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

[miss_thenorth]

I'm so happy someone at BYC pointed me at this site. I don't currently live near my family, and many of my friends went to college in other areas of the country. So I don't have many people to think I'm nuts. Except my co-workers! I talk about how much I want to get chickens like every day!! They'll kind sigh and be all "you and your chickens again...." they don't understand or believe that back yard chickens lay better eggs. And don't even get me started on how much I want to learn to spin and weave, and make bread from scratch. (I fail when yeast is involved)

Thanks to this site I have even more weirdness on the way! I'm planting strawberries ($5.99 per pound? I don't think so!), and thinking of other veggies that will grow well in pots. Mint, and other herbs.

Oh, I have an indoor cat. I don't want him to be hit by a car or mauled by dogs. When we I lived at home we had outdoor cats, and a dog to keep away the predators. Anyway, I got fed up with how much litter cost, and have almost finished training my cat to use the human toilet. He seems to be okay with it. Haven't bought litter in 10 months.

Can't wait to try all the awesome things I've read here. Homemade laundry detergent! Canning once I grow veggies! I'm moving, but don't know when (house is for sale) but I really want to rent a house on acreage. Maybe with a house like the one I grew up in. It was a log cabin with a wood burning stove. It was less then 900 square feet. My mom and dad built it themselves. I never thought I'd miss it, but I do. Almost non-existent energy bill. If the power went out, so what? Candles and the stove are all we needed. Chickens. A garden. It just too small for three adults, though. Someday maybe I'll build my own... The people at work REALLY are confused at this point.

Welcome Kindred Spirit!!!!!! (nice post!)

 

[Homesteadmom]

Good for you! I hope you have a wonderful CSA experience. It really answers so many problems: Food safety, food miles, nutrition, freshness, blah, blah.

I was at an organic farming conference in Feb where one of the presenters was a CSA grower (MN, midwinter, solar greenhouse only) and was thrilled to have finally an audience where she didn't have to explain what CSA stood for

I love it when people like you are willing to take the time to explain. It seems to be instinct for people to laugh at or not pay attention to things they don't understand. But, when someone takes the time to explain it, it's amazing how many of them think it's a really neat idea!

My local librarians are some of my best customers. They just look at the titles of my latest books and ask if that's what I'm doing now (beekeeping, egg chickens, meat chickens, organic veggie gardening). So, now I have all of them on a weekly egg delivery schedule, 2 of them buying meat chickens, one of them getting veggies in summer, and another hoping for honey next year.

And, yeah, who cares if you only get 1 cup of syrup? We only get a few quarts from our trees, but it really is great for kids to understand their food. We took pictures last year of the whole process, then typed up captions and made a 3-ring binder story of maple syrup, brought it into their kindergarten and 2nd grade classes. My kids presented the story, and I served mini homemade pancakes with maple syrup. The kids loved it! My daughter's little friend has been requesting more maple syrup Another child more connected to his food.

Have you considered entering this in your local county fair?

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Go hug your duck!

Well, I would, but they get a little edgy about close personal contact. :/

The best friendships I have are friends I met in college and an older couple that used to be our neighbors. I find it really hard to break away from everything to visit friends or even to have them over. I still appreciate them and have some things in common with them, but what can I say? They are entrenched in their city lives and I am entrenched in my "backwoods" life. I don't enjoy visiting the city anymore. It is like pulling teeth to get me to go "out on the town." City life always depressed me when I lived in Seattle. There is little there for me. I need to be surrounded by living things . . . the more the merrier.

Friendships require a certain amount of regular attention. When you are raising a garden and livestock, you often have very little energy left over for your friendships . . . especially if you are also working a job. At least this is true for me. If your friends lived down the street, it would be easier to stay in touch. But when you add together the fact that they don't live close, and they don't live in the same environment, then it takes a lot of energy to maintain that friendship. Some friends are worth the extra effort and some may not be.

You know, it is soooo much easier to not have to get dressed up, but to just log on to this forum and interact with like minds.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

When my son told people at church last Sunday that we'd tapped our maple tree they LAUGHED at me.

. . . I did, however, have one woman ask me for the number of the farm and I believe she called and snapped up the last share available! I guess that's why I put on a brave face and talk about what's important to me. Everynow and then a lightbulb goes off for somebody and they make a change.

I forget where I read it the other day, but I found a quote that said that you know something is true if when people first hear about it they laugh! HA! It is always the people who dare to think for themselves and follow their convictions that get mocked . . . until no one can argue that they were right all along!

Even IF the mainstream never gets it, so what? You know exactly how great it feels to be able to make your own maple syrup. Self-empowerment is an awesome feeling, one that they may never know.

 

[Homesteadmom]

Go hug your duck!

Well, I would, but they get a little edgy about close personal contact. :/

The best friendships I have are friends I met in college and an older couple that used to be our neighbors. I find it really hard to break away from everything to visit friends or even to have them over. I still appreciate them and have some things in common with them, but what can I say? They are entrenched in their city lives and I am entrenched in my "backwoods" life. I don't enjoy visiting the city anymore. It is like pulling teeth to get me to go "out on the town." City life always depressed me when I lived in Seattle. There is little there for me. I need to be surrounded by living things . . . the more the merrier.

Friendships require a certain amount of regular attention. When you are raising a garden and livestock, you often have very little energy left over for your friendships . . . especially if you are also working a job. At least this is true for me. If your friends lived down the street, it would be easier to stay in touch. But when you add together the fact that they don't live close, and they don't live in the same environment, then it takes a lot of energy to maintain that friendship. Some friends are worth the extra effort and some may not be.

You know, it is soooo much easier to not have to get dressed up, but to just log on to this forum and interact with like minds.

Ds's duck loves to lay his head in the crook of your arm!
I know what you mean about leaving the property it is hard to do when everything is growing & needing tending to along with the animals & then I add homeschooling to my plate too & people wonder why I never go anywhere. I know some people who are on the go constantly & I could not live that life. I do enjoy interactions with others but it is hard to do a lot of it(I don't want a lot anyway). I have a moms group from church we meet once a month at a park(will be too hot for that soon) & a frugal momma's group we meet once a month to share ideas for helping stretch our $$'s & PE class for ds each Fri afternoon for an hr. So I get to socialize, not to mention church on sun. But it is really hard to maintain friendships with people who do not share your lifestyles & they have no clue or desire to have a clue about it & make fun of you for it.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I talk to my DH and mom about what you all say like I talked to you on the phone this morning or we went out and had coffee together!!

I always tell my husband what has been going on on the SS forum.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Ds's duck loves to lay his head in the crook of your arm!
I know what you mean about leaving the property it is hard to do when everything is growing & needing tending to along with the animals & then I add homeschooling to my plate too & people wonder why I never go anywhere.

Cute! I never tried to socialize my ducks much. I like for them to not necessarily trust humans but there is always that part of me that would love to have a lap duck. Sigh.

Homeschooling would qualify as more than a job. Maybe two jobs. You get out a lot for having two jobs! What could be more important than spending all that time with your own children?!

 

[Homesteadmom]

Ds's duck loves to lay his head in the crook of your arm!
I know what you mean about leaving the property it is hard to do when everything is growing & needing tending to along with the animals & then I add homeschooling to my plate too & people wonder why I never go anywhere.

Cute! I never tried to socialize my ducks much. I like for them to not necessarily trust humans but there is always that part of me that would love to have a lap duck. Sigh.

Homeschooling would qualify as more than a job. Maybe two jobs. You get out a lot for having two jobs! What could be more important than spending all that time with your own children?!

Absolutely nothing!! Although I do enjoy adult conversation from time to time. Child conversations & animal conversation can get a little boring sometimes.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Absolutely nothing!! Although I do enjoy adult conversation from time to time. Child conversations & animal conversation can get a little boring sometimes.

I guess that's another plus of this forum . . . the conversation is written down so if you get distracted by kids and animals, you can just pick back up where you left off!

 

[me&thegals]

Good for you! I hope you have a wonderful CSA experience. It really answers so many problems: Food safety, food miles, nutrition, freshness, blah, blah.

I was at an organic farming conference in Feb where one of the presenters was a CSA grower (MN, midwinter, solar greenhouse only) and was thrilled to have finally an audience where she didn't have to explain what CSA stood for

I love it when people like you are willing to take the time to explain. It seems to be instinct for people to laugh at or not pay attention to things they don't understand. But, when someone takes the time to explain it, it's amazing how many of them think it's a really neat idea!

My local librarians are some of my best customers. They just look at the titles of my latest books and ask if that's what I'm doing now (beekeeping, egg chickens, meat chickens, organic veggie gardening). So, now I have all of them on a weekly egg delivery schedule, 2 of them buying meat chickens, one of them getting veggies in summer, and another hoping for honey next year.

And, yeah, who cares if you only get 1 cup of syrup? We only get a few quarts from our trees, but it really is great for kids to understand their food. We took pictures last year of the whole process, then typed up captions and made a 3-ring binder story of maple syrup, brought it into their kindergarten and 2nd grade classes. My kids presented the story, and I served mini homemade pancakes with maple syrup. The kids loved it! My daughter's little friend has been requesting more maple syrup Another child more connected to his food.

Have you considered entering this in your local county fair?

I hadn't, but it might be fun for the kids We ARE talking some pretty low-quality syrup here. I just keep telling myself all that sediment on the bottom is vitamins and minerals!