A previous post has got me intersted in where folks are with the family involvement at the homeplace. Also, if you have kids at home, how old are they and do they seem to prefer homesteading or envy the kids in town? As some of you know I have a little one, Ruth, now 16 monthes old. Because we are starting to get more animals than grassy hiding spots at our 2 acre in town paradise, we're thinking hard about moving more rural. I remember hating not having other kids to play with at home, since there were no other close neighbors under 70, and the 5 boys ahead of me were at least 4 years older and I didn't like their games. (Can ya blame me???) My only sister is 14 years my senior. I'd sure like to know where you all stand with the family/homestead mix.

And as always, it's nice to hear from you and let everyone get to know us a little better.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2001

Answers

Hi Marty,

Can't help you much with your "children" question as both of mine are grown and on their own. One lives in the city and one lives in the country.

I can tell you where we are (or aren't) in relation to our homestead. DH & I live on a 3/4 acre lot in a large (pop.40,000) town outside Boston. THis is DEFINITELY not where I want to be. I'm originally from rural VA and look forward to "sometime in the future" being in a much more rural situation here. Even though DH could take an early retirement, he's not remotely interested. He loves doing what he does and would never retire if it were up to him. I, on the other hand, am not employed outside the home. I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing, but would do it gladly someplace else. (In case you're wondering; No, I don't whine like this to DH although he does know how I feel.)

On our "homeplace" we have a dozen chickens and a fairly large garden. I can, dry, freeze, pickle, etc. anything I can get my hands on. I am very organized and keep a well stocked pantry and freezer. I believe in being prepared for almost any situation.

In that sense, I feel very much like a homesteader, I'm just not beyond the sidewalks yet.

Thanks for reading.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2001

What started out as a 1.2 acre rural suburb experiment in urban garden applications is mutating into that and year round BISF with limited small stock facet and a small income potential. We can easily see ourselves here for a few years or a lifetime. If we were to find a 10 to 20 acre piece now, only two acres would be cleared for BISF and pasturing. The rest would remain in timber. I am no farmer, just a truck patch gardener and researcher. The small scale is benificial to keeping our 12 yr old somewhat interested.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2001

Hi Marty, Our kids (13, 10 and 8) definitely envy their town friends, since we don't have TV or video games. I think that this is pretty natural, and if the situation was reversed they would be just as envious. What tends to happen is that we end up driving around way to much to let them take part in school activities etc, giving them some kind of compromise.

The kids are avid readers, creative, well behaved, healthy/fit, and down to earth, doing above average in public school. We attribute this to living a quasi-homestead life and the lack of media influence. We have no regrets about our lifestyle, but we'd love to cut down on the driving!

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2001

My children are a son who is almost 13 and a daughter who is 10. We live on a 10 acre farm with pigs, rabbits, chickens, geese, dogs, cats and a cockatiel. We are a small rural community in central Illinois. We live 5 miles south and 1 mile west of the town where the children go to school. They do envy the town kids. But when the town kids come out here they envy my kids. My kids are smart, read alot also, well behaved and I think that comes from having chores to do and having responsibilities. They wish they could ride bikes in town like other kids, and just hang out in town. I think thats when they can get into trouble though. The kids show the animals in the fair thru 4-H , they are also on the softball team and baseball team, in boy scouts and girl scouts and they get to interact with other children that way outside of the farm. I think I am doing the right thing for them and can only hope. Phyllis

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2001