Reflecting and Looking Ahead

May 26, 2012 in California, choices, economy, Family, Farming, moving, Positive Thinking, summer by boxcarkids | 2 comments

The kids and I were discussing our upcoming adventure recently, and as sometimes happens the talk shifted to a melancholy review of all the things they would miss once we leave.  In the past I’ve tried to deflect this sort of talk and, playing Pollyanna, get them to focus on all the good things about the move.  This time I suggested we make a list – starting with all the things we would miss.  Naturally, for the kids, friends topped the list.  Friends, their schools and teachers, then after some reflection the beach, scenery, weather and theme parks were added.  Never mind that we haven’t been to a theme park in years – my middle school student is headed to Magic Mountain with the other honor students on Tuesday so it’s on her mind!

It might seem odd, but friends don’t top my list of things I’ll miss – at this point our face to face friends have dwindled in number and even those that live nearby we see infrequently. Our situation (and lack of ability to socialize like we used to) has isolated us.  Of course I will miss a few special people (Lu :-) ) but at this stage in my life most of my friends are already spread far and wide.

I will miss the ocean.  I don’t swim in it (too cold) or surf (never learned) and while I used to sail I don’t do that any longer either.  But it isn’t ocean activities that I’ll miss – it’s the presence of the ocean.  The mercurial moods, the vast expansive horizon, and the smell, oh the smell of ocean air. That wonderful mix of fresh salty clean open air scent underlain by the faintly rank notes of drying kelp and dead fish! If a scent could be said to effervesce it’s ocean air, popping against your nose like champagne bubbles, enveloping you, threading through your hair so that hours later you can recapture it by closing your eyes and bringing a fistful of locks to your nose.  Sun, sand and salt. The shock of cold water on your feet as you stroll along the tide-line. Laughter and seagulls and the splashing of waves ashore.  That’s what I’ll miss.  If I don’t make it back, ship my ashes west to the Pacific Ocean!

After suitable period of mourning for all the things we will miss I asked the kids – “OK, now what won’t you miss?  What will you be glad to leave behind?”  I believe they exclaimed “THE TRAILER” in unison!  That was quickly followed by small cramped spaces, the RV park, certain neighbors (others we will miss) and the lack of an outdoor area in which to play.  Thinking of things we will be glad to leave behind us was a definite mood lifter!

Myself I will be happy to leave behind our entire living situation – the small space (both inside and out), the lack of privacy, the unending noise, having to walk the dogs instead of let them out to run, and the endless anxiety about just how we would be able to manage to stay in this unpleasant living arrangement!  You know it’s bad when you hate your living situation but worry that you won’t be able to maintain it!  I look forward to more space, privacy, the ability to have more control over my environment and my family’s wellbeing, and having more adult family members in my kids’ lives.

So to top it off I asked the kids – “And what are you looking forward to?”  Their list includes lots more space, having their own rooms (we hope) in a bigger house, farm animals, joining 4-H, getting to know our distant family, organic foods, and the forest.  My youngest (my son) summed it up for all of us when he said:

“I’m looking forward to having a good life!”

Checklist

May 24, 2012 in 2nd Career, Family, Future, Homesteading, moving, selling trailer, summer by boxcarkids | 4 comments

Just over 3 weeks until we load up, hitch up a u-haul trailer and hit the road!  I’ve been chipping away at the ‘to do’ list and we are making good progress.  Most of the things we can live without for the next 3 weeks have been sorted and packed away and are awaiting trailer loading at a friends house.  There are a few boxes I intend to resort/repack just to make sure we are not packing any jetsam.  The laborious part has been going through a file cabinet worth of various papers from the past decades, sorting out what should be kept vs what can be recycled and what should be shredded.  Unfortunately my shredder is only willing to deal with 3 or 4 dozen sheets before it overheats and shuts down.  It requires at least half an hour of ‘rest’ before it is willing to start up again!

We have given up on the idea of a yard sale – too much work schlepping loads of things to another freinds’ house and a wasted day of sitting around while people paw through things.  The Goodwill store and varous neighbors are benefiting from our discards!

I’ve been getting the kids’s vaccinations updated and requests for medical records in to the doctor’s office.  We have 2 more dental visits I hope to squeeze in after school before we leave.  I’m still in a dialogue with Medi-Cal as to whether they can enroll me (and pay for the removal of the mole, which, naturally turned out not to be cancerous despite the indications to the contrary – good news but with $1500 of medical bills I wish I’d just ignored it!).  Hopefully we will have this resolved before we leave because I’m pretty sure they won’t cover me once we hit the state line.

The estimates on car repairs have been acquired – the good news is the brakes might be noisy but they are fine otherwise and the transmission is not in need of repair at this time!  The other service/repair estimates have totaled up to about $675 (oil change, new alternator, hitch repair/replacement, power steering service, new air filter, and AC repair).  Additional suggested work (as soon as we can afford it) include repair/replacement of the rack and pinion, some strut link repair, and plugging an oil and hydralic system leak.  With the 2 new tires, battery that was replaced a few months ago, new radiator and some other related temperature control thingy replaced last year while I was working, and brake work about a year ago I feel as if we will have nearly rebuilt this car!  After visiting four different repair places I’m somewhat soured on the entire profession of mechanics!

The moving/shipping estimates are all too expensive, ranging from a low of $1591 to a high of $2775 to ship what amounts to the contents of a 5×10 storage unit.  The U-haul trailer appears to be the way to go – that estimate is closer to $600 and even considering that it will slow us down and require more gas, it will be cheaper than the lowest shipping estimate.

We still haven’t sold our trailer – that is my biggest concern now.  We have had some interest but no offers so I’ll keep lowering the price incrementally until we do (I’ve already lowered it $1,000).  I had hoped to get what we paid for it but that seems unlikely at this point. This is disapointing and means we will arrive with very little capital to use for a new dwelling of some sort.  We may be looking at a sod house! Just kidding as I doubt the local permitting body will allow that!  A friend has started a writing campaign to the Ellen Degeneres show (http://ellen.warnerbros.com/show/respond/?PlugID=432) to see if she could help, but I view that as a long shot – probably as long as stopping in Vegas to play the slot machines and win our stake that way!  We appreciate the effort regardless!

School is winding down – I attended the Honors Awards Breakfast at middle school for my 6th grader (4.0 the entire year :-) this morning before heading to another auto shop for repair estimates and next week is the Volunteer Recognition Tea, and talent and art shows at the elementary school.  It’s an ending that is tinged with some saddness for the kids – saying good bye to friends and schools they like – but at the same time they are already turning their vision forward to the journey and ad

 

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Farming, Hobby Farming & Homesteading

May 20, 2012 in Farming, hobby farm, Homesteading by boxcarkids | 6 comments

There’s a big difference between those three!  Farming generally refers to growing crops and raising animals as a business and livelihood.   It can be done on a huge scale involving thousands of acres of land and hired workers to plant and harvest and tend herds.  It can be highly mechanized – involving the use of large and expensive equipment and machinery like tractors, balers, and combines (did you know a used combine can cost over $50,000?).  Farming can be a risky venture – sometimes it’s great, sometime not.  Your success is heavily dependent on factors outside of your control, such as weather, pests and prices.  It’s no wonder that the number of farmers in America drops every year and fewer young people go into the field.  I don’t aspire to be a farmer.

Hobby farming is farming at a much smaller scale – both in land area and time dedicated to the endeavor.  The hobby part comes in because you are supposed to have a real job to pay the bills and do your farming on your time off.  You might live in town and travel out to your farm property on the weekend – a system that works best if you don’t have animals that require daily care.  In fact some of the books call this weekend farming instead of hobby farming.  In addition to growing food for their own use, hobby farmers seem to aim to make a little money – by selling products at a farmer’s market, roadside stand, the internet, or through a CSA (community supported agriculture) association.  Except for having a ‘real’ job and farming on the weekend this pretty much describes what I’d like to do.

Homesteading is like hobby farming, only you live on the farm and there is an emphasis on sustainable living that can range from merely trying to produce some of the food you eat, to living totally off the grid.  I see us somewhere in between these extremes – living in a rural area without city water, sewer systems and trash pickup is bound to make one more aware of waste and limited resources.  If possible I’d like to include water capture (rain barrels) and solar energy in our lifestyle.  We already recycle but find we still take bags of trash to the dumpster on a weekly basis so I’m looking at areas where we can reduce waste.  Newspaper and cardboard (now recycled) can be used to make a kill mulch for a garden; space for bulk buying will mean larger and fewer containers; and naturally we won’t be buying as much processed foods which will cut down on packaging materials. I’m sure we will think of more things once we are settled.

I hope we will be able to produce things to sell – some ideas are honey and beeswax products, mushrooms, wool – from sheep or angora rabbits, milk, yogurt and cheese (from dairy goats) and goat meat.  I’ve been trying to figure out markets (the book on our amazon.com wish list details a study of the farmer’s market in a nearby town) and the flip side of markets – the competition in the area where we will be headed.  No point in investing in, or pinning our hopes on, a particular crop or product only to find the market is already sewn up by an established farm or just isn’t there.  For instance, it appears that as tempting as farm fresh eggs are there isn’t much of a market for that – apparently everyone has their own hens or has a neighbor or family member who does.  I guess even hobby farming can be a risky venture!

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