Yikes! Sorry about the technical difficulties, folks lets try this again. There were a few things left off this post and it published before I realized it...and then I went outside and forgot about it.
----------------------------------------------------
I figure I should do the About thing as an introduction for the new people...so here goes:
Who ARE you?
There's me - Ohiofarmgirl and my husband, The Big Man. We are a small, almost organic, kinda self sustaining, pretty much self reliant, small farm-for-us in Ohio. We have about 100 pieces of poultry including the usual suspects -- chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, and those damn guinea hens that scream like howler monkeys. We get feeder pigs in the summer for a fall harvest, and we have dairy goats that provide us with milk, cheese, and supplemental feed for the barnyard. We have a huge garden that will be even better this summer.
What do you do? Like for work?
The Big Man is now off work, but generally he's the one that has the job. Me, I'm the one that works. Depending on who you ask I'm either retired or a slacker. I consider myself a farmer, altho I had to choke out those words at first. I don't spend hours on a tractor, I'm not overly concerned with the Futures market, heck... I don't even have overalls. But I do work this property, do all the planting, manage the critters, corral chickens, and milk those goats. I tried to list 'farming' on one of those airline credit card offers and they laughed at me. But sure, I'm the farmer here.
How'd you get here?
Read the gory details here but suffice it to say I gave up a big corporate life to dig in the dirt. Its totally cool.
Why are you doing this?
Why not? I know more than a few baby boomers who waited until retirement to enjoy their lives...and then either dropped dead, or became impaired somehow physically, so now they are restricted to sitting around. Me, I'm not buying that traditional life for a second.
How did you do it? How could you afford to do it?
I worked incredibly hard, made good decisions, was blessed, and got lucky. I learned the hard way not to wait so I lept when the opportunity came up.
Isn't it irresponsible to leave a good job?
You may have my old job. Really. Go ahead. Tell 'em all I said 'hi' and their lives will never be as good as mine. But I do miss Italian coffee and French pastries. Oh well. Guess I'll have to live with fresh eggs and a big slab of ham...and pie, of course.
Kinda saucy aren't ya?
You have no idea
What are 100 things I should know about you?
Check it out here - but not quite 100.... good 'nuff tho.
And because I'm a big goofball, I'm not sure some of the comments are going to post. But thanks to these folks and this is what they said.....
------------------------------------------------------------
Leontien
Haha it's good to know about those things but you make me really curious about the links!!! ;-)
Thanks
Leontien
tami
I just found you from "Tiny Gardener's" blog. Nice blog you have here. I'll be trolling through your old posts for a bit. I must say the post a few days ago about nothing growing around the area IS shocking. Hubby and I both grew up in Ohio. Still miss it even though we love NC.
David P. Offutt - The Gastronomic Gardener
Love it!, Not quite ready to pull the trigger, but getting close. Less than 10 years, that's the target.
Gingerbreadshouse7
Your a girl after my own heart..think it ..do it. Sassy and brassy..that's the way to get it done..while your young enough...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
I am glad you re-posted this. I LOVED your story about getting to the farm and the lay-off! Good to get to know you and looking forward to it!
It sounds like you have your head screwed on right!
I'm going to make a few requests!
For these folks to really know what is going on you need to link them back to the initial confrontations with OD and the Fred Chronicles.
I can't believe their were no Sci-Fi references, please link the Sunday trip to Walmart for goat medicine!
I like it...waiting for my opportunity....;)
Hey there, I've been reading for awhile. I used to run the Five Acres Enough blog. I've got 5.5 acres in New Hampshire and really, really want to make the jump. I also have a soul-sucking job in high tech, make killer money, but just want to play with my goats all day.
The plan is to make the jump in 6 years when the farm, the tractors, etc are all paid off. But what to do? My SO will provide "livin'" money, but I need to make some income, no?
Get a dairy license? Sell dem pigs or broilers?
You've been an inspiration. I got three pigs this year because of you and we raise about 80 broilers for friends and family. Small time stuff, but getting educated to make the jump. Thanks for listening!
Apologies to Tami, David, and Ginny for messing up their comments!
Welcome Tami - come by any time!
David - I'm waiting to hear that one day you just couldn't take it anymore, turned in your badge and your parking pass, and gave HR one of the most pointed "exit interview" they'd ever had. Gosh that reminds me, I had the funniest one of those once.. I should tell that story. hum...
Ginny, you are my kind of gal too! I keep thinking how lucky your children and your grandchildren are to have you.
Hi TAPGal! That "Price is Right" layoff moment was pretty good, I have to admit it.
Ian - thanks! I like to think I learned some of the hard lessons already.
Hey CC - I'm gonna have to do a "Foolishness" post and just link to all of those crazy stories. Ha!
Faith - don't be afraid to leap!
Daun - WOW! You've done an outstanding job with your critters! Congrats! There is a great book called, Making your Small Farm Profitable:
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Your-Small-Farm-Profitable/dp/1580171613
Tons of great info there. For us we don't farm for profit, but we do farm as sustainably as we can. Because of this we can live, richly, on a very small income. You'll be surprised at how much working is costing you. I can't wait to hear more about your plans. I'll pop over to your place soon!
:)
Post a Comment