Michelle Bennett

Hello Everyone!

I've been reading about several of you living on farms and lots of acreage.
We are currently looking at some land many, many miles from where we live
now, but closer to my dh's work. However the problem is...I have never
lived on that much acreage (only an acre!) and that far out by nothing but
farms! What are the pros and cons? Have any of you lived in the city and
the country? How did you feel about the country life-people, work, life in
general? Part of me says this would be a fantastic experience for our kids,
but another part of me says "what about people contact? stores?" I would
appreciate any input on this subject!

Michelle
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Brown

Dh and I were both brought up in the country until we were 15 / 16 and then
moved to the city where we stayed until a year ago (we are now 48 / 49). Our
children were 18 (living away from home), 15, 12, 9 when we moved. We rented
until 3 months ago when we moved onto our 16 acres.

I know quite a few people who have moved fron city to country and many are very
happy. The ones who aren't are usually the ones who moved for the sake of the
children. Who moved because they thought it would be a good place to bring up
their kids. Obviously you wouldn't do it because you thought it was bad for your
kids <g> but IMO the kids shouldn't be your primary reason for moving. If they
are older, like mine, they will need an adjustment time, in fact may never
adjust, and they will feel especially resentful if they are aware or reminded
that you moved for their benefit. Even if they are babies when you move they may
not be the sort of kids who will relish country life.

So I guess what I am saying is, *you* and your partner must really want to live
in the country for your *own* sakes. The 'great for the kids bit' may or may not
be an added bonus. But if you aren't committed to the lifestyle and loving it,
you will end up really resenting your kids for whom you made such a sacrifice.
Believe me, I've seen it!

We discussed what we wanted to do with our kids and 2 of the 3 living at home
didn't really want to move. We pointed out that for us it was now or never due
to our age (48 /49) and they were accepting of that. Actually, they don't hate
it - but if they were feeling an expectation that they should enjoy it, I
believe we'd have major problems.

I know we aren't long time back-to-the-landers yet but I did a lot of talking to
people during the couple of years before we took the plunge, and this is what I
observed / was told.

Final word - I LOVE living out here <bwg>
Carol

Michelle Bennett wrote:

> Hello Everyone!
>
> I've been reading about several of you living on farms and lots of acreage.
> We are currently looking at some land many, many miles from where we live
> now, but closer to my dh's work. However the problem is...I have never
> lived on that much acreage (only an acre!) and that far out by nothing but
> farms! What are the pros and cons? Have any of you lived in the city and
> the country? How did you feel about the country life-people, work, life in
> general? Part of me says this would be a fantastic experience for our kids,
> but another part of me says "what about people contact? stores?" I would
> appreciate any input on this subject!
>
> Michelle

[email protected]

Michelle Bennett wrote:

> I've been reading about several of you living on farms and lots of acreage.
> We are currently looking at some land many, many miles from where we live
> now, but closer to my dh's work.

It seems to be a big plus that the land is closer to your husband's
work than where you live now, moving further away from work and
creating a longer commute is often a problem when people move to
the country.


> However the problem is...I have never
> lived on that much acreage (only an acre!) and that far out by nothing but
> farms!
> What are the pros and cons? Have any of you lived in the city and the
country?

My children and I never lived on a farm before, now we can do all
sorts of farm tasks, ploughing, & seeding fields, making hay,
driving tractors, castrating bull calves, lambs and kids [with elastic
bands] assist in the delivery of animals, installing and repairing
electric fences, incubating 200+ chicks a week, feeding the
assortment of animals and caring for them, and operating an
assortment of machinery.

The pros to me are that we are more involved in life, we spend time
doing real things, the children learn a lot from being on a farm, life
and death, caring for animals, cruel hard facts of life for male farm
animals [we treat our animals humanely and none are kept in
confinement conditions, but whenever there are female animals
having babies, there is an excess of males, to keep them intact
would just lead to a lot of fighting, to keep them too long would be
financial suicide] just to name a few things. They can understand
and participate in the running of the farm and they know that their
assistance is of real value.


> How did you feel about the country life-people, work, life in
> general? Part of me says this would be a fantastic experience for our kids,
> but another part of me says "what about people contact? stores?"

We are lucky to be only 3 miles out of Winona so we are in no way
isolated, also being the local compost site we get a lot of people
here on weekends and the kids interact with a lot of visitors.
I guess in some rural areas you could feel isolated and have to make an
effort to get your children some company if they are out of school.

Also if you are only doing it for the children, I'd rethink it, there is a
lot of work involved with a larger property especially if you have
animals.




Sue

The Winona Farm in Minnesota Welcomes Unschoolers All Year Round
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