Moving to the Country in Tough Times
by Steve Watters on 04/17/2009 at 3:48 PM
I saw a picture of my childhood in Peggy Noonan's latest column for the Wall Street Journal:
A small sign of the times: USA Today this week ran an article about a Michigan family that, under financial pressure, decided to give up credit cards, satellite television, high-tech toys and restaurant dining, to live on a 40-acre farm and become more self-sufficient. The Wojtowicz family—36-year-old Patrick, his wife Melissa, 37, and their 15-year-old daughter Gabrielle—have become, in the words of reporter Judy Keen, "21st century homesteaders," raising pigs and chickens, planning a garden and installing a wood furnace.
I guess you could say my parents were 20th century homesteaders. Back in 1977 as the economy turned bad, my dad decided to move our family to the country. He bought just under an acre of land and set out to live a simpler, self-sufficient life. Like the Wojtowicz family, we had a garden, pigs, chickens, and a wood-burning heating solution. We also planted grapevines and lots of fruit trees. Many nights, the food on our table either came from the garden or dad's gun (we ate inordinate amounts of venison).
My brothers and I didn't always enjoy this life. There were many mornings we didn't want to get up and go out in the dark to feed the animals (especially with the rats that often slept in the corn barrel we had to scoop from). We didn't like running out on cold nights to get wood to heat the house. We didn't like mowing around all our fruit trees. While our peers played Atari and watched cable TV, we walked through chicken poop to collect eggs and sweated our way through endless work projects. We couldn't help but notice that once my brothers and I left home, our parents got a riding lawnmower, central heat and air and a dishwasher. Apparently, the self-sufficiency model works best when you have lots of helpful hands around.
I can't know how my life would have turned out if my dad hadn't moved us out to the country, but I sense that it was one of the most important decisions he ever made. We never had a lot of money, but we found a lot of wealth in all the life, hard work and agrarian character of our little place on earth. We didn't have to look up what the Bible meant when Jesus talked about vines, pruning, sowing, reaping, weaning, harvests, and all that other earthy stuff He used as examples.
My experience of life in the country is still in my bloodstream. Not long ago, it inspired my to write some thoughts in my journal about the tug I feel back to the countryside. Here's a portion of that entry:
...I need a fence that needs mending as it meanders from the road to a home tucked between bushes and trees in a row. I need a place with a cadence of work and of fun and a calling of purpose when the day has begun. I need a place that each season has new things to do so that years later it's still something new...and refreshing.
Maybe that "need" isn't so crazy.
1. BDB said the following at 4:19 PM on Apr 17:
My uncle did his Master's degree in Public Administration at Harvard, and also served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines. He's had an impressive career since.
But the first line on his resume is:
-1950's and 60's: Farm boy - bucked hay, milked cows, gathered eggs, fed ducks, slopped pigs, shoveled manure, grew garden
2. Kellie said the following at 4:28 PM on Apr 17:
I would love to live in the country, but have to settle for living near it instead. Do you know what the price is for a home with any kind of acreage?
3. Liz L said the following at 4:30 PM on Apr 17:
This is a lovely post :) It reminded me of how I have grown up, as my family has always lived in a rural area. Although we only have about 20 acres now, we still have a couple milk cows, and raise our own beef (of which we also an inordinate amount!) in addition to a small flock of chickens. I tend the gardens, both flowers and vegetables. We have a small orchard too. It is good and peaceful life we have, even though we aren't self-sufficent. I can see how satisfied my dad is at the end of a good work day. I will probably end up living in a more urban area when I get married, but I think I will be a county girl at heart.
4. Thankful said the following at 6:11 PM on Apr 17:
Growing up on an operating farm was one of my most treasured blessings and one I hope to share with my future children someday. Without a doubt, analogies from the Bible seem more tangible and God seems a bit closer when you are living and working the land and enjoying the beautiful earth God made for us.
Thank you for this wonderful post!
5. Elizabeth said the following at 7:22 PM on Apr 17:
Sounds like wonderful satisfying work. Something I have missed growing up. There is something about living close to nature that makes me feel close to God...and more appreciative of His provision
6. Rael said the following at 8:28 PM on Apr 17:
I don't think the "need" is crazy at all. :-) I think it's a key ellement of our makeup as humans. Before sin even came into the picture, we were, after all designed to work and be productive in a garden.
For my last two years of college, I had the wonderful opportunity to live in the country on a farm with a homeschooling Christian family of six. There were so many blessings I saw from that lifestyle, such as family unity, practicing diligence in little things, and numerous opportunities for creativity and ingenuity.
I would love to live on a farm again some day, but meanwhile my family is taking little steps, such as turning our whole backyard into a vegetable, herb, and flower garden. It's so refreshing to go outside in the cool morning, water the plants, and inspect the new seeds popping up!
The agrarian lifestyle can indeed make many biblical similes and analogies easier to understand!
7. brx said the following at 9:44 PM on Apr 17:
In the back of my mind I keep thinking it would be neat if Grandpa offered his ranch for members of the family to come to live and work on it... It's really beautiful in the Spring!
8. Andrea said the following at 12:13 AM on Apr 18:
Kellie is completely right. Land is expensive (maybe not in Michigan?) And farming is a full time job that is a loosing game. I come from a family of farmers who went bankrupt in the 80s. My dad has wanted to go back ever since, this is really the only thing he is passionate about on this earth. (right now he is helping plant at one of his good friend's farm, spring and fall are his best seasons)
While I love the idea of moving to the family farm, this post also makes me quite sad because the reality is that there is very little chance this will actually happen for us. Sorry if I sound pessimistic.
9. Scottie said the following at 4:39 AM on Apr 18:
I'm very glad you've all posted and replied to this post. I, too, grew up on a small dairy farm in northern Wisconsin. After college and grad school, I've come back near the area. I now work as an aerospace engineer, but find my longings to raise a family as how I was raised. It sounds as though some people are able to make things work out, even in these trying times. I pray that some day I may be able to raise my family in this manner as well. We'll see.
Awesome topic!
10. P&P said the following at 5:01 AM on Apr 18:
In the words of Eva Gabor in the TV show, Green Acres:
Darling I love you
But Give me Park Avenue
As romantic as going back to the land might sound, it's also dangerous, isolating and lonely. Whenever I read accounts of frontier women from the 19th century I'm grateful that I'm reading a book about it on the subway, not experiencing it first hand.
I do however think that being raised on a farm can instill a better work ethic and self-sufficiency more easily than being raised in a sanitized suburb.
11. mk said the following at 4:26 PM on Apr 18:
i think P&P brings up a great point;
As romantic as going back to the land might sound, it's also dangerous, isolating and lonely.
anyways, often the city, suburbs, or even just a small town provides the community that most christians say is vital and healthy.
12. Carl said the following at 6:12 PM on Apr 18:
You grew up on a one (one!) acre farm?! I can't imagine. Must have been jammed packed with...stuff...
13. BDB said the following at 8:47 PM on Apr 18:
Where I grew up, a one (1) acre farm is called a garden.
14. Leah said the following at 2:34 AM on Apr 19:
Kellie (2) - I can't say for the US, but in Australia, acreages out of town are cheaper than the smaller plots in town.
P&P - I think you're misunderstanding the idea of going back to the land. I know several people who grow their own veggies in their backyard right here in the city. I know of others who live on larger plots of land 20 minutes out of town. Hardly dangerous, isolating or lonely!
Andrea (8) - farming doesn't have to be a fulltime job in a losing game. If you are trying to make a living off farming, then yes, it might be. But it's totally feasible to be a teacher or engineer and then grow your veggies in your backyard and maybe keep some chooks for eggs. You're making your living from a different job, but don't have to spend as much on groceries by being able to grow a lot of your own food. I know a lot of people who do this.
15. Esther said the following at 10:48 AM on Apr 19:
I've made my career in the field of agriculture, though as a researcher, and not a grower. I agree with those who argue that it is nearly impossible to make a living as a farmer today. The growers I work with are among the best in the country, and some years they still struggle just to pay the bills.
That said, I believe that is great to find ways to make your family more self-sufficient, even if you still have to have a 'real' job. My family has used a wood stove for as long as I can remember, and we grew a garden in our yard. We practiced gleaning (harvesting left-over produce after the commercial harvesters went through), or went to pick-your-own farms and froze or canned lots of fruits and vegetables. Those experiences are incredibly precious to me as memories as well as living skills. I know how to make maple syrup, use an axe, drive a tractor, and can identify hundreds of plants. Yet I still grew up in a small town, in a normal house, the daughter of a professional businessman. All this to say that it isn't so difficult to cultivate counter-cultural skills and attitudes, even without 'going over the edge' and buying a farm and trying to manage a menagerie.
16. Sara said the following at 12:45 PM on Apr 19:
I can't help but say that "dangerous, isolating, and lonely" is how some people in the country imagine the city to be when they here stories of shootings and of people never getting to know their neighbors and lying dead in their apartment for weeks before being found... :0
17. farmer Tom said the following at 6:31 PM on Apr 19:
I will bite my tongue.
Things better left unsaid.
18. L said the following at 7:21 PM on Apr 19:
Are you sure it wasn't hectare? Or section? Because all that on one acre seems almost impossible.
Either way, it's interesting how a lot of those things don't seem so great growing up, but once you can remember "back then", it becomes super great.
19. Sheridan said the following at 4:53 AM on Apr 20:
Haha I agree with Carl and BDB. My family has a 40 acre farm at the moment, and we consider that small! AND we couldn't imagine having the amount of animals that Steve had. Weird. Maybe in Australia we are so used to massive wide open spaces we don't realise the potential in one little acre :)
20. obewan said the following at 6:12 AM on Apr 20:
My parents did that too when I was 13, but they were retired (early) and it was mostly a "hobby" farm.
Nowdays, 40 acres won't generate enough income to live on unless the crop is something like strawberries or some other "intensive" crop.
Plus, a farm like that would probably cost $100-$200K, so a good income would be required to pay for it.
It is a nice dream though.
We had to buy our meat and milk, but almost everything else was raised on the farm. We had propane for heat but could have used a wood stove I suppose.
21. Trisha in AR said the following at 9:25 AM on Apr 20:
I can definitely relate. I also moved when I was 15 (1986), from California to a town in Arkansas (population 398). I had some resentment over the years. No TV, the phones were party lines, dirt roads, gardening, farming, and learning a whole new language (or so it felt).
Now that I am older, I've come to realize there is much to be said for the simplicity of life. I don't live in that small town anymore, but when I go to visit, there is a wonderful welcome that you can't get anywhere else.
22. Ken said the following at 3:41 PM on Apr 20:
A simpler country life, whether it is ever achieved or not, is a great dream, and one that I too cherish. Whether the reality is anywhere near what I envision (hard work, little return, working with a common purpose as a family unit)is up for debate, but I think it is pretty accurate having spent some time working on the farms of others.
The bottom line for me is, what values do I want my kids to espouse as the norm during their formative years? Responsibility, a solid work ethic, and time outdoors to ponder your place in Creation are all intangibles hard to place a value on.
23. Ashley Harris said the following at 3:52 PM on Apr 20:
Steve,
Are you trying to make me homesick or what? ;)
24. BDB said the following at 4:58 PM on Apr 20:
OK, kidding aside, my grandparents had a one-acre garden. I was just talking with my (93-year-old) grandfather about it this weekend.
They started growing their own food to help with expenses. When they started out, being a teacher and nurse were paid pretty low. (And yes, they constantly point out how today's teacher's and nurses have nothing to complain about given ther wages today.)
Anyway, since they were both working, the farm (with the boys) and later the big garden were kind of like a 2nd job. They put a lot of work into it, principally my grandfather did. They grew and canned a bunch of stuff.
The other thing done to save money was buy a side of beef at a time. They might go in with another family and split it. By buying in bulk and utilizing a deep-freeze locker they could get meet much less expensively. This was before Costco.
And, periodically, my dad will look at a beef dinner and say, "We're having Betsy tonight." That was his prize-winning cow when he was in FFA.
Ah, farm humor.
Of course, I know how to grow a garden. I also know it would cost thousands of dollars to dig up my back yard and bring in enough good topsoil to make a go of it. Everything below about 4 inches deep is rock here.
On the other hand, living uphill means I never worry about flooding. We always had to worry about that when living in the valley in the flood plain. Floods bring great soil for crops, though.
25. Kellie said the following at 5:17 PM on Apr 20:
I grew up in a small farming community and live in a medium farming community now. (And I have to agree with BDB...1 acre is not a farm). The only people who live in the country are those whose families are farmers and they build a house on the family farm (we call them ranches here). And I can't think of a single family who only farms...everyone does farming "on the side." As it's not a very profitable living and hasn't been for several years.
As for prices, when we were looking for a home, I looked at a few places with 5 acres or so in the country. Usually in the upper 6 figures if not 7.
26. BDB said the following at 7:12 PM on Apr 21:
The other big challenge with farming these days is property taxes. Many farmers were forced out of farming when they didn't make enough money off their crops to pay the taxes AND support their family, etc. So for a few decades, they became lazy farmers: worked a day job, and farmed on the side.
One acre can make a very nice plot of land with room for a house and a robust garden. But it's not nearly enough for pasture for horses, cows, sheep, goats...maybe room for a chicken coop. You'd end up buying feed, especially for large animals like cows. It's really not cost-effective. What you want is something big enough that you can grow your alfalfa for your large animals, and hay for the stalls.
One of my employees, who was from Kansas City, MO, laughed that in Southern California, they had to ship in hay.
Kind of how I laughed when I saw firewood at the grocery store. Wrapped in plastic, no less. Where I come from in the Pacific Northwest, if you want to use a wood stove, you really need some wooded property big enough that you can cut down a tree or two each year, split it and stack it to use all winter. (Technically, after seasoning it for a year. Which means letting it sit under cover and dry out. Not like a marinade or anything.)
27. Leah said the following at 6:27 AM on Apr 22:
Just to add to my previous comment and the discussion in general: one thing I'm looking forward to when I get a house (my husband and I are currently renting a flat) is being able to grow some of my own fruits and veggies. I wanted my own garden when I was a kid and never got it :(
28. farmer Tom said the following at 11:38 AM on Apr 25:
Let's see if any of the ladies here are still reading this thread?
Want to move to the country permanently?
I have a friend, (distant relative by marriage) who currently lives on a farm he owns, is 27 years old, self employed farmer(family operation), has completed a degree in vocational school (ag related), owns two vehicles a sports car and a pickup, own two semi's, has a full time employee driving one of them,
goes to an independent fundamental Bible Church twice on Sundays and during the mid week if the farming permits, is morally upright, has no bizarre or weird habits (other than being a friend of mine),
and he's single and lonely,
most of the Christian females he knew went off to the big city to get rich, drink cappuccino? and eat out every meal,
his farm is 5 miles from the closest town, which doesn't even have a gas station, at least 30 miles from a town with actually stores of size, think Kmart, Walmart or JC Penny's.
Living the rural life means travel for shopping, something many women seem to be unable to accept. It means going to a small church where you will be expected to serve rather than sit on the pew like a bump. It means spending time with family, instead of sitting in the movie theater, going to the museum.
So this guy is single because he can't find any women with the intenstinal fortitude to live in a culture that requires personal responsibility, self reliance and an ability to function without someone else doing everything for you,
Anyone interested? I'd be glad to help you meet him.