Land

I found a hobby farm for sale somewhere in Missouri for a great price. 47 acres, complete with a 4 bedroom house, a stocked lake, timber forest and edible wildlife. That part didn’t thrill me because I think it will be years before I ever come to terms with needeing to kill my own food, but anyway………

I told G about the land and she had the brilliant idea of planting flower bulbs and taking them to market and never mind actually farming other than for self sufficiency. But even that is a lot of work.

I have been confused over how much land to purchase, when, where and so on. Then in my ravelry Homesteaders group, I followed a link to Casaubons Books that really dug into the issue of how much land and how to decide. There is so much more to consider than simply what we can afford and what we dream about owning.

The bottom line though is still the fact that very little land can help support or even fully support a household. The issue that only occurred to me slightly was, “how much can we feasibly work” and “what limitations do we have now or what limitations are likely to occur later” . Such things as age, physical ability, how many members in the family willing and able to work the land are all practical considerations that I was barely aware of.

There are other things to consider too. If our food shortages continue, I will want to be as self sufficient as possible but I will need to be able to keep pace with both a garden and the preservation of the food that I grow. Who is going to help me if husband goes to work, the kids are off in school?

While this is all very important to think about, I am not at all going to give up the dream. We won’t be purchasing that hobby farm, no matter how tempting it may seem, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t purchase at least 3 acres. The article also points out that one does not have to farm ones own land. If we find a need for more acreage, we could always lease or borrow land.

Husband is not interested in the Australia idea after all. While the economy is holding up better over there, he is worried about the prospect of not finding work.

In the meantime, my sister and mother are all excited about how low home prices are in California right now. Sister sent me a flyer of a home, in an upscale area. Mom called to tell me to check my email and she was just gushing with excitement over how “big” the back yard is.

I get the flyer-house is priced in the mid-300’s and while the yard is bigger than what we could get here, it was way to small. Plus, the mid-300’s is relatively expensive. My mother likes the idea of her daughter and grandchildren living in a luxurious house in her neck of the woods, but that is not what we are after right now. Not that I wouldn’t love it myself, just that it is not feasible.

In these days, it is about looking out for number one. I feel sorry for homeowners who are in desperate situations, but our goal is not to purchase somebody else’s situation ourselves. The future is uncertain. We just want to find a haven where we can ride out the days ahead should they get any worse.