HOWEVER, it put us 1 hour further from our land. Now it's about 2 hours away. But, having lived downtown, close to work, we've come to love the time it frees up for our family and the savings it reaps. We sold the extra car and we hardly ever drive the van.
But, what with the land? Our hope/plan is to soon buy a nice camper suitable for our family and move it to our land. We then hope to spend much of the spring/summer/fall there, where I can work remotely quite a bit and travel back to IA as needed. As a family we will blend our work with play and enjoy the "lazy days of summer" people talk of in days gone by.
We continue to put our trust in the Lord that we will be led to Emmaus.
Craig, this will perhaps be an odd, or even intrusive question (so feel free to ignore it) but I recall you mentioning that you grew up on a farm/ranch in S.Dak.
ReplyDeleteIs there the possibility of returning to a family place and entering ag full time?
Nothing wrong with the question. I split my childhood between a farm in Iowa (dairy farm) and a ranch in South Dakota. Actually part of the time in SD was on a large dairy farm on one of the irrigation projects in NW South Dakota. I don't envision myself ever moving back to SD, but I would never rule anything out completely.
ReplyDeleteIf by "entering ag full time" you mean having a full fledged farm or ranch operation as its traditionally known, I would not expect to see that happening, but again, I'd never rule anything out altogether. If I did anything, it would maybe be on a scale by local Amish, but even that would be a long shot. I personally feel that most modern agricultural operations are out of whack with reality and frugality. Modern farms are so deeply in debt with large equipment, and there's a lost sense of husbandry with the land, with everything being based on yields, and harmful chemicals and fertilizers being the norm. I'm less in love with the idea of ag than I am with the notion of homesteading.
I've read a number of works of Wendell Berry and find his approach to agriculture refreshing. My vision of agriculture for my family is to have and work the 18 acres we have to be mostly for our own needs, trying to be coming as self sufficient as possible, and eventually earn some cash by marketing a few crops. I see a small farm as self-sustaining first and foremost, with cash crops being the limited exception rather than the norm.
We shall see if I'm correct in my analysis, but I do hope, very soon, to be living and working full time on our small homestead, from which I'll continue to run my practice to pay the bills and keep life interesting.