Just a few questions...

[Jamauk]

Hello everyone! I have a few questions for you if you don't mind. I was raised in Suburbia, but have always always always wanted to live on a farm. Even though I was in the suburbs, just about an hour away from us was still farm country and my cousins lived there - each summer I would spend a week with them and I never wanted to come home.

Fast forward about 30 years and here I am - living in a small farm town, although not on a farm. We live on about half an acre. We are considering moving a few towns over (more land, cheaper prices) and buying 40+ acres, building our own log home and getting some animals (starting with chickens and cows, probably)

Its always been my dream, but now that the reality is here it does seem a little daunting....

So, for those of you living this dream right now, my question is: what kind of lifestyle did you come from - have you always lived this way? If not, what kind of adjustment did you have?

Am I nuts for being hesitant? Is this normal? I know farm living comes with its own huge set of responsibilities, but life just seems simpler, a little slower and overall happier - is this the case or am I romanticizing the whole thing?

Any insight would be hugely hugely appreciated and welcomed.
Thank you so much.

[sdrjeolsen]

I grew up on a 200 acre farm in Nebraska and them married and moved to Chicago...talk about shock. It's taken me 21 years, but I am finally back in the country. A little different than where I grew up as we are in the mountains in CO now. So there are some different challenges...mountain lions, bears, bobcats, etc. but I love it. My dh was a dyed-in-the-wool city boy and he says after just 5 months he can never see himself going back to the city.

You will adjust, my best friend was a city girl and moved to the country as was my mom. I took some time and some tears were shed, but they adjusted. Try to think of all the negatives and see if they will bother you....muddy roads, mice/rats, seclusion, no close shopping, etc. And then there are just some things that you can't be prepared for till it happens, but you learn to adjust.....the what ifs. Like what if someone gets hurt and we need urgent medical attention, how soon can the fire dept arrive, etc.

Good luck, your not romanticizing it...It is so worth it.

Feel free to pm me with specific questions if you have any.

[Jamauk]

Thank you so much for your reply - all of the negatives you mentioned I can certainly deal with. Critters creep me out, but I'll learn to live with it.

As for seclusion, the great part is that the area we are looking in isn't really all that secluded....we'd still only be about two hours (a little less) from downtown Seattle, but we're separated by Puget sound, so not much chance of suburban sprawl catching up to us. A big shopping center (Home Depot, WalMart, Safeway, etc....is only about 30 minutes away) but the little town that we'd be part of has all kinds of amazing little shops, a general store, an old military base (barracks now available to rent as vacation spots). In my mind, its truly heaven.....and its only about an hour from where we live now, so I really wouldn't be leaving all of my friends....

[PrairieRose]

If you're going to be moving to a working farm where you'll depend on the income for your living there are a few things to consider.

1. The farm always comes first. First before events, desires, dates, trips, family gatherings, visitors, plans.....it's not easy to get accustomed to when you're a younger person, not sure I could make the adjustment at my age (47) if I had not been brought up that way.

2. The farm is a very jealous mistress.
Everytime you make plans, she changes them. Everytime you think you have everything under control and can relax....she proves you wrong.

I live in a farming community, like you said you do. I was married to a farmer for about the first 17 years or so of our 31 year marriage. It's tough but very rewarding in many, many ways. I think maybe you are romanticizing a *tiny* bit b/c it's easy to think about how much you'd love to have your own patch of land to work and enjoy. But the reality is that it is soooo much work, if you enjoy working then it's not a problem. Don't mean to throw a wet blanket on your bonfire....I understand wanting the dream. Have you considered offering to help out on a farm for a month...every.single.day. no matter what...up with the chickens, doing whatever needs to be done...? That might give you a better idea of whether you're being realistic or not.

[nwmissourigal]

I also grew up on a working farm. I don't know anything else. I have never lived close to a town, so trips to town are less frequent and when you do go, you do everything in one day. I can go a month without going to town. It's a fine art my mother taught me. She showed me how to cook, can, grow a garden and my father taught me how to tend to animals. I wouldn't trade one day on the farm for one day in the city. It is a move you will never regret. It will take some getting use to, but like Prarie Rose said, the farm comes first only next to God. It's hard work, but satisfys the simple part of your soul. It's worth everything you put into it. Don't hesitate, live your dreams and just go for it...Blessings and good luck...Kathy

[frugalfarmwife]

I was raised in a town of 25,000 by parents who were in the "upper crust" and sure didn't want me to farm at all, they had lots of plans for me, lol. Hubby came from a suburb of Cleveland and a super tiny postage stamp of a lot. I also spent 8 years on my own in Columbus and lived a fun fast paced single life.

We've been at farming now for 17 years, not full time though, he works full time off the farm, me part time.

You don't own a farm, it owns you lock, stock and barrel. Roofs leak, rains take out the crops/garden, drought is a bear, bugs can be awful, power goes out more often than in town, long drive ways need lots of fixing and aren't cheap.

Animals have their own schedule on things, trust me, they KNOW when you want to get away for a day.

A few times a year I do have what I call condo days, where I close my eyes and daydream that my best friends and I are staying in a SMALL condo on a warm beach with no responsibilities at all!

You also need a plan for the land, are you going to tend it? Are you going to rent some of it out? What crops grow well in your area? What animals do you want to raise? Do you need to make a profit or just sustain yourselves?

That said, yes, it's a wonderful life I would never trade, but it's a HARD life too, and you AND your body pay for it.

kj

[Squirt]

I see that you mentioned building a log home. Make sure you do tons of research (I did, and it changed my mind!) Log homes cost one and a half times per square foot what normal homes cost to build- if you build a cheap one. Also inspect some logs homes around you. Most of the companies who churn these puppies out... Well, they stink. It seems to me that the only log home worth having is a "real" one- hand scribed using hand-peeled logs 18-22" in diameter. Most log home companies use 8" milled logs. I'm sure that does not provide the thermal mass people swoon over when talking about log homes. The problem is that a nice handmade log home will cost $100k for a 1100sq house- and that's just for the shell. Those nice built up roof systems are also ridiculously expensive. I can't see building a decent, tiny log home for less than $250k. It's sad, really. I think log homes are luxury homes.

Didn't mean to rain on your parade. More sharing my disappointment, I think.

[Jamauk]

I see that you mentioned building a log home. Make sure you do tons of research (I did, and it changed my mind!) Log homes cost one and a half times per square foot what normal homes cost to build- if you build a cheap one. Also inspect some logs homes around you. Most of the companies who churn these puppies out... Well, they stink. It seems to me that the only log home worth having is a "real" one- hand scribed using hand-peeled logs 18-22" in diameter. Most log home companies use 8" milled logs. I'm sure that does not provide the thermal mass people swoon over when talking about log homes. The problem is that a nice handmade log home will cost $100k for a 1100sq house- and that's just for the shell. Those nice built up roof systems are also ridiculously expensive. I can't see building a decent, tiny log home for less than $250k. It's sad, really. I think log homes are luxury homes.

Didn't mean to rain on your parade. More sharing my disappointment, I think.

We've been researching log home for *years*! Yes, kit home are quite expensive and not very well constructed. The reason is because they are built on site, taken apart and hauled to your property and reconstructed. They are expensive because of all of that labor and they are poorly built because they are literally built to be easy to be taken apart.

We had almost given up on our log home dream and then DH stumbled upon the website for the Log Home Builders Association. They provide three day seminars (which we're taking in January) about how to build your own log home for just a fraction of the price. The pictures of the houses that their students have built are breath taking.

Our plan is to build a small one bedroom with a loft guest house (very simple, very small) and live in that while we build the main home. We've priced it out and the guest house should come in right around $30K and our main home (about 2500 sq ft) for right around $120K.

We'll get the shell built and have it livable and we'll just complete the interior in steps as we save the money for it - this will keep our mortgage (debt) way down as well.

We just drove through a piece of property yesterday that we absolutely love. Its only 1.3 acres - way smaller than our original plans, but it keeps us in the same town that we're in now and we'll start small - a few chickens and a veggie garden mostly.

As the kids get older and we buff up our retirement savings, we'll start looking for more land. We only want a small farm to sustain ourselves. Fruit trees, goats, chickens, a cow or two, maybe some sheep.

Thanks everyone, for your input!

[Squirt]

That sounds great. I wanted to build our own, but my other half doesn't have the drive to do something like that. He's built his own (huge) garage, but the vibe I get is that he won't enjoy building the log home. I hope you can make it work out! It sounds like you are building a great kind of life, and it's so nice to see people with higher income being more concerned with quality of life than with how much they can acquire.

[frugalfarmwife]

Just one thought on having a cow/cows, REALLY REALLY REALLY look into it before you think about diving into milking a cow for the family. This is the ULTIMATE in being tied down, there is NO day off when they're in milk, they need milked 2x a day, every day.

My hubby had commented on getting a few milk cows for extra income, I almost shot him!! I'm the one doing the day to day stuff, milking cows ain't gonna happen here! I can get someone to cover tossing hay/grain to the critters if need be but coverage on milking is a whole nother ball of wax!

If you REALLY want to try milking start with goats and see how that goes.

Now, cows for beef, yep, that we do, easy to keep, fun animals and tasty I also like knowing what goes into what I eat.

And we have free range chickens and turkeys, plenty of eggs and a lot of entertainment, chickens are a LOT of fun to watch and learn their flock dynamics.

kj

[Jamauk]

Thanks frugalfarmwife - when DH mentioned cows I told him the exact same thing - I'd do a beefer, but I am NOT going milking every day!