Ignorant Slime City Folk with questions....

CTCStrela

CTCStrela

Membership Revoked
First off, How would you define Homesteading.

With that being said, let me give you a little background.

I am the youngest of 4 brothers.

My family is from the northern end of the Appalachian area of Ohio. My older brothers all live up there, and own significant (200-800 acre) contiguous plots of farmland.

I was born and raised in Florida, and as such, know *nothing* about farming, nor working the land, nor how to balance a self-sufficient lifestyle with a decent income.

My wife and I have an ultimate goal, to move at least *near* to where my older brothers live, which is a rural area about 70 miles east of Columbus Ohio.

Ideal life for me, would be to teach, either in College level, or high-school level. Massive income has never been my, or my wife's priority. We intend to find "our hole" and get out of the city, as soon as we both receive our doctorates in our respective fields of study.
We simply want a comfortable life, in a quiet and secure area, near family. The land up there has absolutely enchanted us, and we are determined to make it work.

Now, what should I be studying, as far as self-sufficient lifestyles are concerned, and what should my priorities be?

Big bill, but I'm hoping some of you could help me out with information. Anything can help!
 
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A.T.Hagan

A.T.Hagan

Inactive
<i>Now, what should I be studying, as far as self-sufficient lifestyles are concerned, and what should my priorities be?</i>

To adopt a major that will allow you to take a degree that will enable you to find good paying employment in the area you want to live in.

Accomplish that and all the rest will follow much more easily than it would otherwise.

Secondary to that, learn how to fix things.

.....Alan.
 
CTCStrela

CTCStrela

Membership Revoked
Well, the good news is, I have a fallback career that I can take up, and if I have to commute 60 miles one way a day to do it, then so be it. But I'd really rather be a professor/teacher, given the choice.

As far as fixing things go, I'm pretty proficient with around-the house and auto/boat/appliance stuff...
I need to brush up on the electrician side, and learn how to weld, though :(
 
J

Jumpy Frog

Browncoat sympathizer
Ag or forester, Fed. state local Gov jobs and College teaching ops. too. Private businesses pay good for this knowledge, ie wood lot mgnt, tree docs, etc.

GPS tech field is the same way right now also.
 
Vicki

Vicki

Girls With Guns Member
I've always thought the difference in city folk and country folk was in just their state of mind. It's pretty obvious you're looking to tap your instincts. Just do it! It's a learning experience no matter what and it seems we're never totally prepared for what crops up. Probably the best thing to arm yourself with before you start is knowledgable friends to help you out. lol Good luck with it!

Vicki
 
D

Deena in GA

Administrator
_______________
If you don't already own it, buy Carla Emery's "Encyclopedia of Country Living". It gives a great overview of homesteading life and explains in detail every aspect. As has been said before on here, homesteading is very much a state of mind - wanting to do as much as possible for yourself and spending time working with the land.
 
H

housemouse

Membership Revoked
My advice would be to start small. First learn how to garden. That takes a few years. While learning, supplement your harvest from the local farmer's market and learn the canning, freezing, and drying process to store the bounty.

Little by little, as the need arises, you can take on another project, and then another. Making good friends in the new area who have skills and can help you learn is a very good idea.

I would suggest you consider teaching in the public school system, if you are willing to really dedicate yourself to the students, and have the talent to get the subject matter across. Good math and science teachers are always in demand, and there are schools everywhere, even in the boonies!

Western NY and Pennsylvania are nice as well for farming. NY may have better tenure and salary scales for teachers than Ohio does, so that might figure into your choice of area.
 
H

housemouse

Membership Revoked
So many parts of NY State are really rural and beautiful. We are about 35 minutes east of Erie, Pennsylvania, right on a beautiful lake.

The eastern part of NY state should just join "Joisey" as far as crowding and attitude go, but the northern and western part of the state are really lovely.
 
T

Todd

Inactive
CTC,

I'm really tired of shuck and jive. A doctorate is a reserch degree which, typically, has little use outside of the area in which it as granted. I worked with a lot of PhD's and my experience was that they, the PhD's, were useless as tits on a boar when it came to the real world that required immediate decisions based upon incomplete information.

So, as I read this, you are hot to get your doctorates and then want to sort of move back to the land.

I'll tell you, you don't have a hope in hell of being happy. My BIL has a doctorate in gov and headed the gov grad school at a major university. He wouldn't/couldn't survive our boondocks lifestyle for three months. For what it's worth, his wife headed the university's computer department.

The simple fact that you mentioned degrees first says you need to look elsewhere.

Todd
 
H

housemouse

Membership Revoked
I hear you, Todd. I would put it in a different way, however.

Here is how I would phrase it. Life offers us choices as to which path to follow. It isn't possible to easily have a foot on all paths.

To pursue a rural life, a homesteading life, takes as much time and dedication, and attention to detail, as a career in modern life. One cannot be a 60 hour a week careerist, and be a "homesteader" in one's spare time.

My daughter and son-in-law are an example. They both are teachers, a job description that many think give lots of spare time for other interests.

I had to go help my daughter plant her little salad garden on Saturday, because the many demands on her time and energy left no time for getting her raised beds ready to be planted, and time was getting short to get the seedlings I raised to young plants in the ground.

I have the time to do these things because my husband works outside the home, and I work at home. Doing things like tending to gardens, cooking from scratch, canning, baking bread, sewing clothes, knitting warm socks, etc. take a lot of time.

It is easy to understand this when you look at the difficulty women have when they try to combine marriage, a career, and rasing children. The goals are in conflict, and something always gets shortchanged and is in a mess.

So, you will probably find it difficult to manage advanced degrees, careers and homesteading. goals.
 
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