apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

yes, I would absolutely love to live rurally and have a small(ish) farm. Maybe 5 acres where I could build my own cob house and have an artist's studio with my looms and a kiln. I would have sheep, cashmere goats, alpacas because I love, love, LOVE to knit and weave. I'd have chickens and dogs and kitties and rabbits and a pony. Yes a pony! A Shetland pony. And a gorgeous, brown-eyed Jersey cow named Maisey. I would also keep bees to help with their dwindling populations and also to make some yummy mead out of their honey. I'd tap the maple trees for syrup. I'd pick wildflowers. I'd hang my clothes to dry outside in the fresh air. I would love it.

....... but I haven't really given it too much thought....

One word: absolutely.

Reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" changed my life.

My job supplies my housing, and for an experiment, I did spend the last 10 months living in the job-owned house in a rural area.
Farm living? Maybe some day. Don't get me wrong- I love the open green space and the character of this funky old house with its 7 foot ceilings and exposed original beams and square, cut nails in the floors. It's just not the place for me right now.
It was old-fashioned fun to make friends with the flying squirrels and raccoons who invaded the chimneys. Who knew the two cats would turn out to be such great squirrel catchers? (Thankfully, they only killed one. The rest they trapped and held for me to rescue and release.)
Ultimately, the house is WAAAAAY too big for two people (4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, etc etc), and the commute to the city is too long. The yard was poorly kept up, so we are breaking in the land without the advantage of having the heavy machinery. (And without the funds or desire to buy the machinery. It's all hand tools for us. Ugh.)
The house is not green at all. It's 250 years old and was never sealed, so parts of the attic are open to the outside. We won't discuss the mold situation. (Since I don't own the house, I can't make the sort of changes or do the sort of maintenance I would have done on "my" house.) The cleaning demands are overwhelming due to the sheer size of the house. The neighborhood is totally unwalkable. The house is on a rural road with a speed limit of 45. We've tried a number of times to walk to the library or the ice cream store about 1/2 a mile away. It's risky. It's a deal-breaker.
We are moving back to a small apartment in a totally walkable neighborhood where he can walk to his job and mine will be a short drive (under 15 minutes).

it's definitely in my plans. I'm waiting until I find my future spouse, and then I'm going to make the trek up to the country. I won't be commuting to the city, as I intend to get a job in the same field up there (animal control) and on my farm I'll grow tons of food. I'll also have chickens for eggs and possibly meat, and an aquaculture tank or pond for fish.

Monkeypants has me wondering if i have a double out there!
All my extra funds go into two categories: the pay-off-student-loans fund and the my-own-chunk-of-land fund.
In the meantime, my library is filling up with with texts on cob construction, working around building codes, crop rotation, 'grass farming', and alternative energy production.....and, i don't have a single really good friend who isn't considering the same thing on at least some level.

high five brighteyes!!

Ugh, seeing city slickers move to the country makes me cringe.

Having grown up on a large Western farm, I can't read these pieces without cringing. It's Petit Trianon all over again. I wish the stockbrokers/lawyers/software tycoons would put money into keeping real family farms going, not indulging themselves. I wonder how many of these people get government subsidies, like Sam Donaldson (mohair goats) or Bob Pittman did?

Trying to live a self-sufficient life is great, but you're at the mercy of the weather, labor shortages (can you really harvest everything before it rots, all alone?), etc.

I have thought seriously about purchasing a small plot to grow daffodils or create compost...or both. But I would not stray that far from the city.

Completely agree with A Charmer and Palmetto.

City people have no damned clue what it is like to really work a real farm.

I've lived in both sorts of rural areas, one which even to this day is so remote and rural that cell phones simply do not work, and most people farm to live. Without the crops, which have to be maintained and harvested correctly, which can mean some serious back breaking work, and cannot be put off because 95 degree temperature and 80 % humidity are too much for you to work an 8 hour day in the fields.

I've also lived "rural" where people have retired from the cities to grow specialized crops and raise status symbol animals (the aforementioned alpacas and horses and llamas.. fantastic, except their main purpose is the "farmer's" enjoyment). Most of the time these people still have ended up shopping at the local whole foods for their groceries and do not rely upon what they grow/raise to live.Slaughtering a pig or a cow or a chicken to eat is something they simply cannot muster.

If you want to experiment with farming, and live in the city, I suggest small scale urban agriculture. It's a nice middle ground that can give the enjoyment of growing things as well as contribute to the local environment and, if you donate or share what you grow, can help feed the local community.

I can see why some people want to get away from their soul destroying high powered urban lives. It seems like it's always lawyers, CEOs, etc. working 80 hour weeks and never seeing their families. Of course they want to run away from it all and choose farming as an extreme mode of escape. I think there's a middle ground; just simplify your life, cut back on the work hours, and spend more time doing things you enjoy.

I hate seeing people from the city move into the country. It ultimately creates sprawl and is a major cause of so many of our environmental problems.

That being said, I LOVE to see urbanites growing food within the city limits. Vegetable gardens are fantastic!