Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that soon we too will be moving beyond the sidewalks! After 12 years of looking and wishing we could have our own "little piece of Heaven" on earth, we have found it! We just bought 10 acres of land in Southern Caswell County, NC. We won't be building for about one year, but we plan to put a small travel trailer on it so we can live there now.

I am kinda new to the forum, have posted a few times, am an avid Countryside reader and love reading your posts! We plan to raise our own meat and gardens,etc. We have waited a long time to do this and just had to share it with others who can understand the feeling it gives us!

We have a lot of work ahead of us and we are looking forward to every minute of it! We have already taken our first picture with all the overgrown brush and such. It has a small creek that borders the front line of the property and NO RESTRICTIONS!!!!!!!

Thanks for listening to me ramble on and on.........would love to hear from anyone on the forum.

Brenda

-- Brenda (CherokeeMaiden2@aol.com), July 26, 2001

Answers

Congtatulations. Best wishes for your life beyond the sidewalks.

-- Murray in ME (lkdmfarm@megalink.net), July 26, 2001.

I'm not lecturing.......just remembering where we were, six years ago.

Make a list of what you want to do the first year, and where you want to be in the fifth year. How will you get there?

Plan Plan Plan

Then take your plan and have others (whose judgement you respect) take a look.

The old saying....."measure twice and cut once" is so true when you are carving your dreams out of the land. Go slow, it will pay off in the end.

That being said....... HAVE A BALL!! Ain't it great when you can stand on your on piece of earth, take a deep breath, and savor the moment...... it's yours! I sometimes get overwhelmed, I wanted a piece of ground for so long and now we have it.

Enjoy Rickstir

-- Rickstir (rpowell@email.ccis.edu), July 26, 2001.

Congratulations! We inherited our land from my parents. My husband teases and calls me Scarlett because I love it so. But I think Scarlett had a point--you do get some strength from your land just watching things grow and change as you meet your dreams. Just remember, as with all dreams, there is that occasional nightmare. So don't get discouraged if everything doesn't fall into place as quickly as you wish. We've lived here for over twenty years and are just now going from make-do to what we want. Best of luck!

-- Debbie (dc1253@hcis.net), July 26, 2001.

best wishes, it will be worth the wait. (small steps) bob m.

-- bob mccaffrey (bobmccaffrey1@netscape.net), July 26, 2001.

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes! AND especially for the advice! We will take it slow and savour every minute of it !! Thanks again! :)

Brenda

-- Brenda (CherokeeMaiden2@aol.com), July 27, 2001.

Congratulations Brenda!!! That is just so exciting to be taking the biggest step of all to your dream. Taking pictures is such a good idea. Make sure you keep taking them as you make changes. It will be so much fun to look back in twenty or thirty years to how forlorn you looked when you started and what a dream you finally created.

It is so great to hear when someone is finally able to take that plunge into the homesteading life. Keep us all posted on the changes you make as you go along. It is fun to hear what others are doing even for those of us who have already been through those same steps. It brings us fond memories as well.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes @erols.com), July 27, 2001.

Congrats Brenda. Taking pics is the best advice here. We got our place 20 years ago, it was an old log cabin (pre Civil war) and in really bad shape. We worked on it for years (still are). We moved on the property nearly 16 years ago and stayed in a small travel trailer with our 10 day old baby until we got one room sound enough to live in. We've gone from there. It is so much fun to look back on the pictures and see how much we've accomplished; especially when we feel like there is STILL so much to do. Don't get frustrated, just enjoy the ups and downs of it all--it is an adventure. Some people told us we should have bulldozed the place and built a new one, sometimes I think they were right, but then again it has and continues to be a challenge and adventure for our family. Now that we've accomplished so much people say Wow, what a neat place. We have two children now (one 12 and one almost 16) and I can't think of a better place to be raising them. ENJOY! Sharon

-- Sharon (spangenberg@hovac.com), July 28, 2001.

Brenda, good luck to you . I moved in 1984 to the country. We took plenty of pictures. We raise Organic Crops and market them along with our chicken and duck eggs. It took a while to start making some money. All our chickens and ducks are free ranging. We have RegistereD Mini- Nubians Does and 2 male wethers. We love it all. Good Luck. Sunshine Mountain Ashe Acres Farm Upstate NY

-- SUNSHINE (MTASHEACRES@AOL.COM), July 28, 2001.