Do you have SS friends? Or do your friends think you are weird?

[Homesteadmom]

I was telling dh we need to plant maples on our property up north so we can make our own syrup some day too. He is thinking on that one.
gettinaclue, chickens aren't hard work at all, they are easy to have.

 

[Beekissed]

In a nut shell she told me I would fail and to go ahead and give up the ghost. Said it was to much hard work. I thanked her for her opinion, told her I loved loved her and we haven't spoken of it since.

Gettin, its clear you will have no support from that corner, but its great that your hubby is supportive! I simply cannot bear it when someone tells me I will fail at something before I've even started it.

Especially when that someone has no experience in it themselves....I have a "friend" like that. Just called me the other day and tried to tell me that I couldn't do this or that with this or that and "...well, if you try it, don't come cryin' to me about it when it is a disaster!" As if I've ever "come cryin'" to anyone, including him, in my whole life!

Sometimes I feel that people who are fearful of failure and of "losing face" just hate it when there are those(like me) who fear nothing! The majority of my family suffer from insecurities like this and they dearly hate my everlivingguts because I'm intrepid! They hate it that I have tried, sometimes failed, but get up and try again. At least I've truly lived and I don't huddle in fear of trying new things. I'm not a sheeple!

Every time someone tells me I can't do something, it spurs me on to prove them wrong. Here's hoping your mother has been such an inspiration to you!

 

[breconbcs]

We have very few friends and those that we do are not SS or have a clue what it even means. Mainly cause we prefer not to go out for dinners or go on vacations, replace my vehicle every 2 yrs, etc. I have one friend who believes that my idea of getting on some acreage and raising my own is going to be a flop. But then, she's always been one of those people where what she does is the only way and everyone else is wrong. She truly believes in letting someone else do it but just not anyone she knows.
The in-laws think I'm weird (probably put to mildly) for my natural beliefs and opinions. Funny enough things I have been and dh have been telling the MIL for years she is now hearing from a doctor - but I'm still nuts... I just brush it off, don't spend much time with the in-laws in a family group setting as I don't need all the drama they produce when together negitively impacting me or my family. As I told my husband, my side of the family may be disfunctional (we all admit it on my side lol) but what does that make his.?
My sister is my biggest supporter and thought provoker. She's the one who is really pushing me to listen to that inner voice telling me to get out and raise my own. Hubby has always been on the negative side but we had a bad experience with country living when we first got together and it's put a bad taste in his mouth. But he is slowly coming around, he's realizing that there have been many years since then and I have been learning everything I can so we just don't jump in and fall on our faces like before adn that we are not our friends. Friends of ours did that - neither had farm living experience - and they now have 80 acres of beautiful land they look at cause their first year was a disaster and they refuse to try again or learn. And even to them, though they struggle financially and have the land to use, I am crazy for wanting to be SS.

 

[me&thegals]

I read about your bat houses! We have bats here already. They fly so close to our heads sometimes I feel like ducking! LOL When I was in HS (about 100 years ago) an old house that had been infested had been poisoned and the colony scattered. One got into the house, and lil' ol' me had to make a midnight run to the "facilities" as mom put it. I stepped on something small and soft in the middle of the hall and it squeaked. I thought it was a new dog toy. I turned on the light and screamed for all I was worth!!

I felt so bad for him after I found out he was sick.

I'm so greatful for them now! They really keep the bugs down.

I've been looking into planting some sugar maples since I saw you tapped your trees but think I may be a little to far south and may need to consider a different maple. I'll have to read up more on that. I'm so jealous over your future maple syrup!!!! Hopefully I'll have some one of these days.

The honey help me do list keeps getting longer!!!!

Yikes! I may change my tune if the bats start getting underfoot! I'm so excitd to see if they take up residence. Where else can we find folks to chat happily about bats with?

I don't know anything about maple syrup down south. I had some honey from Kentucky once that was the best stuff I had ever had, though. I think it was called sourwood honey. It was this quart jar stuffed with comb and then filled in with honey. I wish I had bought the store out. So, if maple syrup doesn't work out for you...

 

[me&thegals]

The in-laws think I'm weird (probably put to mildly) for my natural beliefs and opinions. Funny enough things I have been and dh have been telling the MIL for years she is now hearing from a doctor - but I'm still nuts... I just brush it off, don't spend much time with the in-laws in a family group setting as I don't need all the drama they produce when together negitively impacting me or my family. As I told my husband, my side of the family may be disfunctional (we all admit it on my side lol) but what does that make his?

Well, you should get lots of support here! It's amazing people's lack of encouragement sometimes. You wouldn't expect someone to go work on Wall Street with zero experience or training and make it right away. So, it seems perfectly reasonable to have lots of trial and error when learning to live off the land!

I had to laugh at your in-laws comment The way of life my husband and I have come to choose for our family is dramatically different from his family's (and mine, for that matter). Since we live 1/2 mile away from his family, the opportunities for contrast are rather frequent. What's amazing is most of them have health problems and take quite a bit of medication or struggle with obesity or fatigue, but they still think it's funny how we live. I try to bite my tongue and not worry about it. Sometimes, I'm just dying to spout off, though.

 

[Blue Skys]

I enjoyed reading about everyones family and lives. I don't have many friends, and the three or so I do have, I find myself drifting further from. My husband is my best friend and we share common goals and dreams, which are to be more ss. This weekend his mother came to visit from half way across the country, but has not even been to our house (she stayed at my grandparents-in law), nor knows where it is because she thinks it's weird that we live in the country. She even asked my husband "are you a red neck". I couldn't believe it. I think it stemmed from a show she watched about redneck weddings on tv. But I kept my mouth shut and didn't say a word to her. The only family that accepts him for who he is are his grandparents and one of his three sisters. We won't even start on what they think about me.

My family is very supportive of us, but my mom always leaned toward a more simple lifestyle while we were growing up. We always had chickens and we were in the 4-H, so growing our own food is not a new thing to me.

 

[patandchickens]

I ran into a new woman at Early Years (miss_thenorth and morelcabin will know what I mean) who just moved to this area, she's in the "ooo I have a hobby farm and I can get one of this and one of these and one of those" phase <g> but her parents' neighbors apparently breed heritage turkeys over in Rockwood. She is going to find out for *both* of us whether they sell poults and what breed(s), as turkeys are apparently on her menagerie shopping list. Cool! She's the first person I've met in real life who doesn't think that getting turkeys is a dumb idea LOL

Pat

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Pat that's wonderful!!

 

[me&thegals]

Pat--That's awesome! I've been having fun finding more and more people who either do things for themselves or think it's really neat that I do and want to buy my products I think it's a very encouraging trend!

Plus, I hate to sound "I told you so", but I think this economic downturn/crisis/depression is going to help a lot of people see the benefits in being able to take care of and feed one's self and family.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I ran into a new woman at Early Years (miss_thenorth and morelcabin will know what I mean) who just moved to this area, she's in the "ooo I have a hobby farm and I can get one of this and one of these and one of those" phase <g> but her parents' neighbors apparently breed heritage turkeys over in Rockwood. She is going to find out for *both* of us whether they sell poults and what breed(s), as turkeys are apparently on her menagerie shopping list. Cool! She's the first person I've met in real life who doesn't think that getting turkeys is a dumb idea LOL

Pat

That's great! It is exciting when you have someone nearby who "gets it".
I am slowly starting to meet people in my area who "get it" too. One I met at BYC. She's actually incubating some eggs for me right now. She has horses, rabbits, chickens, quail, and a bunch of other animals.

With the exception of my BIL and my nieces, though, my family is very supportive of our lifestyle choice. I even mentioned to my mom that we are going to be a foster family--and she thought that was great. I wasn't sure how she would handle that.