| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| montana gal |
Posted - Jun 03 2006 : 2:25:15 PM
Hello! I'm a writer doing a story about MaryJane for a major magazine and would like to know more about you city slickers who left the grit and grime for the country life! I might be able to include some of your quotes in my article.
About me: I lived in NYC for 15 years and am now building a barn and a greenhouse in Montana. I know why I changed my live, but let me hear about YOU!
Montana Gal
Paid my New York dues to live in Big Sky country |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| montana gal |
Posted - Jul 03 2006 : 3:23:36 PM
Hi Cyndee! thanks for replying..wow! what a story!
Sally
Paid my New York dues to live in Big Sky country |
| blueroses |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 09:19:12 AM
Hi Cyndee,
Welcome to the forum. I applaud what you are doing and the way that you have decided to live.
"You cannot find peace...by avoiding life."
Virginia Woolfe |
| Libbie |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 10:49:42 PM
Hi, Cindy! Welcome to the forum! I can see that you have so much in common with the farmgirls here - it's nice to have you around. I know everyone would like to "meet" you - why don't you go over to the "Welcome Wagon" forum and introduce yourself?
Again - Welcome!!!
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
| cyndeelouwho1972 |
Posted - Jun 21 2006 : 09:20:33 AM
I am new to the forum. I enjoy learning about sustainable agriculture and permaculture. I grew up 35 minutes outside NYC in New Jersey. My parents bought six acres when we were small and planned to move us to the northern part of the state where it is still primarily farmed. Unfortunately, that never happened. My parents still own the land and allow a local farmer to grow crops to keep the farm accessment for tax purposes but we don't actually do anything with the property itself for our own benefit. I moved to South Jersey and bought a small three acre piece with a home and running stream. It is my little piece of heaven. I am trying to grow our own food in the garden and raise chickens. We have wild blueberries as this was the birth place of the tophat blueberry and our property butts up to Whitesbog Preservation. Whitesbog is the birth place of the blueberry industry and cranberry bogs are all around it. The soil here is very sandy and getting a decent garden is taking years. Scrub pines and cedar trees dot the landscape. Growing vegetables in what appears to be beach sand is no easy task! I decided when I had my first child that I would raise my children to be grateful for what they had. I don't want them to be consumer driven like most of society today. I don't want them raised on frankenfoods with ritalin cocktails. Raising your own food supply makes you think about where things come from and what affect the success or failure. Homestead practices allows people to work hard and appreciate what they have. While volunteering with a local cubscout pack I saw first hand how children seemed lost and out of control do to more than one factor. I saw that bringing them to have a connection with nature helped settle these unruly boys and give them purpose. They beamed with pride when they watched their tomato plants grow! Someday I hope to be selfsufficient enough where I no longer need to depend on outside sources for my power and food supplies. I just recently had a deep well dug which took up all of my savings but provides a clean water source. Without water I wouldn't have much of anything, as I learned when chunks of iron and silt stained everything, killed my plants and clogged my pipes!
I learned real quick that buying plants and sticking them in the ground did not necessarily make them thrive! Once I get the planting, seed saving and preserving down, I will try and aquire more land to do it on.
As a teenager, I would not wear clothing that did not bear the logo of the IN brand. I struggled to be accepted by my peers and tried to buy a personality. It caused depression and anger. Now I watch my own young teen have the balance that I didn't have. I still need to limit time spent with video games and television but I certainly dont have to think twice about the shoes I buy him. The only shoes my children care to have, is a pair that fits. The life we are building is a good foundation for what I hope will provide generations of caring good stewards of the earth. |
| montana gal |
Posted - Jun 11 2006 : 09:34:38 AM
Hi Connie in Texas!
Thanks for the info...wow, I can't believe you're doing the farm thing on your own. Good for you! thanks for responding.
--Sally
Paid my New York dues to live in Big Sky country |
| connio |
Posted - Jun 10 2006 : 2:24:29 PM
Hey Sally in Bozeman
I lived in Dallas (Big D) for 23 years. In Oct, 2003, at the age of 52, I bought a tiny farm in a rural area about 90 miles NW of Dallas in Parker County.
I am single so I am doing this all on my own; what an educational experience this has been for me!!! I now know about "mowing hay, snakes, field dust etc etc etc. I must say that I have never been happier despite the challenges. My family, who all live in urban areas all think that I have lost my mind!
My motto is: "give me those bright stars, clean air, tranquil nights and don't fence me in."
Will look forward to hearing from you.
Connie
Texas Farm Girl
cozycottage |
| montana gal |
Posted - Jun 08 2006 : 8:15:12 PM
Hi Santa Gertrudis Gal!
Thanks for your response! My parents raised Santa Gertrudis...they loved their farming life, as you clearly do, too.
--Montana Gal
Paid my New York dues to live in Big Sky country |
| santa_gertrudis_gal |
Posted - Jun 06 2006 : 1:00:38 PM
Hi Sally,
I'm newbie on the forum, and enjoy the interaction with all of the wonderful women on the forum. They share my same passion.
I too, am from NY, just the other side of the state, Niagara Falls. I tease my 5th generation Texan husband all the time he married a *&@# yankee. He just loves it. Don't use that in your article.
Farming background. My paternial grandfather grew up on a farm in Ohio but being the last son, he did not inherit the farm. He wanted my father to major in agriculture and they would purchase a farm together when he was out of college. That didn't happen either. I remember trips to his summer place in Geneva, OH. He had about five acres and the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen, including botanical gardens. He raised both produce for the family and flowers to enjoy.
Mom said my second word was 'horse'. At 9 I started lessons, English, as we were then living in Delaware. The same year DuPont transfered my Dad to the La Porte plant and we settled in the Clear Lake Area of Houston, also home to NASA. So I'm actually a suburban girl. At the age of 12 I received my first horse. Dad moved his parents to Texas in 1977 and my grandfather hated the soil in his yard. I suppose a part of his love of Agriculture passed on to me. I raised a steer my senior the only year my parents allowed me to be in FFA. That was in 1978. When I announced I would major in Agriculture Education, my Dad looked so dissappointed and my Grandfather was beside himself with joy. I ended up changing my major to Agriculture Economics.
I've worked twice in the Agriculture Industry. Once managing a Peruvian Paso Horse Farm in East Texas where I met my husband. He grew up farming, mostly peanuts. Then for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as an Agriculture Livestock Supervisor on one of the Prison Farms. My husband when he retired from TDCJ was a Program Adminstraitor in Field Crops for the entire prison farming system. I also have worked as a Chemist for an environmental lab. With the wages so low for the State we made the decision for me to quit and start a trucking business. When my husband retired at 13 years to the state our business really took off and we have been able to make enough to have both our kids in college now without depending on the government.
Our trucking business has also allowed us to purchase our dream. We purchased 276 acres in Groesbeck, TX in March of this year. Our children's show cattle were moved up to the ranch on Easter weekend. Since then we have added a bull and another 6 heifers/cow. Since we currently have a lessee for most of the property we don't have full use for the cattle until December of this year.
We are beginning to develope our marketing plan in raising purebred Santa Gertrudis Cattle. We plan to additionally develope a Quail Preserve for hunting. Our final endeavor will be German Shorthair Pointers. We are also developing cost saving strategies for our retirement as we develope the facilities at the ranch, particularly solar power.
My horses and steer kept me out of trouble in High School, so naturally I wanted to raise my kids with animals. They both have raised rabbits, cattle and pigs. Our daughter is still raising rabbits and now that she is an open breeder we have teamed up together. I still think of myself as a show Mom though. We are successfully competing with her rabbits on the National level. 2004 brought home three national championships. We almost brought home a fourth last year, which would have been a repeat. This year will be a whole new ball game as we are now open breeders. We look forward to competeing with the cattle in 2008.
Our son has moved onto other interests yet one of his passions is hunting and he likes the upland game hunting the best, so he to will be drawn back to the ranch one day. Until then he has to pursue his life. He is majoring in computer programing and will be moving to a four year university within the year, most likely Texas Tech.
Our daughter on the other hand is majoring in Agriculture Education at Texas A&M and is beginning to think of a Masters, with Cornell being mentioned. Cornell is both my parents Alma Mater.
What does it mean to me to be transplanting myself to the ranch? Peace and Quiet away from the hectic life of the urban lifestyle. This weekend while watching my husband clear a new fence line with his new toy (small bulldozer), I was listening, just listening. For the first time I heard all of the Cycada's call. I felt as if I had missed something my whole life. I felt so blessed to have been given that one small chance to actually listen to the world around me. I realized I'd been too hurried. The ranch means becoming one with mother nature and all she has to offer me. The ranch means the thrill of producing what all humans need, food. To know I had a hand in that production with the blessing of mother earth. The ranch means I'm at home, where I belong, where I am a whole individual.
Come on farm gals, what does the farm/ranch life mean to you.
Kim
Heaven is a day at the ranch with my Santa Gertrudis! |
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