Buying The Farm

I’m always inspired by natural solutions like this one:

Gunthorp also raises his own feed. His animals eat non-certified, but organically grown grains in addition to the feed acquired from grazing. Gunthorp even started growing mulberry trees for the pigs, while most farmers would be cutting them out of the fencerows. According to Gunthorp, “mulberries are one of the most nutritionally complete foods for pigs and chickens. The pigs will sit under the trees waiting for the berries to drop.”

http://seedstock.com/2011/07/20/gunthorp-farms-survives-and-thrives-on-creativity/

As I’m inviting you all to come along for the slow ride* of my homesteading travels, it seems only fair to explain the hoped-for destination: A small, self-sufficient homestead on a few acres.

Now, I’ve been a slowpoke in the rat race, earning very little cheese, if you will, with which to finance this dream, so buying a fully-operational, “turnkey” farm outright is well outside my grasp. But this limitation has made clear that whole crisis/opportunity adage: In my quest for cheaper alternatives to “buying the farm”, I’ve grown to love the idea of building one from the ground up – literally!

The dream at this point is to find some vacant land at a good price – surprisingly do-able, even in Southern Ontario – on which to build a small home, some outbuildings, and a barn, then populate these with some chickens, goats, maybe a pig or three, and a garden with which to feed us all.

I fully realise, as one who lives in a small condo, gardens in a windowsill, and wrangles nothing bigger than a moody Chartreux, that there’s a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m keen to learn and eager to get started.  I’m also open to comments, constructive criticism, and advice, so feel free to avail yourself of the comments feature.  Welcome to my journey!

* My immediate instinct, upon hearing this phrase, is to rock-scream “take it eaaaaaasyyyy!”  Has there ever been a less relaxing way to deliver that message?

I’m a city slicker who’s tiring of the “ticky-tacky box” life, and longing to build a new life in the country. But while I’ve mastered self-sufficiency in the urban sense (mortgage, job, cooking for one), I’ve never had the opportunity to self-suffice in the traditional ways. I’ve been researching and learning for the past few years, and have decided to keep my notes in this blog form so that others might feed off my momentum, or at least glean some inspiration of their own.

(Yes, you can expect plenty more farm-related wordplay. )