Comments on: Choosing the agrarian life

By: deputyheadmistress

deputyheadmistress — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:27:11 +0000

We’ve raised chickens for eggs and meat, goats for meat and milk, hogs for meat, and now we have a couple calves. Oh, and ducks, we’ve done ducks.

I have observed what you have, and what I find extremely ironic and also sad is that all the values that the Mother Earth types cherish and hold dear that make any level of ‘back to the land’ possible are completely incompatible with the people and positions they vote for and support- It’s like what happened with CPSIA- ‘green’ types, small progressive crafters and artisans were the hardest hit by a bill created and shoved through and protected by the folks they thought were their political allies.
It’s like chickens voting of foxes to rule the hen house.

By: John McGeough

John McGeough — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:41:29 +0000

You bring back very pleasant memories of my childhood. My parents raised chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese. I learned so much from those wonderful animals. Keeping animals are wonderful ways to teach kids biology, animal husbandry, compassion and life. Thanks for a great blog….

By: Shawna

Shawna — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:40:14 +0000

“I have stumbled across a movement with which I share certain perspectives in common but of which I am not really a part.”

This is how I felt within the homeschooling community

As for the agrarian life, we love our small little parcel and what we can do and grow on it. We are still as involved in “regular” life as we were before LOL we just gather eggs, prune fruit trees, snip herbs as the cooking dinner calls for them, and harvest many of our own veggies. And family and friends love us for it **shrug** we have become somewhat of an attraction for them to stop and visit

By: Dana

Dana — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:30:10 +0000

I know they’re out there. I talk to them sometimes. They just don’t seem to write about it online as much. Maybe that is the difference between someone who is doing it for the lifestyle and someone doing it as a social statement.

By: Linda

Linda — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:47:31 +0000

Chickens are just the beginning! That’s how we started, and now we have cattle (beef and family milk cows), goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, a hog, a horse, cats, dogs, and we even had a donkey for a few years. And, yes, we have the big garden, too. The orchard is coming along slowly.

We’ve found Nebraska to be a pretty good place for conservative, homeschooling, homesteading folks!

By: Mia

Mia — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:10:50 +0000

I know a couple of conservative homeschooling families who keep animals. One family has a few chickens in a nice coop underneath a high deck out back – and they live in a very ritzy neighborhood. She said the neighbors know they have chickens and they don’t really mind. Another family I know has goats from which they get milk and make cheese. These are both very conservative families. I know another conservative family where the mother became a “naturopathic doctor”.

I don’t think getting back to basics is necessarily a “conservative” or “liberal” issue. It’s basically a distrust of the government (which both groups have had) and the desire to be independent of the government and/or big business.

By: Summer

Summer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:17:44 +0000

I expected to find nothing but conservatives as I looked more into going rural, so I’m thrilled to find a booming not-so-conservative group to join.

And the chicks, so cute!!!

By: Renae

Renae — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:29:59 +0000

When I went to church on Sunday, my former art teacher brought me a box of apples from his orchard. My friend has chickens in her backyard (in town). Another friend has an organic orchard and raises cows for milk and beef.

I’m still not sold on the animal part of our return to country living, but I’ll enjoy the harvest now and reevaluate next year. I do like Birkenstocks, so maybe it’s inevitable.

By: Dana Hanley

Dana Hanley — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:20:44 +0000

Of course, maybe you are less inclined to start a website about it when you are moving the country as part of a personal choice rather than as a political statement.

By: Dana Hanley

Dana Hanley — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:19:39 +0000

I’ve heard it, but haven’t read it yet. They don’t seem as in to blogging, though, because they don’t seem to be very well represented amongst the random sites Google brings me to when I have questions!

Not going with the Birkenstocks, though. I like my Bjorns.