Why Wilderness???......Why NOT a FARM???

[Sourdough]

Why do people not want to move to a Farm....??? A small semi-self sufficient Farm....????

We have had hundreds of members who crave moving to the total wilderness, build a dirt and stick hovel. I don't recall anyone craving a small rural farm on the edge of the wilderness.

I find that interesting. Yes, there are several members who when they became members were and are living on rural farm/ranch properties.

Maybe people envision life in the center of the wilderness as Eden/Paradise, with no work, free/easy food everywhere. And they see a farm as dare I say the awful four letter word.........Work.

[NightShade]

I grew up on a small farm.... I think the ultimate in survivability is a small farm where you have vegetable/fruit gardens, and raise some livestock... supplement it with hunting and foraging skills and you could easily survive indefintetly... course, I could be biased, cuz like I said, that's how I grew up!!

[2dumb2kwit]

Why do people not want to move to a Farm....??? A small semi-self sufficient Farm....????


That's what I hope to have......someday.

[tacmedic]

Hope, that is what I am working toward right now. I currently live in town and I have as big a garden as I can, and I am even raising chickens in my backyard. As soon as we can find the parcel of land that we are looking for we will be moving back to the country to raise as much for ourselves as we can.

I think you are right when you say that a farm sounds like work, and living in the wilderness doesn't really sound like as much work. When in reality they are both a lot of work. But for me you can't beat that sense of satisfaction that comes from eating food that you had a hand in raising, or using a tool or item that you built.

[ClayPick]

The Age or Romanticism? I suspect many writers practiced their craft well and it worked.

[oly]

Farmers are having a hard time keeping up with the bills.
Some of the farmers I know work 40hrs a week and the rest of there time is working the farm.

[pocomoonskyeyes]

I have to agree with what the others have said,That is what Dottie and I are looking for. Some place we can raise our horses,kids and food. I have no illusion as to the amount of work involved,having helped on farms before.
I also have no illusion to the amount of work involved in Wilderness living, the only exception being that you don't have to feed and water the critters, but you spend more time looking for them,same with the veggies. Even with all the "work" involved the farm is still the easier one of the two. At least that is my opinion.

[SARKY]

I lived in the city during the school year and on a fram during the summers, When I was stationed in Maine, i had 3.5 acres, 14 miles from the nearest town. My house was originall built in 1768. Up until the refurbushed it in the 1970's, it didn't have a nail in it, all wooden pegs. I had a couple of fruit trees, a veggie garden, 2 horses and a yearly beef critter (I would butcher at 18 months)....life was good (except for shoveling snow in the winter)

[Winnie]

Well I've lived a semi self sufficient lifestyle in the past, I was 20 yrs younger fitter and had a partner to help. I would love to live that life again under the right circumstances, but it's a difficult life on your own.
Wilderness living is not really my thing, but I'm prepared if necessary. Homesteading in a quiet, rural location is a longheld ambition of mine.
I do however live as close to those philosophies as I can in my present situation.

[hunter63]

Most farmers I know work their butts off just to stay on/keep their land, and I applaud any one that has spent their lives doing it.
Guy bought the palace east of us, and jokes that he went for 9 to 5,(city) to 5 to 9 on his farmette.

Our goal, DW and I, has always been a self sufficient, small place in the country.
Unless you really want to live subsistently, that is just not a comfortable way to live, all the time.(Older now).
We have worked for that goal since I can remember, and have "The Place" our cabin on a south facing side of a valley.

It's on 16 acres, south border is a good sized river.
It has 10.6 tillable acres that are cropped by the neighbors at this time, which qualifies it for a USDA farm number (taxes reasons).
And it's paid for.
This gives us an opportunity to be as "wilderness like" as we want to be, try out different crops, animals, skills, etc. and still enjoy some civilized down time.

I agree about the romantic versions of wilderness living, but even most of the stories consist of a temporary situation, looking back on it.
As a long time reader of The Mother Earth News (I have the entire collection, from issue #1 to date), I was always interested in the article about "Them that's doin'".
Then a couple of years later reading about "the rest of the story".

Long time hobby has been Rendezvous, Mountain man re-enactment.
A major part of the fun was the crafting gear, shooting, living in various
shelters ,or "Lodges" and generally tying out "old timey skills and arts".

So that being said, seems like our whole life has been "prepping", working hard, covering our back side, for just about any scenario (didn't know it was called SHTF, till a couple of years ago).
We may not want to live in the wilderness all the time, but could if we had to.

[Lorna]

My dream is to have a homestead and be self sufficent. It's something I've wanted all my life. Yes, it will be alot of work but anything worth while in life is. I agree with Winnie it would be alot easier with a partner, but it can be done on one's own.

[Rick]

Hope, I suspect when people say the "wilderness" a farm is really what they are talking about. I think everyone wants some acreage where they can grow what they want and the ability to be alone and not have a next door neighbor on a zero lot line.

[pocomoonskyeyes]

Hope, I suspect when people say the "wilderness" a farm is really what they are talking about. I think everyone wants some acreage where they can grow what they want and the ability to be alone and not have a next door neighbor on a zero lot line.

What I would really like is at lest 20 acres half in farm,half in woods so I can hunt or camp without leaving "home". I would like for my neighbors to be kinda' the same.

[wildWoman]

Great point yet again, Hope.
I have to say that where I lived before we moved out into the bush was in many ways similar to here: wildlife right by the cabin, only it was a caribou wintering area instead of moose and I had more wolves there. I was able to live with less machinery and "luxury" items because I could drive to town on the road just about any time I wanted to to use the phone or internet - so it was actually cheaper. Making money is so much easier when there's road access because you can actually go to work somewhere if you want or have to. It's a lot less risky healthwise for yourself and your pets because even if the weather is bad or it's dark, you can get help in or go out yourself.

One way to turn a country homestead into a wilderness-like situation is to simply get a place with a driveway a mile long and let it get grown over and don't plow it. Surprisingly effective to give you that cut-off feeling.

[wildWoman]

I agree about the romantic versions of wilderness living, but even most of the stories consist of a temporary situation, looking back on it.
As a long time reader of The Mother Earth News (I have the entire collection, from issue #1 to date), I was always interested in the article about "Them that's doin'".
Then a couple of years later reading about "the rest of the story".

That's what I always find really annoying about modern-day books or articles on wilderness living: most of the time, it's a tale of a one-year stint or maybe 5 or 10 years, and then people move back into "civilization". Especially the "one year in the wilderness" tales I can't stand; usually written with a lot of hoopla about building a cabin, bumping into a bear and how cold it got in the winter. *yawn* That totally lacks any insight at all into what living in the bush in isolation actually does with you in the long term and doesn't touch on how your relationship with nature and people changes. Because it does change. But one year is probably not enough to scratch more than the very surface.

We have a collection of memoirs by old homeeaders and bush people and I really like those. Makes you feel very humble, what with all the chainsaws, skidoos, motor boats, planes, choppers, satellite communication etc etc at a person's disposal today. Back then, you made a bad mistake, you just died.

[COWBOYSURVIVAL]

I dream of a farm...Right now we have close to 8 acres and with a 50 hr, work week I am doing all I can with the land. It is our first year and were just getting started but I hope to make this place work for us some instead of me working for it. I have a little corner of woods too. One day we want a bigger place but for now this works. There is as much romance in starting a small farm as there is escaping to the wilderness, at least for me!

[Pal334]

Personally , I don't think I would do so well way out yonder. The small farm scenario is what we have in the plans. 20 acres would suffice for our purposes. No illusions about the work, I grew up on a farm in upstate NY. Just looking to grow some food and have a beefie or two. Hopefully will have a decent woodlot for hunting.

[SARKY]

Lorna,

You might try creating a commune style homestead. just a thought.

[Jayden Tor]

Instead of wilderness living for us, its more urban sustainable living. About 20 minutes outside of town we're finding a lot of land for sale, some with housing, some without. We've been working towards this for two years, getting this loan handled, getting this credit card paid off, getting the credit in general cleaned up. I'm finding that its more work to do all of this than it is to actually get up and go feed the cows and the stress is far more. At least I can actually see something happening with the birds and the cows and whatnot. Everything right now is just a number in machine and it doesn't really mean anything to me other than, "Look, I'm work all those numbers."

Wish us luck, we found 54 acres of non-mountainous land and we're going for it.

[wareagle69]

Farmers are having a hard time keeping up with the bills.
Some of the farmers I know work 40hrs a week and the rest of there time is working the farm.
before i got laid of i worked 40 hours a week plus 10 hours of driving then had to work the homestead it truely sucks sometimes
[QUOTE=hope;152820]Why do people not want to move to a Farm....??? A small semi-self sufficient Farm....????

We have had hundreds of members who crave moving to the total wilderness, build a dirt and stick hovel. I don't recall anyone craving a small rural farm on the edge of the wilderness.


actaully some may recall over two years ago when i joined i was living in the city and had just purchased this place 80 acres of my own to study on and learn on, a farm on the edge of wilderness although it is really 6 acres of pasture and the rest bush surounded by bush, and most of the farms around the same

[canid]

i love growing my own food with the same passion i feel for making my own things, and the constant learning process helps keep me as busy as the work.

it hasn't taken me much work at a time this last year and a half to build a productive garden, and almost every cent of it, plus my tobacco for the last year have been paid for by recycling the beverage containers from my clean-up of nearby roads.

i love it, and while i'd like to get out into the wilds more often, and/or live closer to them, i'm addicted to both cliches; the self sufficient homestead and the wilderness eden.

[WildHog]

My dream is to have a homestead and be self sufficent. It's something I've wanted all my life. Yes, it will be alot of work but anything worth while in life is. I agree with Winnie it would be alot easier with a partner, but it can be done on one's own.

I have seen a lot of people realize the misconception of being self sufficient. After 15 years of farming and being 85% self reliant I can tell you if you don't like to work outside from sun up to sun down just to survive reconsider another lifestyle. Maintaining 1000+ acres is not a career its a lifestyle IMHO

[canid]

i work on a much smaller scale, and so i have to have other endeavors aswell. it's a lot easier to grow the majority of your own food than to pay all your bills with it.

[WildHog]

I can definitely respect that.

[Winnie]

Doh!(slaps forehead) I think I've got it! Reading the posts on here, has made me realise it's not so much a self sufficient lifestyle as self reliant. Realisticaly speaking it's nigh impossible to be self sufficient in everything, I know, I've tried. But you can be more self reliant I've given myself a headache now from thinking too much

[WildHog]

Exactly. When the SHTF you will be less reliant on others, but that only happens with hard work and good planning.:clap:

[LowKey]

During the 70's there was the whole "Get back to Nature" thing going on. My parents bought into it as much as they could. We'd buy-in halfsies with a neighbor on a cow and a pig at the local abattoir every year. That would go in the freezer. We only had 1/3 of an acre of land but you'd be surprised what you can get out of a relatively small but well managed plot of garden. Mom did a lot of canning and freezing. We also did the Pick-Your-Own stuff (apples, raspberries, peaches, pears) back when they didn't charge extra for the 'novelty' of it.
At the time it wasn't so much being self-sufficient as it was to save money.

After years of being away from it, I've gotten back to being a little more practical, a little more living with the land (not off of it). I'm living on just under an acre now and slowly getting the garden up to speed. I'd love a place that was maybe two or three acres of good land in a zone 5/6 on a southern exposure. Looking but if I have to stay here, that's ok too.

You don't need to have the acres and acres of land to live the lifestyle if you can find the right resources. Farming is a lot of work. Living closer to the land is also a lot of work. It seems that here in this forum there are a lot of people who would like to be off on their own, others who like other people around, just not so close, People who need lots of open space, and a few who either make do with what they have or just don't need the isolation.

I like coming here for this peculiar blend of the survivalists and the pragmatists.

Question, how does one pay their taxes on the land they own if they are living subsistently?

[Rick]

I don't know of any person in history that was self sufficient. Whether it was a clan, a tribe or a community, they all relied on each other to perform some piece of the overall work. Today's cities are no different just on a much larger scale.

If you needed flour in the 1800s you saw the miller. If you needed shoes for your horse or nails, you saw the blacksmith. And on and on. We can all be self reliant. I'm not sure anyone can ever be self sufficient and produce 100% of what they and their family need.

[canid]

ishi made it a good while, but it drove him ultimately to enter American society against his worst fears.

[canid]

shoes for your horse or nails

come on sir, who puts shoes their nails?

[Rick]

Oops, my bad. That should have been snails.

[Ole WV Coot]

Why Not??? Because it's hard work, 24/7 and trying to make a profit is a big gamble. Most folks are spoiled by the 9 to 5 bit. At the present time it's a lot easier to work at Mickey D's and buy food than work the land, not to mention flipping burgers usually pays more.

[pocomoonskyeyes]

come on sir, who puts shoes their nails?

No Rick had it right the first time in the old days Blacksmiths made NAILS. you didn't get them from the hardware store until fairly recently like maybe 100 years ago.
Now canid if you were just picking on Rick then I'm sorry for interfering and please continue.

[Rick]

He was just picking on me.......again!!

[crashdive123]

Seems to be the popular pastime of some folks.

[doug1980]

I am guilty of this myself. I grew up on farms worked at several turkey and hog farms and helped out with planting and all that. It was HARD work but was very rewarding. I fanticise about having a huge farm and being a typical farmer, but I also dream about living off the grid and living off the land. Neither will happen of course and deep down I know I would never be happy doing it. Sadly my reality will probably fall into living in some suburb with a 1/4 acre lot in a decent 2,000 sq ft home. Now that is nothing to be ashamed of or to not be happy with but it's not exactly what I want. What I really want is about 20 acres of mixed timber/open field. Would like a nice pond to swin and fish in. A barn and a few out buildings, an old farm house that I can remodel, a couple horses and the wife wants ducks. To me that would be heaven.

[Sourdough]

Doug, tried to whip some reputation GREEN thing on you for that post, however it say's I got'ta spread the reputation points. Nice honest post.