Behind Door No. 1...

Looking from Dad's woods to choice #1

For anyone new to this site here is our summary...family of four in NC Wisconsin. Two daughters ages 7 and 11, public school education with no plans to change that-the girls are creative, happy and healthy. We are both working professionals-my husband is Materials Manager for the engineering division of a company which makes (among other things) control panels for hydroelectric projects (think Hoover Dam)-as much job security as you can find these days. I am a small animal veterinarian- partner in our group of two small practices, I am working part time right now, pulling myself back from the slippery slope of career burnout. We are looking for something simpler, something more meaningful. I am nervous about peak oil, collapse of our economy, etc, etc. We have had some small experiences with growing our own food-chickens, rabbits and garden and have found it very rewarding. I want to spend time with my girls- I let strangers care for them through daycare and after school programs for too long, I do not want to look back and regret it.
We are looking at two different pieces of property. They are both adjacent to my fathers retirement farm, about 30 minutes from our current suburban home. He has 40 acres, a mix of meadow and slough and woods. He wishes for my sister and I to inherit this property eventually and short term he wants to 'share' or lease some of his acreage with us. We have been camping out there for three summers. It has given us a glimpse of what is possible and I am so thankful to have had that confidence builder available to me. However, we do not want to wait until we retire to create our farm. We want to do the work now while we are strong, and raise our children learning where their food comes from. I suspect this may be a life skill more important than a bachelor's degree. There will be no retirement for us just a shedding of our outside careers.



Shot last week toward to rear of the 20

This is choice number one: 20 acres of southward sloping farm field, no road frontage to speak of just a 20ft x 1000 ft lane back to the 20. The site is only 500 feet wide but 1/4 (?) mile long. We build an off grid solar powered home 1100 square feet, no immediate plans for outbuildings but over next few years would build a workshop for DH and a small barn/shed for me and the girls (horse, goat?, pig?).
Pro's- new construction, built how we wish, off grid (or $12,000 to run power back there) sounds very cool, very green in theory until we hit the third week of cloudy winter weather and have to run the back up generator to take a shower, can't even see a neighbor from back here.
Con's- start from scratch-no trees, just thick slippery clay soil, expensive-even without considering the PV required -because we really have no idea at this point what we will need, adjacent 100+ acres of farm field -large tractor traffic spring planting/plowing, spraying god knows what, harvesting, then fall spraying liquid cow shit. The driveway to tractors/trucks use is right next to our lane running back.


This procession of trucks and stink happens every spring and fall. Because of the narrow width, our proposed building site will be within 200ft of this.

Overall my concerns are cost-one of my considerations is to not spend a huge amount of money- i want us to have the option of being a single income family. But I sure love being hidden back here and going off grid.

I'll post the second option tomorrow-we are winterizing the camper today aand i will have pictures of what's behind door no.2 then!

DecisionTime

I am talking about How We Decide on Homemakers Who Work. Do you have some unresolved decisions-this might help!
Kris

Apple Pie!

My 11 yr old daughter has discovered how to bake. I don't buy sweets (because I will eat them ALL) but she has discovered a defect in my sugar avoidance defenses. If she bakes it-more than likely she will get to eat some (if she eats her vegetables!). Sunday she decided to make an apple pie. She pulled out the Good Housekeepers Complete Cookbook and just made it-no help except for the peeling/slicing of apples. It was delicious! We ate is still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream...heaven. Now if I could only convince her to have the same enthusiasm for veggies. THANK YOU ERIN!

Inadequate

The dream went like this...our staff being questioned by a panel, they are sitting in judgement. One of our employees says 'well ONE of our vets IS very good...' she then turns to me and says 'Dr Kris-you are very special too.' Geesh, feeling a little inadequate am I? I have been feeling out of place at work, like our clinic is headed in a direction I personaly do not want to go. We have some fairly new DVM's woking for us--super smart, very organized, current on all the new drugs and treatment protocols. But lacking in something-empathy? Experience? maybe lacking in nothing --just me wanting to feel like I have something to offer. I feel more and more like we are acting like MD's, ordering tests to be sure we cannot be accused of not practicing up to the 'standard of care', lots of Cover Your Ass. I AM burned out, I am not excited about learning new stuff right now. I need to get past this apathy.
I have been thinking alot about studying to become a certified (?) herbalist-is there some body who certifies herbalists? I guess I will find out.
I have been thinking alot about TEOTWAWKI, how will we heal ourselves when/if big pharma is not available or too expensive for most people - let alone pets. I love the idea of being able to combine things i enjoy. Growing things, creating a beautiful fertile space and helping people through caring for their animals.. Corney -possibly, okay very! This winter I am going to research my top 10 9or so) herbs to grow for healing (for myself and my family) if I enjoy it and make progress on learning in a none structured way -then i will allow my self to make the herbal DVM a goal instead of a daydream.



Thyme flowers

Eye Candy

Pretty aren't they?? Monday night it got down to 24 degrees at the farm. It caught me by surprise-even though it really shouldn't have. End of September is pretty good for here. My tomatoes were just starting to produce, but no amount of covering was going to get them through 24 degrees. I was off work yesterday so I went out to collect what I could and lament all those pretty red fruits on the vine...
I came home with 2 huge cabbages (one had split in the cold) a handful of orange tomatoes which didn't seem to be affected by the freeze (hmm...), some dried beans and these beautiful winter squash.
I had a really hard time deciding which varieties to plant. I was shopping at Baker Creek Heirloom seeds and I had 90 varieties to choose from (90!) I was like a kid in a candy store. I eventually settled on three- Iran, Red Kuri, and Sweet Meat. I also picked a french pumpkin which was supposed to be flattened with alot of ribbing. My selection process was a little vague-I wanted something different than the acorn or spaghetti squash our family was accustomed to, it had to be aesthetically pleasing, yummy and (hopefully) a good keeper.
I had very good germination rates and amazing (take over the garden) growth of the vines, lots of flowers but not as many mature squash as I was expecting. Now that I think about it...I did pick some Red Kuri for my family, and let another family member go pick what she wanted, so I really can't complain :D




This is the Red Kuri-it is small and very yummy-I have prepared it once by peeling and cubing it, then roasting with a brushing of maple syrup.



Sweet Meat- I haven't tried this one yet but I love the sea foam green color



This is supposed to be Iran variety, the color is not as described in the catalog but the shape and size are right-maybe they just didn't have time to mature or our cold and dry summer affected them.