Moving from the City to Build a Farm

Today, April 4th 2011, I will start on my journey to my dream of moving to a home in the country where as much as possible I would like to live off the land. On this blog I will chronicle the steps I am taking to move closer to that goal.

I live in the city with my hubby, Ryan, and German shepherd dog, Asuka. I am rather clueless on how to raise farm animals but I have been reading a lot about chickens and my hubby loves to read about goats. When we move those are the first animals on our list.

I can have chickens in the city but I am renting the house I live in right now and I don't see it being okay with my mom/landlord. If consent was granted I would still be weary of getting them without knowing how to care for them in the winter. It gets very cold in the winter and I don't have an out building for them.

My hubby and I really wanted to build a house but that is looking like an either or situation now. Meaning that either we buy a farm with some fencing and a few out buildings or we build a house that we love and forget about the farm. We are not actively looking right now because we want to save a bit more money before we make the leap.

We would also love to sell our duplex before we move. I was impulsive and wanted to move to a bigger house thinking we could sell the duplex but rent it out in the mean time. Not so! Good renters are hard to come buy and selling a house in Toledo, OH is like trying to sell mud pies. I don't want to be impulsive again.

That brings me to the garden I want to grow. I would love to do it at my house but I have failed the last two seasons. I had a very nice small garden at the duplex when we lived there but I can't get anything to grow here. I found out the walnut tree is to blame. Each year I have planted right under a walnut tree which is apparently toxic to most plants.

This year my mom, who lives on over two acres, will let me plant a huge garden in her yard. She only wants me to plant a few things for her and take care of the weeds and any other issues that might arise. It is a bit of a drive but it will be well worth it. I also plan to have a small container garden on my front porch. If I am going to live off the land I need to learn how to do it ahead of time.

I am under no illusion that I can live without bills but I can quite possible cut my grocery bill way down and live a more active and rewarding lifestyle.