What Do I Tell Her?

We have an acquaintance who has posted on a few of the yahoo groups we use. Here is what she asked for:

Looking for a Place with land...
Our landlord is wanting to sell the place we just moved into a few months ago. She'd like it if we moved out.
 
Hubby and I have been discussing it before she even brought up the subject.

We've been feeling pulled to move to somewhere where there is land, trees and a place we can grow food, raise chickens and goats. We'd love something we could rent or preferrably rent to own. We really don't want to have move again after this time. I'd love to live in H--- or L---, but anywhere along [the center of the state] is fine. We could go as far as B--- [north of her current city] if need be. My hubby works repairing and selling iphones. He uses [a local online classified] for most of his business, and we don't know of anything like that anywhere else or we would consider moving to another state, or to [the southern half of the state].

We can afford about $1200/mo...give or take. Preferrably less, but that would depend on how much land.

Let me know if you know of something that fits my description. We just want to be self-sufficient as much as possible...we cannot do that here. I cannot plant a garden or even a fruit tree at our current location.

I hope that this gets to someone who knows of a place for us!

Thank you in advance.


Here is some of her background:
They have never farmed or raised animals.  The have had a small family garden.
She has severe epilepsy and quite often is not allowed to drive a car. Sometimes she is in bed for days at a time after an attack, and often has had to go to the hospital for tests or emergency care.
They have 5 kids, 3 of whom live at home.
They used to live in a very nice 3,500+ square foot new home--until they lost it due to foreclosure.

Here is what I wrote back to her:
I am assuming that the most important things you are looking for are animal rights and water rights [we live in the desert and the right to use water does not come with agricultural land unless you buy it]. If you don't have those, you can't do what you want. Any size house in live-able condition would be okay because I'm assuming that your first goals are raising a few animals, raising a garden, and letting your kids have some space to run. (Same goals as we have--which is why our house is comparatively small, fairly old, and in need of repair.)

Just as a little information for you, it costs us approximately $200 each month to raise our animals. That includes feed and electricity for the barn. It doesn't include things like fencing that might need to be repaired or vet bills (if you can find a vet to help with large animals) vaccinations or meds that the animals might need, building shelters (like a chicken coop), feeders and waterers for the animals, loss of animals to predators, spring-time repairs, breed fees (for the goats), hoses and sprinklers, shovels and other 'out door' tools (pick-axes, pitch forks, manure rakes), bedding for the animals.... We LOVE what we do.... we really love the lifestyle, but to get set up is very costly, we grew into it gradually.

We were also blessed to run into some very good goat people--which means we paid a bundle for our first goats, but they were worth it because we knew they came from healthy, good milking stock--not just auction animals. We also know enough people that we can 'scrounge' materials for some things (old fencing for around the garden, old hay bales for temporary winter shelter, friend's kids that are willing to help us in return for our help....) But that took years of doing what we are doing to be part of the network in the state.

And if you don't own a truck with either a trailer or a shell, you will need to figure that into your cost. If you are planning on goats, you need some way to transport them from here to there as well as picking up feed from the store. It doesn't matter what type of pasture you have, if you want goats or other smaller livestock you will need feed through the winter. If you want goats to give you milk, you will need grain feed all year. You are probably planning on hauling your own hay--which means you are going to need a good sized truck--a little pick-up can't do the job.

It would be a good idea to go to the library and check out a book called "Hobby Farming for Dummies". It is written by Theresa A. Husarik who lives in an area similar to ours. You might also want to go to the library and check out any Storey Guides you can find (Storey's Basic Country Skills, Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats, and Barnyard in your Backyard). Reading a few books will give you a better idea of what is involved and what type of land, fencing, and water needs you will have.

I'm not trying to discourage you, I think it is a great idea, but I don't want you to walk into it blind and think that hobby farming is easy or will reduce your living costs by much. It will take lots and lots of your time, and lots of hard work. I don't want to see you get the set-up and then realize that every day of the rest of your life has outside work that needs to be done.... there is ALWAYS something that needs to be done. And you don't get to go on vacation unless you add the cost of hiring someone to come into your farm and take care of the animals. 

It was 10˚F this morning. It took 30 minutes to haul buckets of water, clean out one water bucket that was nasty, feed all the animals breakfast, and collect the eggs. In the summer we plan on 60 minutes of barn chores in the morning and 90 minutes at night. That doesn't include extra time on Saturdays for maintenance.

YES, YES, YES! It is worth it! At least it is for our family. There are many, many other people (even in our own neighborhood) who think we are crazy! Our attitude has been, "We can't send our kids to a private school to learn what they've learned here. There aren't any private schools like that, and if there were, we wouldn't be able to afford them." But also understand, that our kids WANTED this. We didn't choose this for them, they wanted this and we followed what they wanted. That means we have very willing and mostly un-complaining helpers who do a job and do it thoroughly to the very best of their ability.

I don't want to discourage her, but I'm not sure what to say to her to make sure she understands what a commitment and change of lifestyle she is facing.

So many people think we are self-sufficient on our little place. Far from it! Without the local feed store and local hay growers, we would never survive. There is a reason we call it Hobby Farming, because like every hobby, it rarely pays for itself in our area.

She's a nice lady, and they are a nice family, but they are talking about moving out of the city and into the country with little idea of what they are getting into.

The Grand-puppy Misses Us!

I haven't posted for a while. The 'Crazy Christmas Craft Craze' was on and, boy, was it a doozy this year! I'll be catching up over the next week, but Spunky posted this picture today and I decided to just do a quick post.

I sent 6 mini-stockings to our daughter, Spunky, who moved far away this fall. We miss her. Apparently her dog does, too.

This is one of the stockings I sent. I think Surry stole it off the tree. Spunky says that she carries it around with her all day! It probably still smells like our house. Surry used to come visit and we would always puppy-sit when her 'parents' were gone camping or on vacation. She loves the farm and our dogs. They get along well and play for hours in the yard.

Once in a while, when they lived closer and I was visiting for a minute or dropping something off, Surry would run out the front door and sit by my car. She wanted to come visit her 'cousins'. So... Spunky would let her get in the car and come with me. Then she would stop by later and pick Surry up.

What a funny puppy!

Bah! Humbug!

Not really..... this is a White Elephant gift for a lab party that Prion will be going to.

I tried a few times to make him look angry, but it ended up turning out funny looking instead. Vet2Be said that I'm just too happy most of the time to make something look grouchy. Thanks Vet2Be, I'll take that label any day!

The patterns were free at KnitPicks, one of my favorite knitting supply companies.

I knit the Santa Hat on the my Silver Reed knitting machine. Instead of a white garter stitch band, I used a hung hem. It was the first time I used my new garter bars from Kris Krafter, and I loved it!

I hand knit the Grumpy, lump of Coal by hand.

The project was alot of fun to do. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to make the whole thing. Vet2Be asked me to make one for his White Elephant party, too.

Booster Fan

We have problems keeping the great room warm. It's a big room with a vaulted ceiling, and it is an addition. The people who built the addition jury-rigged the heating vents by taking one vent from the living room and re-routing it through the basement, splitting it into two ducts, and then installing them into the great room.

It didn't work very well.

We aren't ready to re-do the duct work in the basement, which is what should happen.

We use the woodstove almost every day in the winter to keep this big room reasonably warm without roasting the bedrooms. Sometimes we have 'red burn' days that they ask people not to burn because the air is so bad. We will usually use the stove anyway because it is the only way to really keep that room warm.

A few months ago Son1 fixed the holes in the duct work, which helped a little, and we also found a booster fan for the vent.

It's pretty noisy so I would never use this in a bedroom, but it works well in the great room. It turns on when warm air starts to go through, and shuts off automatically when the air is cooler. It can be set to work with either the furnace or the air conditioner.

I found some online that replace the heater vent, too, but they were more expensive and I didn't want to spend more money to find out if this would work or not.

We have another register in the room, but since it is under the table I haven't put a booster there. Also, since they are noisy, I'm not sure I would want another one running at the same time.

We're pretty happy with how it brings more warm air into the great room, so I'm glad we bought it. I still like having the woodstove going. To me a fireplace or woodstove is more than a source of heat, it is a source of peace and quiet, a nice place to gather, and it lends a soft and gentle feeling to the room.

Christmas Stocking Marathon

Son1 wanted me to knit some min-Christmas stockings for some of his friends at the University. I got nine finished and ready to go! Yay!

Prion needs five stockings for her friends. I'm working on those now. Blondie (a s-i-s..... Sister-in-Spirit) needs two more for her family.

This happens every year! A mini-Christmas Stocking Marathon! Some years I have made more than 60 before Christmas!

I love knitting them, though. They are fast, easy, and I can watch old Christmas movies while I am stitching them together.

The stocking second from the left on the top row has plain white yarn for the trim. That's because it is for a boy. The other stockings all have a baby yarn for the trim, which has just a little bit of sparkle in it, perfect for all the girls.

The funny thing is that every year I have to dig out an old one and figure out the pattern again. One of these days I'll write it down and be able to get to work just a little faster!

What are your favorite Christmas movies? I've already watched White Christmas and Christmas in Connecticut. I would love to know what other people have in their collection, it might just be something I can add to mine!

Update: 11/29
Here are the rest of the stockings that I knit. 17 stockings in three days!

Make-shift Shelter

Vet2Be and I built this make-shift shelter for two of the goats. Hubby didn't realize that when I said we needed one more shelter for winter that I really meant it.

So this one is built out of straw bales that we got for free. Since it is for goats, we had to stack the bales as if they were legos so that they wouldn't be easy to knock over. The boxes are filled with straw and are just like the little, square legos that the kids use to fill in the sides.

Here's a view of the back. Lots of rocks, pieces of cement, and junk holding down the sides of the tarp so it doesn't blow away in the wind storms.

The front entrance. Vet2Be and I call the spot to the left the 'kitchen' because we put their hay inside.

It's very cozy and warm inside. It fits the two goats very well. Annie was born this spring, so she is only about 100lbs now and can walk inside the door without scraping her back. She is being bred to Curly who is two, but still not full grown. They can both stand inside and lay down with a little bit of wiggle room.

We really only need the shelter for a few more weeks while Curly is here. He's just visiting Annie for about a month. We'll probably leave the shelter up all winter, though and throw the straw into the garden in the spring.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love vintage postcards and illustrations. I know life wasn't any simpler then, but there is a warmth in their drawings and images that brings me a feeling of peace.

This image courtesy of http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/

I'm not sure where I found this image, but I think it is lovely, too.

Our holiday will be spent with most of our children and some friends at our home on the farm. Hopefully some wonderful memories will be made for all!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day, and a beautiful beginning to the rest of the Holiday Season!