Homesteading in retirement?

[Music Lover]

Music lover>>> That is an ideal location and would work for me (wife). I believe that would work for her and for me no close neighbors.

I got lucky with a unique location but I still have neighbors. They're 100' away and while I don't see them when in our outside deck area I still hear the kids playing and the usual grass cutting, power tools, etc. But it's a compromise we can live with. Also, we both have elderly parents that live close and that provides convenience and peace of mind as issues are starting to arise.

 

[Fermion]

I guess we kind of have both. We have 30 acres in the mountains, designated timber land, with a new 30x40 metal pole barn with concrete floor and more fir and larch than you could hand cut in a dozen lifetimes. We have also started building a house in middle of town closest to that acreage and have a Safeway 4 blocks away, library and city hall 5 blocks away and a pretty big hospital 10 blocks away. It is about a 8 mile drive to the mountain property.

It is weird though we have more wild turkeys in the middle of town at our house site than on our mountain property. My wife gives them corn sometimes

 

[street]

^ looks great, and you are right, you also have the best of both worlds.

 

[old medic]

We are currently building our 4 acre homestead... about 3 years in. 2 pieces of property side by side, 2 old houses, rebuilding one as our home while living in a camper. We have Grape vines, figs , apple, plum, peach and pear trees, several raised beds and about a 1/4 acre garden going in. About 6 cords of oak and maple with many others down in the woods behind us. Needing to build a chicken tractor... Our chickens didn't move with us, and miss fresh eggs. We both grew up country living, farms, gardens, preserving.
Looking forward to being fully retired next year and having more time to work on it.

 

[FIREd]

My father became a homesteader when he retired. Now that he's getting older, I enjoy giving him a hand every once in a while. He has a vegetable garden and a productive orchard and berry garden (he's almost self-sufficient in that area and in fact gifts a lot of it to the family). He heats his house with firewood cut on his property and all the lumber he uses for various projects also comes from his property. He collects rain water for his watering needs. If he felt so inclined he could fish trout in the stream bordering his property and while I think that he should get a few chickens, he's not keen on the idea. He makes cider, sauerkraut, pasteurized fruit juices, etc... he exchanges some of what he produces for cheeses and meat produced by neighbors.

His home is only 5 minutes from a small town with many amenities (including a couple of doctors), 15 minutes from the area's main hospital, and about 25 minutes from "the big city". Don't get me wrong, his property is far from large (only a few acres) but he makes the most of it.

 

[Fermion]

To me true homesteading is when you go off in the back country of Alaska with just an axe and a rifle and you spend a few years living off the land and building a cabin or something.

Raising a few vegetables while paying for services like internet, electricity and consuming gasoline, medicine, etc. is still really living within the bounds of modern society, if a bit on the edges.

 

[Sunset]

I enjoy the country living more then anything, but not into full time off grid living. I enjoy the cabin and solitude at the ranch and spend all the time I want there at the cabin. I also enjoy the physical work of splitting wood and hauling all by sled to the cabin site. No power, no running water is a humbling thing for me after a week. When I'm wore out, I can come home to all the luxury of easy living.

Interesting, I have a cabin somewhat similar.
I tell folks I'm living like it's 1900, no power, no running water, wood stove, outhouse, etc..
It is a lot of work each day to just live, and after spending 2 months there in the summer, I'm in much better shape and have no need for a gym.

But I can see, someday I'll just have to stop going there, and stick to cruises as it's too much work at some point.

 

[old medic]

Raising a few vegetables while paying for services like internet, electricity and consuming gasoline, medicine, etc. is still really living within the bounds of modern society.

I do have to agree with you in part... Its like "camping" .... some its sleeping on the ground using your saddle for a pillow... others its a Million dollar Motorhome. We considered staying totaly off the grid, But since we plan on spending the rest of our lives here we went the hooking to power for an easier future. But we are designing and building to stay as self sufficient as possible.

 

[Alderman]

It’s nice to hear from folks with a liking for country living.
Was just wondering if there were many on the site as there doesn’t seem to be many posts about the contended country lifestyle.

 

[RAE]

DW and I could not live in an urban area, but we are not quite true homesteaders either...........something in between, I would say. We have an old house on 4 lots at the edge of a small town. We grow fruit trees and shrubs on our property (mostly for making wine), I have a large vegetable garden, and we forage for mushrooms and other things just down the road on public land. We also fish and hunt deer (and small game) on either public land or a friend's nearby lake property, and we process all of the wild game we harvest ourselves. We harvest wild rice at a nearby river, which is something not too many people get to do. We get free-range eggs from a neighbor down the road from us. We buy grass-fed beef and lamb from a local farmer.

So yes, we have a nice house with electricity and all the usual comforts, but we also like to live as close to the land as we can. It's a compromise of sorts, but it works well for us.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

It’s nice to hear from folks with a liking for country living.
Was just wondering if there were many on the site as there doesn’t seem to be many posts about the contended country lifestyle.

We are all about country living. Although we are technically in the city limits (they LOVE to annex land into the city around here) we are about as much rural as it gets in our state. We have a little more than 6 acres and are zoned rural (and about 5.5 acres are woods that we don't have to do squat with), so the taxes aren't too crazy. We have all the good (and trappings) of rural living but have two excellent hospitals that are less than 12 minutes from the house and shopping/groceries are about 10 minutes away. Shoot, I can even get to Costco in about 30 minutes.

I am from the Atlanta area and have had my fill of big city living. It had some pros, but the cons far, FAR outweighed the pros and I can't EVER see myself living in a large city again.

 

[EllisWyatt]

We live on acreage outside of New Orleans. Best of all worlds. Nearest neighbor 1/2 mile away, but can get to New Orleans in less than an hour for some of the finest dining in the world.
Homesteading? Don't know if it qualifies, but we have chickens for eggs, citrus (satsumas, navel and blood oranges), blueberries, some vegetables, etc. etc..and just finished splitting about 2 cords of oak wood.
All I know is that life is goood.

 

[old medic]

And what happens when you get older?
A couple of widows are still living here independently in their 90s...one 91, one 96..

Thanks for bringing up an old memory.... talking about independent country folks...
For days after the Blizzard of 93 I was running with the fire dept, clearing roads of down trees, delivering supplies and checking on folks... On day 3 we get a call to check on an 86 year old widow that lived alone about 1/2 mile back in the woods off the end of a dead end road. We get to the end of the road... no tire tracks... have to tread on foot through the woods from all the down trees. We get to the house.. all quite, no tracks out front.. Knock on the door... no answer.... We are thinking the worst... we start walking around the house and there we find her... Outside... she had flipped the cover off her hand dug well and was drawing water with a bucket....
We introduced ourselves deliver a message from her niece, and that we are check on folks and bring supplies and food to people who need them...
She gave us a hug, thanked us for our work....
AND PROCEEDED TO LOAD US UP WITH CANNED FOOD TO BRING TO THE NEEDY...

 

[street]

^ that is a great story! Rural life has been my life from birth, so for me it is who I am. I was born in the country and will die in the country. I hope anyway.

An interesting question was asked in this thread. What do you do, when you get old when living in rural area?

My question would be what do you do, when you get old living in a (metro) large city?

 

[old medic]

^ that is a great story! Rural life has been my life from birth, so for me it is who I am. I was born in the country and will die in the country. I hope anyway.

An interesting question was asked in this thread. What do you do, when you get old when living in rural area?

My question would be what do you do, when you get old living in a (metro) large city?

We both grew up country, self reliant family... Lived every summer on the great Grandparents farm...
As for living in a Metro area... we did for a short time... it got old quick

 

[Music Lover]

^ that is a great story! Rural life has been my life from birth, so for me it is who I am. I was born in the country and will die in the country. I hope anyway.

An interesting question was asked in this thread. What do you do, when you get old when living in rural area?

My question would be what do you do, when you get old living in a (metro) large city?

Obviously it's a lot easier to be independent as you age if you live in a city. I'm sure you know that.

For every story of a healthy 85-year old cutting wood and tending their garden out in the country, there are dozens of other people unable to do those things. Rural life can be great but one must accept the realities that come with it.

 

[RAE]

^ that is a great story! Rural life has been my life from birth, so for me it is who I am. I was born in the country and will die in the country. I hope anyway.

An interesting question was asked in this thread. What do you do, when you get old when living in rural area?

My question would be what do you do, when you get old living in a (metro) large city?

I think there is room for reasonable compromise here. Personally, I do not plan to ever move to a large city as I get older.....it just wouldn't work for me, regardless of the proximity to medical care and other things. On the other hand, living way back in the woods somewhere where I had to plow my own road open in the winter, cut my own firewood, pump my own water, etc, etc, would of course not work very well as I approached the last years of my life either. But I do believe it is very possible to live where I live right now (edge of a small town, with enough land for my garden, fruit trees, etc) pretty much for my whole life, if I choose to do that. Medical care is adequate here, and I have never been one to insist on world-class medical care within 10 minutes of my home anyway. There is something to be said for quality of life, while you are living, and I have no plans to give up my current quality of life in order to seek better medical care or other conveniences in a big city.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I recently had to see a very specialized surgeon for a medical condition that had to be monitored for several months. I didn't end up needing surgery but it was a possibility. The nearest hospital and specialist office are both 10 minutes from my house, with the surgeon in a group practice with someone on call 24 X 7. We think about moving from time to time but I realized some of the places we've thought about moving to might be an hour or two away from the specialized kind of medical care I recently needed. We didn't really buy our house with the thought of access to medical care, but now that we are older it is one of the reasons we've decided to stay put so far.

We have several senior clubs in the area, public transportation not too far away, one of the senior clubs has door to door bus mini-bus service, and one even has free Uber for seniors. With Instacart, the senior clubs for activities, senior bus and Uber, I think we could age in place here even if we couldn't drive any more. Plus we can walk to stores, our bank, restaurants, a post office and craft breweries. Most of that wasn't here when we moved to our neighborhood decades ago, but urban sprawl reached out and brought all these businesses with it.

 

[street]

Music Lover >> I agree with you 100%. I guess I wasn't putting in the equation of splitting wood, hauling water and an outhouse. My thinking was living with all modern facilities, but live in rural America.

RAE >> I'm on the same page as you are. I like the everyday convivences and I wouldn't want to do all those chores to stay alive. I would do it for some adventure for a day or so but not everyday. Thanks

 

[sparky08]

I'm heading in the opposite direction. Grew up rural. Never lived in a city. Have lived on a 8 acre farm for the past 15 years.

Large garden, orchard, animals, and keeping a 100 year old farm house in repair.

We're getting tired of the work, and always being tied to the farm. We just bought a house in a small town and are starting the transition.

Who knew that I could get water without a well? And someone comes around once a week to pick up my garbage (if I remember to take it down to the end of the driveway).

 

[old medic]

For every story of a healthy 85-year old cutting wood and tending their garden out in the country, there are dozens of other people unable to do those things. Rural life can be great but one must accept the realities that come with it.

BUT... Is the Physical mandatory effort, in a healthy environment possibly a contributing factor to these folks longevity
I've seen some tough old folks around here over the years...

 

[ivinsfan]

BUT... Is the Physical mandatory effort, in a healthy environment possibly a contributing factor to these folks longevity
I've seen some tough old folks around here over the years...

It depends on the person, I've seen plenty of neighbors injured and messed up because they were too stubborn to get professional help for some jobs.. My DH is right on the line with this, it's the I'll do it myself mindset.

 

[old medic]

It depends on the person, I've seen plenty of neighbors injured and messed up because they were too stubborn to get professional help for some jobs.. My DH is right on the line with this, it's the I'll do it myself mindset.

You picking on me about my tree fall....
And was stubborn enough to heal up and finish the job...

 

[Music Lover]

BUT... Is the Physical mandatory effort, in a healthy environment possibly a contributing factor to these folks longevity
I've seen some tough old folks around here over the years...

Sure, it helps. And probably for a lot of people, if they weren't doing chores they'd probably get no exercise. But the problem with chores in the country is that they never end, even when you need a few days off.

Moving to the country when you're older and don't have physical background can be a rude awakening for many, and possibly a path to injury.

 

[street]

Sure, it helps. And probably for a lot of people, if they weren't doing chores they'd probably get no exercise. But the problem with chores in the country is that they never end, even when you need a few days off.

Moving to the country when you're older and don't have physical background can be a rude awakening for many, and possibly a path to injury.

I agree very much so, with that statement.