Monday, June 14, 2010

Why I Want A Farm




I am trying to do a little soul searching here so bear with me. It all started with my hubby saying he wanted a goat and the both of us not wanting our neighbors so close you can hear everything they say when they sit on their porch and you are trying to sleep. We also didn't want to live in a big house in a fancy subdivision where there are rules about everything. Some of the subdivisions even require that all cars are parked inside at night. We have 4 cars so we would need to build and extra large garage.

So originally we wanted at least a half an acre of land where we were allowed to have a goat (two as we have now learned is better) and we can park as many cars as we want. Oh and we love dogs so we wanted somewhere our dog could play without running into fences every few feet.

Sadly one of our reasons for wanting to not have close neighbors is also we are not very social beings. We don't want to socialize unless planned and we don't like anyone including neighbors dropping in. I know some people sit around their house in the ready to go out clothes but my hubby and i don't have kids so we hang out in nightgowns and boxer shorts. We are never prepared for company unless you call first. If you give me a few minutes to get dressed I am all good but I still don't plan my life around people possibly dropping by.

I am not sure how we decided we want a farm except we have been talking a little about being able to provide for ourselves. I would love it if we could work to save and purchase a farm with cash but I don't know how doable that is. I have many different thoughts on how to get started and the one that seems most likely is that we buy about 3-5 acres no more than 20 miles from where we are now and see what we can do with that before we decide to move far away and make a go of it without jobs. I only work 2 days a week right now so I could spend my days off caring for animals and crops. I would only need my hubby's help on things that were super hard and on the days I worked. He only has to work 5 days a week but he usually picks up some overtime right now and works 6 days.

As far as I can tell though farming is expensive on the start up. So whatever we do would probably have to be something we started slowly to provide for our needs and then worked into a business. Or we would have to get a great deal on an up and running farm with all the equipment included. If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you know that I am not a big fan of debt so I am going to have to do a lot more research and once we decide the path we want to take I will need to plan. The problem there is my hubby is not the planning type. He actually gets irritated with me that I like to plan years ahead of time. Actually a lot of people get irritated with that so I usually just end up unhappy and frustrated. I don't know that it is a personality flaw because it must be a useful trait to some one. I also know that I don't want to stay here forever just because we the dream seems impossible.

So now to get to the heart of the matter even if we do this I have to make big changes in my own behavior. I have to learn a lot about farming but I also have to learn not to be lazy. I do a lot of stuff on the computer that is just a waste of time. I don't have a plan when I sit down on the computer and hours fly by. I am going to have to start with the time I have and learn to make better use of it. I can type blog posts in an hour or less a day. I can probably accomplish what I would like on the computer each day with an hour to two. I don't need to check my email every two hours or less and I really don't need to check facebook 50 times a day either. I do need to practice my farming skills in my small garden and work the landscaping in my yard to get used to outdoor work. I need to find someone willing to train me on the basics of caring for farm animals and maybe give me useful tips on all things related to farming. I need to get off my bottom and work hard to make this dream come true.

So after I finish my coffee today I am going to go outside and work if it is not raining and then I am going to come inside and clean up the mess we keep bringing in from the outside. I do believe the first step is getting my body used to manual labor again and planning my day so that I can get the most done. I am thinking that working all day will have an added benefit of weight loss too so it is all good, my days at work will be like days off since I sit a lot at my job.

By the way I am typing this on Sunday and scheduling it to post on Monday so I can make the most of my day off and stay away from the computer as much as possible.

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