But I'm enjoying the cool considering how miserable the muggy, humid heat was. I don't mind the heat, it's when it's horribly muggy because the storms we need won't break that I start feeling horrible. Funny, what beans there are didn't get very big (would you, in weather like that, if you were a plant?) but they are trying to bloom a little bit. Seeds from the first three tomatoes have dried out ... I got lazy and just dumped them on a PAPER plate like a ding dong to dry out for saving. Yeah, a paper plate. Real smart of me, because now I get to pick them off one by one and there's likely over 100 from those three tiny tomatoes. That's a lot of picking, folks! I have to seed and eat the other two on the counter, too, which is more Arkansas Traveler seeds. If I don't grow them next year (likely not), then I'll worry about them a year or two down the road, when a HOUSE is PURCHASED. Okay, so we'll likely be retirement age before it's paid off, barring some miracle, but it will be ours and we can do what we want with it without having to clear land to do it.
We've made that decision for sure. Yeah, we could go with something where we could slap a cabin on and blah blah blah and it would be fun and great and all, but it would be a really hard slog as well and we are tired of the freaking slog. And we don't NEED more than about five acres or so. We'll take more if we can get it in our price range, but at our ages, by the time we get a place and get it at all productive to where we can sell extra stuff ... I'll be at least 50, he'll be mid-40s and there is no way to deal with all the extras without killing one or both of us trying. Now, there likely will be chickens (eggs, meat and chicks to raise for more meat or babies to sell) and Angora rabbits (meat and fiber and pedigreed babies to sell), but much as I would love them, there is not likely to be hoofstock. Now, if we get at least 3 acres, maybe a nanny goat or two (Angora for meat, fiber, milk and babies to sell), a single cow of a small homestead breed (like a Dexter - meat, milk and babies to sell), an ewe or two (fiber, meat and babies to sell), and a sow (meat and babies to sell). If we get that much acreage, all the hoofstock would be paddocked rather than pastured, but you can see a theme in things. Multiple uses for everything, lol. I am rather big on that. Critters can't be just single-use.
Even my needlework has multiple uses when you get down to it. It provides me hours of pleasure and relaxation, and makes pretty things that are useful around the house, like all the afghans I make for keeping us warm in cool weather. Speaking of which, it's been cool enough, we've had to turn off the fans and crank the heater on to low, plus have afghans on the bed the last few nights! This is a bit TOO cool for end of July!! So, we are making plans ... there's working on getting out of debt, which just looks funny to bankers (what do you mean you have no debt at all? Not even a credit card????), and saving up a downpayment on a halfway decent place.
We don't mind a fixer-upper, but I know we can afford a good house - calculators figure with our debt ratio and combined incomes, that we can afford $150K for a house. At that price, I expect at LEAST 5 acres with it, instead of a darn tiny little city lot with a pricey house on it! Which, sadly, many houses are. We're keeping our top price below what the calculators say we can afford - no more than $75K. That way, I can do what I want with the garden and orchard and all, and he'll have a space to work on the vehicles when they need it, and yadda yadda yadda. Plus payments will be at a level we could afford even on ONE paycheck, because we all know that eventually, I won't be at the plant, because I'll be too busy at the farm.
This is also why my recent Amazon purchases have been used novels in good shape that I want to read, as well as NEW books on mini-farming and marketing from your mini-farm. If it ends up that we don't get enough acreage to support hoofstock even in paddocks (which would necessitate a lot more frequent cleaning up after them to prevent hoof diseases, plus twice-daily watering and feeding ... but ground could then be put into production for grain instead of using it for pasture ... and then you have to buy and haul in hay, as well ... so much to consider!) ... anyhow, if we get enough for hoofstock, even if we have to paddock-raise it, I want to know ahead of time what to do and how to do it, to make the homestead as self-sustaining AND profitable as it can possibly be, without getting into non-organic/natural methods. Which means, yes, I got my trilogy of used books yesterday, along with another new book on small-acreage farming. But for now, it's time to find y'all some freebie homesteading-type books, and get myself together for work, all while trying to keep Smudge happy with petting. Hey, he rewards me with LOUD purring and happy paws and occasional nose-nose on my hand. Little snot (not so little at around 15 pounds, but still ... ) Hugs, all!
KINDLE FREEBIES OF INTEREST
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