Moving to the Farm

farmer2009 · Feb 8, 2014

When plowing roads I pull my blade on a steep angle. Moves snow fast. If plowing out a parking lot I find loader bucket to be faster than blade. Especially if you have to get on and off tractor to change directions or dead head back to move snow all one way.

Tororider · Feb 11, 2014

http://homesteaddad.com/2014/02/11/the-illusion-of-self-sufficiency/

Larro Darro · Feb 11, 2014

Well said. You are wanting to be self sufficient for all the right reasons. To be able to spend more time with your kids as they are growing up. To know what's in the food you eat. Etc......

I am coming at this from the other direction though. I was raised on a farm where if you wanted chicken for supper, you had to wring it's neck. We raised chickens, goats, sheep, hogs and cows for meat, eggs and milk. I'm glad I had the experience, but it is nice going to the grocery store to buy a dozen eggs too. If I had the money to farm again, I might do it. But food, clothing and shelter is so cheap to buy these days, that making your own would take up all of your time. And in the end, time is the one thing that you have a finite amount of. It's up to you to decide what you want to spend it on.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts in your blog.

Larro

ultrarunner · Feb 12, 2014

Larro...

I remember visiting Mom's Godparents as a child... they were also dairy farmers... her godmother asked us kids if we liked chicken for dinner and my brother who was 6 said it was his favorite.

The next day there were fewer chickens out in the yard!

Farm living...

My nieces age 5, 7 and 9 were visiting my cousin for the afternoon... they said we were always welcome but wanted the city kids to know they were slaughtering a pig that morning and my other brother said his girls didn't need to be around that.

Anyway, they ended up going over and their little second cousins were so excited because their parents told them they eat as much sausage as they wanted for dinner... turned out we spent most of the afternoon making sausage and kids simply could not get enough... so much for city girl stereotypes!

Larro Darro · Feb 12, 2014

ultrarunner said:
Larro...

I remember visiting Mom's Godparents as a child... they were also dairy farmers... her godmother asked us kids if we liked chicken for dinner and my brother who was 6 said it was his favorite.

The next day there were fewer chickens out in the yard!

Farm living...

My nieces age 5, 7 and 9 were visiting my cousin for the afternoon... they said we were always welcome but wanted the city kids to know they were slaughtering a pig that morning and my other brother said his girls didn't need to be around that.

Anyway, they ended up going over and their little second cousins were so excited because their parents told them they eat as much sausage as they wanted for dinner... turned out we spent most of the afternoon making sausage and kids simply could not get enough... so much for city girl stereotypes!

Kids are pretty open to anything, as long as they are not told it will be bad before hand. My niece lives in Denver, but her kids stay here in N Florida some during the summer. Sister has sold most of her livestock now, but she had cows, goats, donkeys, peacocks, chickens and turkeys. Right after the kids went back to Colorado they were in the grocery store and they saw a big stack of coffee. The little girl said, "look Mamma, it's goat feed." She was so used to feeding the goats out of the plastic coffee containers she thought that is what the feed came in. But she is 7 now, and says she wants to live in New York City when she grows up. Maybe her little brother will want to live on the Larro Ranchero. {his daddy is from out your way,[near Seattle] and they have family land too. If he keeps both places he will be well traveled}

Larro

ultrarunner · Feb 13, 2014

Cute story about the goat feed... gave me a chuckle.

Your right, at least in my experience. Many times kids will have a notion simply because they have been told something.

I brought some dark bread to a picnic and the same brother said his kids won't eat it... well, they were with some other kids who said they only eat dark bread because white bread isn't healthy so all the kids ate dark bread and now my brother's kid who would only eat white bread are always asking for healthy dark bread!

Tororider · Feb 14, 2014

Kids are cool like that, very open if you don't give them an idea before hand. I try to make sure that whenever they are trying something new we talk it up a bit. And I make sure to eat it, even if it is something I don't have a taste for.

They have finally dropped off some equipment and started digging our septic field. Hopefully they get the tanks set and trench dug today.