I have come to ask this question of myself many times lately and was wondering if any of you have also?

Maybe its because all the kids except one are gone and on their separate ways,or maybe its because I've turn 50,or maybe because I am now wanting different things in life, but I am really losing interest in doing what it takes to just grow some broccili and tomatoes and have some apples and pears in storage,etc.

After all no matter what we do or continue to do,our kids and the rest of the world will do what they darn well please,after me and my wife are gone or for that matter even now. Even the amish are losing to the world and its ways,so why bother? Our country is getting worse,morals are just a joke word for parties games, people are more interested in what politicans and celebrities do with their sex organs then they are in keeping the constitution and bill of rights. In another 30 years you probably won't even have real food to buy any more and will need a $2,000 permit to grow tomatoes on your back deck.

So what is your reason for homesteading?

-- TomK(mich) (tjk@cac.net), April 05, 2002

Answers

I love it.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), April 05, 2002.

Tom, I get fed up with the world sometimes, too. It seems as if it is on a downward spiral that will never end and only get worse. My only refuge is this farm. I might not grow all my food, generate energy, or do any of the things other homesteaders do, but here I can learn, try new things that would not be 'allowed' in the city, and experiment to my heart's content. Right now I'm in the planning stages of building a cob building. I couldn't do that in the city. I'm also learning about lasagna gardening. It looks like that might be my next project. Can't do that in the city. You see, you can pick and choose what part of homesteading you'd enjoy and leave the rest alone. For me, freedom is what its all about. In case you were wondering if I was raised in the country, I wasn't. I was born, and lived for 37 years, in the suburbs north of Detroit.

-- Gayle in KY (gayleannesmith@yahoo.com), April 05, 2002.

I agree with Diane, I love it also. However, my inspiration also comes from the thought that there are others just like myself that watched someone else live their life differently than the rest of the world. In a quiet way as a child, I watched my grandmother, live her life in harmony with God, herself, the soil and nature. Will you eventually have grandchildren who can come and play in Grandpa's barn? I also from time to time realize that I need to be inspired so maybe I read a book on homesteading, visit someone else's farm. If we were all to move to the city, who would lead a different way, another path....maybe inspire someone else??

-- Marie in Central WA (Mamafila@aol.com), April 05, 2002.

I didn't find this place. It found us. I believe it was meant to be. So does my husband. We don't question it we just enjoy. We also have the freedom to do whatever we want to here. We have raised our food and stored it till we are a couple of years ahead. So now we are not raising any meat animals. Only chickens for eggs and silkies to sell. All our other animals are for our enjoyment and the enjoyment of our Grandchildren. We still grow a fairly large vegtable garden but I now experiment with heirloom vegtables a lot. And build new flower beds every year.I have a beautiful bluff flower garden. My youngest Daughter will be married there April 20th.We have worked hard all our lives and are ready to just injoy our 11 acres of Heaven on earth.

-- corky wolf (corkywolf@hotmail.com), April 05, 2002.

I just couldn't conceive of living any other way. I love the great outdoors, I love to garden, I love to heat with wood, I like raising chickens for meat, I love being able to hang out my laundry on a clothesline & have them smell of sunshine, I love the taste of home grown veggies - nothing the grocery store offers can conpare to vegetables picked just before you eat them, I love evenings in summer when I can sit & rock on my front verandah & hear the sounds of nature, I love being able to sit on same said verandah & shell peas or clean green beans or clean strawberries, I love eating my meals in the great outdoors, I love the sense of security I have by having my own homegrown food put away for the winter, the wood pile with enough wood for 2 years ahead from our own bush, I love all of the wild life we see except when they decide that our garden is a banqueting table set out for them. I fully believe that one can live a more simpler life style like our parents & grandparents if we really try. Find someone(s) out there who you can pass on your knowledge to - you might be surprized at the number of people who would like to have someone teach them things that you & I take for granted that everyone can do - but unfortunately the sad truth is much of homesteading knowledge is being lost & not passed on to the younger generation. Whether you are a Christian or not read everything that "Hoot" has written he is an inspiration to all. May the Lord bless your socks off!!!!!

-- Jan Sears - Eastern Ontario (jcsears@magma.ca), April 05, 2002.

Easy one, it just feels right. Why on earth would you want to do the crazy things non homesteaders do? It's freedom from the regiment of society. Yes society and your kids will do as they please, in a round about way your providing an anchor for them to. They entangle themselves with the trappings of modern living and your there to show them how far they've gone, and a way back to the simple way of life! I'll bet at 50 you don't want to be compared to a time capsule of redundant technology or thinking though huh? :^) Still your not losing a fight to keep morals and the constitution relevant, your simply preserving them. It's important that you do! So don't grow the garden this year, build a fish pond, raise some rabbits or volunteer at a school or comunity shelter. Your old enough to pass on some values and experiences. Write a few articles or a book! Sounds like your in a rut, but remember even ruts have direction, where do you want them to go?

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 05, 2002.

I am one of those grandchildren, a previous poster mentioned. My grandfather had a small place, with chickens and a huge garden. I loved visiting and nothing was more exciting than getting those eggs! A few years ago I went home for grandmothers funeral and an older lady I didn't know came up and told me how my grandfather had fed her family for years out of that garden, her husband had died and left her with 5 young children and granddad fed her 5 and his own 6. I thought that was the ultimate accomplishment. I try to grow extra for the food bank and keep my own two going with healthy food. I know I have influenced several neighbours and I bet you have influenced many people too, but it's a quiet revolution.

-- Terri in NS (terri@softkits.com), April 05, 2002.

My kids... (ages 10 & 8) If I didn't have a family to raise, I probably wouldn't jump at this lifestyle. While I love it, and can't imagine anything else, without a family I would probably settle for less country life and more career. For raising kids though, this is the life! They are free to be kids, yet learn responsibility through all we have to take care of.

-- Marge (mboyc73@yahoo.com), April 05, 2002.

As bad as this world may seem at times, I like to remind myself what Esther in the Bible was told, "You were born for such a time as this." Take heart and continue to do what you know is right, regardless of whatever else is going on around you. Best regards...

-- Liz Rhein (merhein@shentel.net), April 05, 2002.

This place is my sanctuary. We started 26 years ago as wanting a safe/healthy place in the country to raise our daughter. Now, our grandsons play and learn on this land. As my 6 yr. old grandson said, "This place was made for playing!" They're learning self-sufficient life skills....how to provide for their basic human needs without having to depend on someone else to provide it. Personally, I feel these are vital skills worth knowing. Just wait until the 'system' falls apart and see where your friends and family run to for help! It's simply my nature to want to be the one that's independent rather than dependent. Wishing you inspiration. Paula

-- PaulaTX (pcffour@hotmail.com), April 05, 2002.

I was raised on a homestead and I always said that I would never live in the country again. When I turned 17 I left for college and the big city. I was doing all the things big city folks do. I got a cool job, drove a sporty car, had girl's night out, the whole 9 yards. After 2 years of this I was very homesick. I had no peace within. I never felt safe. I wanted to go home. Home to the country. I married and now have 3 boys. We've only been homesteading for about 4 years and I'm looking foward to a lifetime more. I've noticed the housing developements around town and I realize that my boys may grow up and live in one of those places. It breaks my heart to consider this. But my husband and I will have shown them another way to live. A simpler way. I've asked God to keep me strong in my life so that I can pass this way of living on to my grandchildren one day. They will have to decide which lifestyle to choose. My parents never thought I would settle into country living, but out of 4 children, I was the first to go back to the farm. Next my brother and now my sister wishes for a simpler life. As young adults none of us wanted simplicity but we're all going back. Maybe one has to experience both and then choose. How will our children and possibly our grandchildren be able to choose if they aren't shown. Fast pace society will always be there; so must we.....

-- Michelle Thomas (mpthomas83@hotmail.com), April 05, 2002.

needed someplace with a view to enjoy the Apocalypse.

shikari shiro! - brace up!

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), April 05, 2002.

I did it for the freedom to be me and for my sanity. We lived in a growing beach resort town. The movie companies were there making movies and the town was growing in leaps and bounds. Everytime I went shopping I came home with a headache from all the traffic congestion and wall to wall people in the stores. We had a nice brick home in a very good neighborhood but I was willing to trade it for a double-wide and a little over two acres of a field. About two thirds was nothing but dirt with no trees and the other third was wooded with a tangle of old wild grape vines and briars.

I became an artist. My canvas was my land. After six years I have an attractive yard with trees, shrubbery and flowers. I still have a long ways to go but it is very theraputic for me. I could stay outside all day and find tons of things to do. I have started clearing the wooded area of the grapevines and briars and the felled trees of past hurricanes. The first portion I cleared is my restful garden. I have planted roses, azaleas, jasmine, butterfly bushes, daylilies (thanks to Soni for a ton of them) and other bulbs. It is going to be beautiful this summer when everything blooms.

I got tired of keeping up with the Jones'. I'm half Jones by the way. I don't have to please anyone but myself now. I can have all the animals I want and not worry about them disturbing the neighbors.

It is such a joy to me to hear a baby goat screaming at the top of his lungs when he hears my voice. He know Mama is coming to fed him. My grandsons are dying to come visit me even though I live in the middle of hicksville with nothing for entertainment for children. When they are here they get to be themselves and have fun. They get to go barefooted and get dirty, which they can't do at home. To me it's freedom from everyone else's normal life.

-- Sheila in NC (nannie@intrstar.net), April 05, 2002.

Homesteading is a word that I never thought about until I read my first Countryside magazine. I didn't plan some grand adventure into the country to teach myself the old ways and all that. I was nudged bit by bit into realizing that where I should be is WAY OUT and what I should do is live simply. I divorced myself from what seemed an insane society and once I was free from that I asked, "Now, what?"

When I met Bren we both felt that we should move out of the insanity and find our mountain home. It does not concern me what others think of what I know I must do, nor do I concern myself with their blinded ways. I feel that we have been guided to this place at this time, and no matter how hard it may be or how strange it may seem, I am here for a reason.

Now, about those nagging veggies. Two summers ago I took a sabbatical from the garden. I was ailing and it just didn't seem to be worth the effort...so I just didn't. Looking back on it Bren noted that it was alot like the Jewish tradition of the Sabbath. Every seventh Year was a Sabbath and you let your fields (and maybe the farmers) rest. It was refreshing to focus my energies in different ways during the summer for a change. Let nagging veggies wait till next year...it'll teach them a lesson, and maybe you need the Sabbatical....

Birdsong brings relief to my longing.

I am just as ecstatic as they are, with nothing to say. Please, Universal Soul, practice some song, or something through me.

Rumi

I guess it's hard to give a direct answer, but that's some of why I find myself Homesteading.

-- gilly (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), April 05, 2002.

To please myself.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 05, 2002.

I think homesteading is the only sustainable, truly responsible way of life there is. (How's that for being opinionated!!)

I feel better knowing that I have these skills if I need them for some reason, and this fact really hits home when the electricity goes off for days at a time and other people are heading for the emergency shelters. We have less to fear than other people, our down to earth knowledge means that we can be more confident and sure of ourselves even if some disaster occurs.

Living with life and death on the farm on a daily basis also keeps us more in touch with reality. I mean no offense, but these people who think chickens should never die, or that have their pets stuffed by a taxidermist, well, I think they're too sheltered from reality and the real world.

On a slightly different note, what would you do if you weren't homesteading at all? Would you be truly happy doing it and buying all your food? If you think you would be, then maybe it's time to take a break and rediscover just what it was that you loved so much about homesteading. :-)

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 05, 2002.

B Lackie's words are close to the truth. I got a chill up the spine when I read them. Then again, I just finished (like 20 minutes ago) The Stand. I homestead for personal fulfillment, for the HOPE of others being slightly influenced about the simple things, because I realized young what a sick world it is and I felt the need to take shelter, because THE FOOD JUST TASTES BETTER FRESH (and, of course chem free!), because the sweat on my brow isn't making some guy in a plush office richer- but it is feeding me and keeping me warm, because something is changing in the world and I plan to see the other side (and Im not basing this on a religous standpoint one bit), because the birds I hear are close and real, becuase it allows me to slow things down to a manageable speed and still get alot accomplished, because its quiet and serene. There were alot of sparks to get me motivated into living homestead style, but the Y2K spark is the one that actually ignited the inferno. And its been the best thing I have ever done.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), April 06, 2002.

I just want to say that I am glad you guys are homesteading, and that you are writing about it here. You are inspiring and teaching me! I'm only one "lurker" posting, think of all the others that must stumble upon this Forum & also Countryside magazine every day. You have to believe that one person can make a difference for the better:-)

-- Erica (natureselegance@hotmail.com), April 06, 2002.

Tom, Cheer up! Everyone who has homesteaded for years, raised and launched the kids the best way he could, asks themselves that question when they reach 50 - 60 years of age, and usually at the end of winter. It's like some kind of menopause. In my case, it happened 12 years ago at age 60.

Pretty soon, things will start greening up, the birds will start singing and it will go away, at least until next winter. Then, resisting the call of city amenities, start carefully researching smaller, lower maintenance properties, not necessarily on a gravel road. Take your time - there's no rush. If your wife opts for "near the kids", point out that as soon as you settle, their careers will take them to another state or country.

This is based on my own experience - whatever that's worth; we found a place, 9 AC, two miles in (just out of the fog) from the Oregon coast surrounded on three sides by forest and one side wetlands bordering a bay. No sight or sound of humanity but 2.5 miles from the stores. We no longer raise and butcher our own meat, but I make a bit of sausage now and then, to keep my hand in. We still raise our own organic veggies, but on a much smaller scale. It's not completely idyllic, though - we have a herd of 30 to 40 elk that cruises through here occaisionally, doing what elk do best.

Something like this may work for you if you can hang in until retirement age (the employment situation here exerts maximum negative pressure), but whatever you do, don't pack it in completely. You wouldn't survive it.

Sincere best wishes, Griff.

P.S. I was going to stay away from this one because I thought it would bring a tsunami of fundamentalist posts. Looks as if you got away with it.

-- Griff in OR (griff@hangnail.com), April 06, 2002.

To steal a line from an infamous post in the first months of this forum--"Maybe it's the 3 million who have found they want little to do with their government and have withdrawn to "beyond the sidewalks". There they raise their cows, chickens, and children with a mutual understanding of dirt to rain ratios. You might call this group the new Founding Fathers. They have found that the experiment in government was a terrible waste of time and the best government is the one you apply on yourself ! "

That is why I homestead. To apply my own theories on myself and my family. Heck, I think I am even the one who wrote that the first time !

-- Joel Rosen (JoelnBecky@webtv.net), April 06, 2002.

Thank you all for your great responses!

I think I have a bad case of winter blues mixed with spring fever coupled with too much thinking!

-- TomK(mich) (tjk@cac.net), April 06, 2002.

Its one thing I can DO to deal with this crazy world in a sane way. However, I agree with the above post- if you need a year off from broccoli, by all means put you gardens in green manure and take off for a trip through the US in a camper for the summer. You and your garden will both be refreshed, and glad to see each other for the next growing season.

-- seraphima (seraphima@ak.net), April 06, 2002.

Where else can I see the sun rise over the tree tops while I milk goats in cool of a summer morning? Where else can I smell the scent of newly mown hay through my kitchen window? Where else can I relax during a winter snowstorm knowing I have enough food put up to last me until spring? Or daily adorn my table with a centerpiece of freshly pick wildflowers from the neighboring field? Or watch the gees return every spring and alight on my neighbors pond? Or bite into a fresh homegrown watermelon on a hot summer day?

-- Tiffani (cappello@alltel.net), April 06, 2002.

Tom, although I am not at this moment a homesteader, I have been swimming in the homesteader soup for a long time, and have had periods of homesteadyness in my life, and it has always been a dream of mine. There was a period when this dream was forgotten, and the wasted years of slave-ish routine weighed heavy on my mind. My reason for heading onto my own land this spring is so that the routines, or lack thereof, that shall be my life, will be MINE. If my morning routine is to watch the twisting spirals of mist disolve in the air revealing snow dusted mountain peaks, while calmly standing on my head naked, gargling nettle tea to the tune of "break on through to the other side...", or reading the Economist with a cigarette, a very sweetened coffee, and the morning news broadcast bleating "four legs good two legs bad" or some other thought control in my ear, it is my choice. Homesteading is about choosing to do what I want, when I want, and reporting to who ever the heck I want. It is where I am the judge of my actions. And my actions, if badly thought out, will be the judge of me. Homesteading is feeling comfortable with who I am in relation to this planet, and this universe. It is like death, and rebirth, and waking, and dreaming, all in one creationists, evolutionary, reincarnation! It is life without dogma, and without rules. If you need reasons to continue to homestead Tom, you are in one of the right places. Remember that all things can be a pain in the neck, even if at first they appear comfortable (ever been blindsided by a feather pillow by a sibling!) I agree with others who said, that there is no law against taking a break from homesteading. Taking a step back, away, or out of sight, is how most great geniuses get there inspiration to succeed. THERE ARE NO LAWS IN HOMESTEADING; THERE IS ONLY YOU AND YOUR DREAMS... I hope this was helpfull.

-- roberto pokachinni (pokachinni@yahoo.com), April 07, 2002.

i hate foodlion.

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), April 07, 2002.

To get back to our core values -- I, at least, was raised in the "homesteading" mode. My husband is learning, and loves it!

Also, the feeling that SOMETHING is going to happen -- economic collapse, more war on our turf -- who knows? Whatever is coming, we can't halp but feel the country will be the best place to be. It's also a place for the kids and grandkids to retreat to.

-- sally rogers (saltex@intertex.net), April 07, 2002.

I haven't become a Homesteader yet, but when the time comes and I'm ready to go (hopefully within 6-12 months) I will be going for the reasons that you stated. We have reached a point in our society in which there are no moral values. No matter what we may do right or wrong, things are not going to change and will most likely only worse

Rita

-- Rita (rlynchjarss@aol.com), April 07, 2002.

Ummmm....I've always been a homesteader. The only time I lived in a city was when I was in college. At 17 my daughter decided to build her own house here at the homestead, overlooking the 2 acre raised bed garden. She wants to travel and backpack all over the world, but she also wants to be a homesteader ;-)

I can't imagine wanting to live any other way. I like eating our own organic food and drinking cold spring water. The view from here at the computer is trees, moose, deer and turkeys. What more could you ask for? ;-)

-- Peace and Carrots Farm, Vermont (wsm311@aol.com), April 07, 2002.

Kevin said it perfectly!

plus I have 2 beautiful children that I want to know will have a at least a chance in this world! Your kids might be gone but I ma sure you taugt them things that are not showing right now. But if they need them, those skills will come shining through! and they and your grandkids will still have a chance too!

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), April 08, 2002.

I can think of three reasons. The first one is that there is no more radical rebellion, political, social or economic, available to anyone than to grow one's own food. Second, I do it for the joy of sun warmed tomatoes, the quiet noise the chickens make when I go to feed them, the smell of burning wood. Finally, I do it because someday, and probably within the next 30 years, a big change will come around and we'll be the ones who know how to survive it.

-- Sharon in NY (astyk@brandeis.edu), April 08, 2002.

because i don't like what the gov't is allowing to happen to our food supply. because if i can make a difference in one other person's life by selling or giving them home grown food without chemicals, antibiotics, hormones, i've done something good. because i feel called to do it. because i want my children to have values and know where food comes from and how to grow it themselves. i can't imagine living any other way, ever again. it's hard and lonely, sometimes, but that newborn any animal is worth it. knowing my kids aren't scared of life and what is in store is worth it. they know life is hard but also full of love and joy. what better life can a person have than to bring joy to others? that's why i homestead. other people get a kick out of my eccentricities, but they also enjoy my goat milk and eggs.

-- laura (okgoatgal@hotmail.com), April 08, 2002.

I couldn't live any other place or any other way. I believe it was St. Augustine who said (more or less), "What's right is right even if no one is doing it, what's wrong is wrong even if every one is doing it." So I just keep doing what I think is right.

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), April 08, 2002.