors that are fairly close, but a lot of our acreage is wooded, so there is a lot of privacy. The biggest thing for me is the peacefullness that we experience here. My husband and I were doing some fall clean-up yesterday and burning some brush and he stayed down there to keep an eye on it until dinner. I went down to see how things were going and he was sitting on a stump watching the fire. That's the most peace I have seen on his face in awhile. He said that he was enjoying the quiet time and even spent some time in prayer. What a joy to be able to stand outside and only hear nature around you and the sounds of the chickens and goats going about there daily routine. Just you, God and all the blessings he has provided for you.
If you have a dream, even if you don't feel qualified to accomplish it, just try your hardest.-Maggie Jensen |
| celebrate2727 |
Posted - Oct 17 2005 : 07:26:38 AM
That's awesome Pam! I too have just done the same. However I spent 10 years on a farm before so I know what I am getting into. Here are a few suggestions. Always have 2 days of food and water on hand for snowstorms, power outages etc. keep a supply of candles on hand and a good portable radio. Learn to plan a monthly trip into a big town to stock up on supplies, especially with the price of gas. And most important connect with the farms around you. Good luck and keep us all posted on how things are going!
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
-Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Oct 16 2005 : 9:14:04 PM
thanks for sharing the story .. i, too, lived in washington, d.c. (was born and raised there) and worked for 'uncle sam' and presidential appointees most of my career .. i must say .. i LOVED this life .. and when 'retirement' years came around ... i knew i also wanted to live 'down on the farm' (both my parents were born and raised on farms .. dad in virginia .. mom in georgia) .. so, even though i have moved into a rural (VERY) environment in the gentle rolling hills of kentucky .. i am a farmgirl at heart and i am adoring this 'chapter in my book of life'. frannie
quote:
Originally posted by Clare
I found an article, really it's a short story, that I wanted to share, and this seem to be a good spot for it and to continue this conversation. It's called "Home on the Farm" by Lucie L. Snodgrass in Vegetarian Times. It's about being drawn away from the Washington DC political life to a farm with llamas, and of course her sweetheart there and his sons. Very life affirming article:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=428
May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being, may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life. ~~Apache Blessing
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| Kay in Kentucky |
Posted - Oct 16 2005 : 6:07:56 PM
Wow, what good story, I can relate to how she felt. I am feeling the same way...
Funny how this farm/rural life pulls at your heart strings.
Kay
My blog;
http://oakspringfarm.blogspot.com |
| therusticcottage |
Posted - Oct 15 2005 : 1:23:24 PM
Wonderful story -- thanks for sharing!
I'm still hot...it just comes in flashes. |
| Kathy A. |
Posted - Oct 15 2005 : 12:46:29 PM
Thanks Clare!
This same issue has a really good article on Bees for those of you interested in Bee Keeping. |
| BlueApple |
Posted - Oct 15 2005 : 10:49:34 AM
I loved it! Thanks for sending it!
Julia
BlueApple Farm |
| Barn Goddess |
Posted - Aug 28 2005 : 7:41:42 PM
Pam, I had always lived in a large city and never spent any time in the country, but had always wanted a farm. So, when my husband retired 2 1/2 years ago, we bought a 35 acre farm. It's the best physical move I have ever made. My veggie garden gets better each year. A friend and I are going to try selling various things at the farmer's market in a town of 5,000. The nearest bank is 18 miles one way and the nearest grocery store is 17 miles one way. It's quite a change going from a city with every convenience nearby to such a remote area, but the peace, quiet and privacy are well worth it. You'll love this Farmgirl Connection. It's very informative and the women are smart, talented and funny. I'm happy I found it.
Mary Jane
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance. |
| lareyna |
Posted - Aug 28 2005 : 1:38:53 PM
We moved "home" 5 years ago due to my MIL's illness, My hubby was born and raised on this property. My FIL was a pack rat to the nth degree. To live here meant living with my MIL and that didn't work for either of us. There was nothing to rent or buy near enough to her so we placed a mobile on her property, next to her house. To get to the area we wanted to put it we had to rent dumpsters and make many many trips to dumps. The road between two barns was so loaded with junk you couldn't drive between. Several barns were falling down and had to be torn down the rest of the way, inside one was enough lumber to build two houses but was rotted from rain. It has taken us 5 years to get "liveable". I was raised a farmgirl so none of this is a big surprise to me and I love it here. There are many fruit trees and enough property to have our cattle and rabbits, chickens, peacock or two and my Yorkies who live obviously in the house.
Hubby raises and tends the garden as my thumb is black. I do the canning, freezing etc. It is a very peaceful life and I wouldn't trade it for the world. We are 5 miles form the ocean as the crow flies, so this is good for a menopausal old broad who doesn't like the heat . My MIL has regained her health now but is 86 so we are here for the duration, she will outlive us all (I hope) I have found many treasures in cleaning out barns and now I am wishing for a metal detector for my next hobby. The big barn on the property was the old livery stable for the town when it was on the railroad route. Under it is tall enough to walk around, this might be fun to use a metal detector on!
I was Country before Country was COOL!!!! |
| LJRphoto |
Posted - Aug 28 2005 : 12:12:30 PM
Pam,
My husband and I just moved from a postage stamp lot in a smallish town to 9.5 acres where we are "in town" but it's only barely a town. So far we have rented a dumpster to clean out the barn and we are going to need to rent it again. I cleaned out a barn add on that the original owner must have used to house her bucks away from her does (she had alpine goats). It was a lot of work taking down dividers built strong enough to keep three bucks separated but now when I look at my big empty space that I am going to convert into a chicken coop it's very pleasing. We have a long way to go as the man who owned the property after the original owner and before us was more of an outdoorsman and was letting the property naturalize. Can I just say how much I hate burrs and pokeweed?
Anyway, I look forward to hearing about your experiences.
Laura
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect." -Mark Twain |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jul 31 2005 : 10:31:20 PM
I have never ever lived in the city...have had about every other experience...27 miles from a tiny town in Minnesota (40 miles to a hospital) , a couple miles outside a small town in Idaho, 4 miles outside a teeny town of 250 in Idaho, in town in a small beach town of about 9,000, 6 miles from a town of 16,000 before we moved here, and now in town but a much smaller town of 3,000, with a large lot (2/3 acre) and liberal animal laws..hooray! We don't have any shopping besides a small market, small dept. store (really small) and hardware here in town, but 7 miles north is a slightly larger small town with a super walmart. For real shopping at Christmas and to stock up and like that..we go to provo which is and hour and 1/2 north. I think there are so many benefits to living either in a small town our out in the country that I wouldn't trade it for the world. Of course I never was a city gal so I don't know what it would be like either.
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
| FloralSaucer |
Posted - Jul 31 2005 : 9:30:37 PM
Our grocery stores were a worry to me to start with. It has improved, but I also get things in from a larger town from internet shopping. I have also adapted our meals to suit. |
| FloralSaucer |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 11:29:11 PM
I grew up in the country but have lived in a regional town for 25 years. Then we went to the country again. I look forward to reading all the replies and adding anything if I can. |
| countrykat |
Posted - Jun 01 2005 : 10:30:37 PM
Best Wishes Pam. It is very exciting. I was born City, back East in Boston. Moved to Kansas City 11 years ago and just moved onto my dream farm of 13 acres 18 months ago. We raise free range chickens for meat and eggs. We have a kitchen garden, small flower garden and I am currently researching plans for a fruit orchard. I am a stay at home Mom and am raising an 11 month old Son.
Get to know your neighbors. We have wonderful neighbors out here. We lived in a cookie cutter sub-division on a cul-de-sac and I can only tell you the names of three of our neighbors. Now I know just about everybody who lives on our section (1 mile by 1 mile) because I take my buggy horse out and go visiting (with eggs). I know the name of my mail man, he's a great resource for history of the area because he grew up a mile from our place and his family used to farm our land and the land around us.
I would have liked to have a remodeling job but our house was only 9 years old when we bought it. I did get to remodel the gardens though.
Good Luck! |
| poppysmom |
Posted - Jun 01 2005 : 7:24:46 PM
Pam, we moved to the country about 5 years ago and the best piece of advice I can give is to take all advice with a grain of salt. Your piece of property and its soil and water conditions are different from every one elses. So as far as gardening, you can go by the book, or you can experiment as there is no neighbor who will complain if you let the beets and radishes go to flower and take over 1/3 of your garden because you find the flowers so appealing!! I have found the greatest joys in garden and field experimentation. We have mowed the ditches and not mowed the ditches (currently not mowed per my preference... ) You will find this season of your life incredibly challenging and fulfilling all at once. You will also find what you are made of. Pure farmgirl?
no day but today |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Feb 14 2005 : 05:54:19 AM
Hi and Welcome Pam! You're in good company here! Lots of great strong country at heart gals here! I was a city girl and fell for a country farm boy at the age of 18. We married 25 years ago this June and moved to the country 21 years ago on 20 acres we bought from his Dad that had been in his family for 100 years. We built our home with our own sweat, blood and tears but I have never once regretted my move. Our home and land is always a "work in progress". I like to call it a sculpture of the soul. There have been some learning curves, failures, triumphs on this little parcel of prarie land but oh the rewards are so worth the sacrifices! I guess it is a way of making a mark...and a difference. I know that we are good stewards of this piece of earth and that we are here a short while... That I can share some of this bounty and beauty with others...My children, neighbors, friends, community. That I am always learning new ways to improve... conserving water, protecting the wildlife, trying new seeds for food to be self reliant, building using renewable materials, recycling ect... Pam you will love the move! Keep your mind and especially your heart open! The land will embrace you and never let go! I promise... Jenny in Kansas
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| Eileen |
Posted - Feb 12 2005 : 09:53:02 AM
Good Morning Pam,
I also grew up in town and married a farm boy.  We lived in town for most of our married life, at least the first25 years of it, and then after our children were grown made the move back to the farm life. We tried to make this move many times during the raising of our children but for some reason the property we wanted to move to would be sold out from under us as we were trying to sell our city home so we could afford the move. I guess we were given notice each time that another offer had been given and unless we could come up with the cash in 10 days we would lose our option to buy. Then when our city home finally sold we could not find suitable farm property that we could get a loan to purchase or it was too far away from my husbands work to be practicle. Needing a place to live we purchased again a city home. We did this 4 times. Finally after the children were grown we sold our last house in town and bought a small fifth wheel to live in while we decided what piece of the world we would be farming. Hindsight is always 20/20 and we wish we had purchased property that already had a well, and maybe a small cabin or old farm house but we found this place we both loved and it had only a shallow hand dug well open to the sky and about 15 feet in diameter. The old farm house had burned down about 20 years ago and there was no electricity here either. The well was unusable according to the county and when we asked at the county to be allowed to move our fifth wheel up here to live while we got the necessary work done they refused to grant permission until the septic and electricity were here!!! Since then we have been told that we should have moved up here and not told them we were here. Gone about our business of getting a well dug and then a septic, since we could take the fifth wheel out to a dumping station and we needed only our generator for electricity. We wasted a lot of money on renting an RV trailor space for a year while we did all the things that the county asked of us. In this county we were not allowed to put in a standard septic either. We ended up having to have a septic engineered and spent over $20,000.00 on a glendon bio-filter system that was the only one the county would approve for here. This and the well cost us our entire savings because the well was another $15,000.00 as we hit salt water with the first 300 feet of drilling and had to backfill with concrete and start over in another place.  We are still here and still love it but as yet still do not have a real house. We have a 20 foot yurt that I made from a pattern in a book from the library that we use for our bedroom and sitting room. We built a pole building for a work space and storage . We built a 9x15 tool shed that has since been transformed into a studio office for me and we have our fifth wheel that we use for guests. We have bee hives, lots of types of fruit, chickens, and this summer we are putting in a small vinyard as well as extending the orchard. It has been an incredible amount of hard work but worth every bit of it in the long run. Our property value has increased enormously, our lives are more peaceful, tranquil and real. We do not have a television cable or antenna so only occasionaly watch the news broadcast on the one local channel that we can see somewhat on the tv we have. We have a lovely creek that runs 7 months of the year and a pond that is 25 feet across that I am slowly getting planted with water iris and cat tails to attract the red winged blackbirds that I love to hear. We have an enormous assortment of wildlife that stops here on their way south or north and a lot that live here year round. It is kind of a natural sanctuary for birds here, as well as we have several deer that we have come to know with their fawns each year. One has twins every year and they bed down on our property. The momma is not afraid of me and I often get to glimps her new born twins. Have not taken the camera with me on this adventure because I feel she might get spooked and leave. I keep the deer out of my flower gardens and away from our orchards with Man Pee. It is very affective and free!!
Our biggest challenge is controlling the wild blackberry vines that would take over the world in a season if not vigorously cut back every year. We love where we are and would never go back to the city even if given a million dollars to do so.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Feb 11 2005 : 5:00:08 PM
Welcome, Pam. You will find many such women here. And we look forward to hearing about your new experiences, too. I believe you will find it wonderful, and lots of work.
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
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