I thought of this after reading Melissa's Thank You thread. I know that though we have been rural dwellers for 5 years and had a laying flock before and gardens, we are new to the homesteading thing. How many others are out there? Whats you favorite thing about your homesteading? What does your family like best about it? Conversely, whats the worst and least fave things? I loved raising my pigs but hated the smell. I thoroughly enjoy watching little black hen and her chicks whenver she hatches out any. Nothing like watching a good momma (maybe I'll learn something).

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 16, 2001

Answers

I love the quiet. I love the experimenting. Being close to nature and knowing that I have something to do about protecting it. There is no end to the educational opportunities in the country.

There are no more babies in my future (I think)and in a wierd way I find, surprisingly, that having other kinds of babies over and over fills the need for me to be pregnant (wierd?)

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 16, 2001.

Love my chickens and turkeys, love getting fresh eggs, love watching them-like fish in a tank-:o) Do NOT like the roosters. Always making sure they are behind bars. :o) No more surprise attacks. I had one aggressive roo, attacked me and I kicked him like a football. He landed and started at me again :o) I again putted him through a imaginary field goal...(very short low field goal)... well I finally had to catch him and jail him in the coop. My experience with football/chicken ball. He was a big roo too. He gets his visiting hours with the ladies, because I do not like to pay for chicks. :o) I better not catch him with a nail file! I love the quiet, (except the occasional chicken-ball episode), I love to watch the kids pick flowers, play and run and climb their tree house (short one since I get over-protective), and I love having a garden the size of my old apartment! I love to watch the chickens catch bugs. (the more the merrier) :o) I love composting and not having my neighbors say it looks gross, or "that's gonna smell". I like raising food that I have not sprayed or messed with. (If bugs will eat it, then it's edible!)(I pick em off and hope to get there first) Ha! HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

-- notnow (notnow05@yahoo.com), October 16, 2001.

I look forward to the day when I can homestead on the land. Right now we are homesteading in an apartment, so thats something I dont like. Not much room for storage, cant have animals, no place for a garden, except for a few pots in the window. And too many people living too close to me! Thats the worst part!!

We are hoping to have some land in about a year from now, give or take, and are learning all we can in the meantime. Learned to can, sew clothes, be frugal, gardening, and how to raise animals. Hope we have most of our bases covered!!

Take care!

-- Judy L. (quiltjude@iwon.com), October 16, 2001.

Judy I hope you can do it! There is nothing in the world to describe the feeling of owning your own little piece of land! I would encourage everyone to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to be able to get into the country. I feel there will be many challenges ahead and it will be easier to meet them the more sufficient you are. Best wishes!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 16, 2001.

I feel as though we are halfway there. We do not own our own land yet, but we do have animals for the first time this year. I have come to appreciate the season of FALL more than ever since now I know what it means to REALLY work all summer. There is just enough warmth, beauty, and free time after harvest and canning to rest a bit before having to wade through 3 feet of snow to get hay out of the neighbour's barn for chicken and rabbit bedding. (Believe me, if it was my barn, the animals would be in it. As it is, we still have to build the chickens' winter coop.)

I love the colours of a country fall. I like the satisfaction of eating meat and veggies we have raised ourselves. I am thankful for the thoughtfulness of whoever planted our apple trees years ago--the three trees come ripe at three different times. I love what farm chores have done for my children--they have shown great progress in being responsible in the last six months. And I love just being in the country and finally being able to begin living out a 25-year-old dream.

What don't I like? So far, it's stepping on the deposits of free- range chickens in my bare feet. Shoveling out the long driveway and watching the wind cover it over with 2-foot drifts in 15 minutes. The shorter winter days this far north (offset by 10 p.m. sunsets in mid-summer). Winter winds that are so sharp the children can't enjoy the snow for long.

It really doesn't matter what we don't like, though. We wouldn't trade this lifestyle for any other.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 16, 2001.

We bought the house we had in Texas from an elderly widow, who had lived there for many years. I loved her, too, for the fruit trees she had planted. We had a nice persimmon, a good, big pear tree and several peach trees, oh, and figs and pecans! This besides a nice assortment of flowers--roses, irises and several varieties of lilies around the place. I've often thought that most people don't plant fruit trees anymore, in part because we are such a transient society. I think we should. Hubby and I have planted fruit trees almost everywhere we have lived, in the hope that if we don't see their fruition, someone else will. (The ones we added to the homestead there were just starting to bear fruit--it did make it harder to leave!)

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 16, 2001.

I don't think you are weird,Ann. I think its a female's nature to nurture and if you don't have babies, critters are the next best thing!! Cathy, I have free range birds too and the bigger the bird the bigger the deposits...major yuck!! The 5 turkeys are roosting on the front stoop railing at night now that we moved the lawn mower/tractor. That was their favorite perch (GROSS!). Anyhoo, the dog likes to lay on the front stoop...see the conflict? By the way, she needs a bath as of today (gag!). On the plus side..from all those free range birds I had all summer I have fabulous green grass in places that they especially liked to congregate. The sheep will love these places in the spring. I guess there is always a silver lining. My son loves to help with everything (whether I want his help or not) and I am hoping this will make him interested in living this lifestyle for his lifetime (is that redundant??). Know what I don't get? The people that move to someplace rural and then live like they could in the city..no animals, a bit of a garden maybe. Why take ownership of a spread and then not use it when maybe a homesteader might have found it and made it come alive? I know someone like this and the person is boggled at what we are doing. "Why do all that work? Animals are so messy? You're crazy" "What the heck d'ya think we moved here for buddy??", is my reaction. I guess my point is sometimes the country is wasted on the wrong people. What do your friend, family and neighbors think of your endeavors since you are just new to the game? My mom is blown away that her townie daughter is a homesteader. I just think farming skipped a generation. :o)

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 16, 2001.

Alison--you are right--Im not wierd:)

Did you know that nursing homes frequently give baby dolls to women to alzheimers because the cradling of a "baby" is very comforting?

I'll be the lady in the wheelchair with eight baby dolls.....

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 16, 2001.

Alison~ I am a townie living in the country too. My mother, who has been dead now for 12 years, would just die all over to see me out here!! Of course, I doubt she ever pictured her perfectly attired, prissy daughter with three boys either! I know she is rolling her eyes in heaven, but also that she knows I am perfectly happy here. When we were growing commercial chickens, I took care of 3 houses, about 54,000 birds! I did my last flock when I was 8 mos pregant with #3 and had a 20 mo old and 5 year old. I must say I never pictured myself here, but thank God he has a great sense of humor!! I don't think I could ever move to town again, as it is it is moving too close to me way too quick!

-- Ivy in NW AR (balch84@cox-internet.com), October 16, 2001.

My husband and I have lived in the country just two months. We don't have any "homesteading" animals, yet, but look forward to at least chickens next year. Alison, what kind of chicken is black? Anyone, is there a kind of chicken that has nice, safe roosters? We love the peace and quiet. The bad thing about our location is that it takes hubby 1 1/2 hours each way to get to work. He says it is worth it. When I greet him at the door, when coming home from work, he now has a smile on his face. We are just into our 50's, but hope to have many good years here in the future with whatever animals we are blessed with. We love it!

-- Janet in Kansas (whisperingpines@terraworld.net), October 17, 2001.

Janet,

Light Brahmas are nice, safe roosters - at least ours have always been. These roosters never even peck at us when feeding, much less run at us. The hens are brown egg layers, good layers, good mothers, and are very hearty for cold areas of the country. They are pretty too - white feathers (on their feet too) with black around the neck and on the tail.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), October 17, 2001.

My little black hen is a mix of goodness knows what. She's some cute though..we think she has some silkie somewhere in her lineage but who knows. A lovely black chicken is an Australorp. Very handsome. I had a Salmon Faverolle rooster a couple years ago and he was a big sweetie.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 18, 2001.

We have been on the farm for 3 years .In that time we have been redoing the house and barn .To the house we put all new windows,doors,roof,wiring,plumbing,insulation,foundation and hopfully sheetrock soon .We are digging out the 2 ft of crap in the barn now , we rented a skidsteer.We have a million chickens, 10 cows , 8 goats , 9 pigs,9 sheep dogs and cats .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 19, 2001.