someone starting out

[Farmfresh]

You and I are in the same boat! My boyfriend and I both have jobs in downtown Seattle, but he'll be going to grad school out in the county Fall 2011. I am sooo anxious to get out of the city. So this weekend I decided that, for my own sanity, I'm going to start LIVING as if I were in the county, even if my physical self is still in the city. And today, I went out and bought canning equipment. I already feel a little calmer.

Have you tried keeping chickens? We have 4 and they are SO MUCH FUN!

Man have you hit the nail on the head austradork!

I have a little thought that I live by. "Stop Dreaming About the Good Life and Start Living IT!"

I was a stuck in a HUD 4-plex apartment building when we first got married 28 (I am now fainting) years ago. I had lived on acreage with horses and other animals most of my life. I was SO DEPRESSED. I loved hubby, but we were young and poor and he (at that time) wanted to be a big city boy so no farm for us. Then life happened. Kids happened. We bought a "starter" home to renovate and roll and guess what ... here we still ARE! We will hopefully buy some land in a few years and build a retirement home, but so far still in the city.

Just imagine what my life would have been like if I just sat on my tookcus and waited to have that "dream farm".

Instead I started Homesteading! Yes even back in the days of the HUD housing! I found out that we were allowed to grow plants (I think they had flowers in mind) on the four foot strip that was next to our unit. It was subsoil, clay and rock. Later ... after I hauled in a TRUCK LOAD of horse manure ... it grew marvelous tomatoes.

I have always worked out what I could possibly do and then wrangled a way to get it done. So glad I did. I am pretty darned SS for living in a big city and having a backyard that is 40 feet wide!

 

[mamagoose]

Well I do have herbs in the flower bed out front (even though the darn maintenance guys came through and weed whacked a lot of them yesterday) I have sage ,calendula, thyme, basil, parsley, chives and dill. I have a patio that is 10'x 12' and I have a couple tomatoes and some lettuces ,a grill and two chairs and I can't fit no more!! I am going to get a dehydrator this Friday to start on that. I constantly read and take notes on the things I'm interested in (you would think someone was testing me).

If things go just as planed we want about 10 to 30 acres. Build a house that uses passive solar and geothermal energy, solar panels, and wood burning furnace.

As far as farm projects, I'd like to have goats for milking and mowing (under 10). Chickens for eggs and meat (under 25). 3 or 4 bee hives. A small orchard with about half apples, and some plums, cherries, pear, peach. I have to have some blackberries and blue berries , my favorite.

Of course there will be a large veggie garden. Also a herb garden with kitchen and medicinal herbs ( this is where I have the most experience). Maybe a small greenhouse.

I would like to have a horse or two but I feel like they are an animal that takes a lifetime of experience to be competent with using for farm chores.
Trust me I don't just sit around dreaming about it I actively look for property even if it isn't 10 acres. It would work for the "right now" if it was 1 acre.I have my ideal but do keep my options open.

My sister and brother-in-law have very similar wants. We have talked for years about having land very near each other and our dad.So that's all my hopes and dreams, 3 kids, a crazy farm, with crazy family near by.

 

[patandchickens]

Don't get stuck on the "girlie" "women's work" type skills -- as Jaxom says, learn to do basic carpentry, wiring, plumbing, small engine repair, that kind of thing. An awful lot of that can be "learning by doing". One excellent thing about living in an apartment in town is that you have MUCH more raw material for those kinds of activities than if you are living way out in the boonies. There are always people getting rid of scrap lumber cutoffs, nonworking lawnmowers, dysfunctional lamps and fans, etc etc.

Believe me, those skills will all come in VERY handy, and can save you a lot of money too.

GOod luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[mamagoose]

Well I think it's the "girly" things I do need to learn. I already know how to do basic stuff with my car like oil, brake pads, spark plugs. My dad was a car guy and I was always with him. I changed the brakes on the semi truck pretty regularly, he taught me how to weld when I was 13 just because I said I wanted to know. He taught me how to cut down trees with a chain saw , how to run the tractor, how to do electrical wiring , how to build a barn. I think my dad got me a pretty good start on the manly stuff.

Ask me how to make bread though and I'll give you a blank look.