Ideas to Consider When Deciding to Live off the Land
Dear Pearl,
I have big 5 bedroom,2 bath home, I wish to sell so I can go to doing what I love - being more self sufficient, and independent!
Sharon
............................
Sharon ~
Wonderful! It's such a nice feeling - when you finally start moving towards your goals & see them come to life!
Not knowing what your new goals are, I want to give you a few suggestions that have really helped me in taking new steps in life.
I would suggest that you sit down with a piece of pager & start writing down all of the things that you feel are most important about this next step of your life. Now, go over the list & ask yourself these questions:
- Why are these things a priority to me?
- Is this something that I REALLY want to do, or do I like the thought of doing it more than the reality of it?
Lets say - you want to raise cows so you can make your own butter. Are you ready to dedicate you daily life to getting up very early each morning & milking the cows? What if you want to travel? How are you going to handle the clean up & care - even through the coldest winter? Would it be wiser to just buy your own butter for a few dollars? Could you purchase milk/cream from a local farmer & use that to make your butter?
Lets say, you want to be like Martha Stewart (remember these are simply examples *Big Smile) & raise your own chickens. You think it would be wonderful to raise your own meat. Are you prepared to feed - clean - and care for a bunch of chickens each day? Are you ready to do what you have to do to keep away all of the creatures who want to share the rewards of your new henhouse - including rats? Do you have it in yourself to prepare a chicken for dinner?
Lets say, you want to grow acres of wheat so you can bake your own homemade breads. Do you have enough land to support the crop? Is the land prepared? If not, will you be able to prepare it for planting? Do you have access to large farm equipment? If not, will the expense of the equipment balance out what you would spend on bread each week? Could you buy your wheat berries from a local co-op? Could you buy your berries from a local farmer? Could you buy homemade bread from an organic baker?
I know when I first started thinking about "living off of our own little piece of land", I had a long list of things I wanted to do. But the more I thought it over, and the more I researched everything out, the more items I crossed off of my list ;) We can't wait to get started building our new home & getting our gardens set in! My list has turned into mostly - a greenhouse for food & flowers - garden food - bigger flower gardens - a few chickens - lots of entertaining - and thoroughly enjoying of our property :)
These are all simply examples - and if you can honestly answer these questions & still want to pursue avenues like these - by all means - go for it! The reason I ask is, many times people get so excited about the whole "thought" of living off the land, but they haven't counted the cost beforehand & then become so disappointed with themselves if something doesn't work out the way they had planned. But... when you are prepared (well, as prepared as you can be - never having done these types of things before), you will have a better understanding of what is to come. And... there is no shame in trying something, only to have it not work out. Just do your best to look into all that a new task will require of you.
Sharon - I am so excited for you! Congratulations!
I have big 5 bedroom,2 bath home, I wish to sell so I can go to doing what I love - being more self sufficient, and independent!
Sharon
............................
Sharon ~
Wonderful! It's such a nice feeling - when you finally start moving towards your goals & see them come to life!
Not knowing what your new goals are, I want to give you a few suggestions that have really helped me in taking new steps in life.
I would suggest that you sit down with a piece of pager & start writing down all of the things that you feel are most important about this next step of your life. Now, go over the list & ask yourself these questions:
- Why are these things a priority to me?
- Is this something that I REALLY want to do, or do I like the thought of doing it more than the reality of it?
Lets say - you want to raise cows so you can make your own butter. Are you ready to dedicate you daily life to getting up very early each morning & milking the cows? What if you want to travel? How are you going to handle the clean up & care - even through the coldest winter? Would it be wiser to just buy your own butter for a few dollars? Could you purchase milk/cream from a local farmer & use that to make your butter?
Lets say, you want to be like Martha Stewart (remember these are simply examples *Big Smile) & raise your own chickens. You think it would be wonderful to raise your own meat. Are you prepared to feed - clean - and care for a bunch of chickens each day? Are you ready to do what you have to do to keep away all of the creatures who want to share the rewards of your new henhouse - including rats? Do you have it in yourself to prepare a chicken for dinner?
Lets say, you want to grow acres of wheat so you can bake your own homemade breads. Do you have enough land to support the crop? Is the land prepared? If not, will you be able to prepare it for planting? Do you have access to large farm equipment? If not, will the expense of the equipment balance out what you would spend on bread each week? Could you buy your wheat berries from a local co-op? Could you buy your berries from a local farmer? Could you buy homemade bread from an organic baker?
I know when I first started thinking about "living off of our own little piece of land", I had a long list of things I wanted to do. But the more I thought it over, and the more I researched everything out, the more items I crossed off of my list ;) We can't wait to get started building our new home & getting our gardens set in! My list has turned into mostly - a greenhouse for food & flowers - garden food - bigger flower gardens - a few chickens - lots of entertaining - and thoroughly enjoying of our property :)
These are all simply examples - and if you can honestly answer these questions & still want to pursue avenues like these - by all means - go for it! The reason I ask is, many times people get so excited about the whole "thought" of living off the land, but they haven't counted the cost beforehand & then become so disappointed with themselves if something doesn't work out the way they had planned. But... when you are prepared (well, as prepared as you can be - never having done these types of things before), you will have a better understanding of what is to come. And... there is no shame in trying something, only to have it not work out. Just do your best to look into all that a new task will require of you.
Sharon - I am so excited for you! Congratulations!
posted by Pearl | 8:42 AM
1 Comments:
Dear Sharon
Very good you want to be independant ,go for it . But start slowly one thing at a time.Otherwise you be discouraged.if you make mistake start again and learn from it.Start small and expand slowly as you learn.like this you want be overwelmed. good homestheading.
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