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Duncan

Duncan

Awesome Friend
Neighbor
Joined
Jun 20, 2020
Messages
331
Hi; my name is Duncan. My wife Dawn and I left a big city (Phoenix) two years ago to homestead in rural Idaho. We had no background whatsoever in that sort of thing, but we got a hundred+ year old farmhouse on a couple of acres in Twin Falls County and started a big garden, a flock (20) of chickens, and a herd (7) of goats. We made every mistake possible (and a lot that weren't) but are having a great time doing it. We live a couple of miles outside of a small town of abouit 3000 people where everyone seems to know everyone else. Our neighbors have been really helpful and friendly, and we seem to have fit in really well. We sure have a long way to go to become truly self-sufficient, but we're making a start!
 
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Hi Duncan. Glad you found us, and good to have you with us. I think you will like it here. You certainly have a lot to offer, and your input will be much appreciated.
 
Morgan101 said:
Hi Duncan. Glad you found us, and good to have you with us. I think you will like it here. You certainly have a lot to offer, and your input will be much appreciated.
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One of the reasons I signed up was when I was just lurking and saw you name here, as well as a couple of other folks. It's nice to see people I know!
 
Duncan said:
You must be pretty close to Idaho, shipmate! I see your crow was "AT"; mine was "IC", many moons ago!
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Yes, it has been many moons ago that I rode Aircraft carriers.
I'm not as close to Idaho as I would like to be. There was talk of moving the Idaho state line west to include the sane side of Washington and Oregon. I'm all for that but we all know it will never happen.
 
Hello and welcome from the S.W. corner of Oregon, our former neighbors on our west side moved to the panhandle of Idaho and are going through the lumps and bumps of early homesteading. We spent 17 years in a 17' travel trailer, which we used to use for hunting and fishing when we lived in Colorado, while we built our 1,300+ square foot home and just last year finished a standby solar system, considering that we first moved here in 1981, homesteading can take a few years to accomplish and we're still not done at 77 and 73 years, we figure that if we get this much done, anyone could do as much or even better. There is a situation called "Delayed Gratification" that a lot of people don't seem to have the patience to have to get what they want, I call that the "McDonald Syndrome", the I want my hamburger and I want it now, anyway, it sounds like you're headed in the right direction and have a good start. Being on this site is good, there are all kinds of experiences that people have gone through that could help you get through rough areas, people with survival smarts, tons of how to do it stuff.
 
viking said:
Hello and welcome from the S.W. corner of Oregon, our former neighbors on our west side moved to the panhandle of Idaho and are going through the lumps and bumps of early homesteading. We spent 17 years in a 17' travel trailer, which we used to use for hunting and fishing when we lived in Colorado, while we built our 1,300+ square foot home and just last year finished a standby solar system, considering that we first moved here in 1981, homesteading can take a few years to accomplish and we're still not done at 77 and 73 years, we figure that if we get this much done, anyone could do as much or even better. There is a situation called "Delayed Gratification" that a lot of people don't seem to have the patience to have to get what they want, I call that the "McDonald Syndrome", the I want my hamburger and I want it now, anyway, it sounds like you're headed in the right direction and have a good start. Being on this site is good, there are all kinds of experiences that people have gone through that could help you get through rough areas, people with survival smarts, tons of how to do it stuff.
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Hey, Viking!
At one time we'd thought about moving to your area; we actually were looking at homesteads at Cave Junction, which is just a half hour from California. However Idaho was a bit more cost-effective, although we sometimes have second thoughts... We have a trailer, a little Lance 16-footer, but it's kind of hard to go anyplace more then a couple days at a time away from the garden and the critters.

I think it's really great that an older person can still get around and do homesteading stuff. Of course, I'm only 75, so maybe it's my impetuous youth that keeps me going! I've had a lot of folks ask me why I decided to start homesteading in my 70's, and I never could explain that I wanted to do it before I got old. Believe me, getting up at 0600 every day to feed the critters, hustle bales of hay and straw, and other things has done wonders for keeping me in better shape than I'd be otherwise.

So I guess I'm an old n00bie, and I hope to get better as I keep learning and homesteading!
 
People don't realize how tough it is to pull up stakes and start again, we look back and see all that we've done around here and sometimes wonder how we did it, a 90 pound sack of ready mix now feels like twice the weight of the 94 pound sacks of cement I carried on my shoulder up to the top of our property to build a 1,100 gallon cistern in my late 30's early 40's. In 2018 I went through congestive heart failure, thankfully I got a very good cardiologist that helped me with meds and in 2019 is when I built the solar array system, but for each support post it took a 90 pound sack of ready mix, those sacks really kicked my butt and I realized that getting old is not for weak willed people, those sacks were carried up to the array site in a small trailer behind my lawn tractor, thankfully.
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Welcome to the forum! :welcome:

I love Idaho, my brother and I go Elk hunting in a small place north of you about an 8 hour drive but probably only 300 miles (maybe less) by crow flight near Elk City. I have never been in the southern part of Idaho but the Nez Perez around the Salmon River I fell in love with years ago!

Lot of good folks and good info here willing to share knowledge. Again Welcome!
 
Duncan said:
You must be pretty close to Idaho, shipmate! I see your crow was "AT"; mine was "IC", many moons ago!
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Me, I was an FC. Reminds me… a friend and shipmate who was and ET2, He was prone to getting flustered when standing petty officer of the deck in port… busy as heck, work crews and people coming onboard/departing etc.

We’d sometimes slip a note to the messenger… to have "ET2 Tony", page someone over the 1mc. He’d grab the mic and read the note without thinking.

Once we sent up a note that read “IC2 Clearly, quarterdeck!” My friend actually read it aloud before realizing what he’d just said…. Every squid on the ship died laughing… even the officers… Needless to say he was a bit angry with us!

Hey, what are friends for!
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Duncan said:
You must be pretty close to Idaho, shipmate! I see your crow was "AT"; mine was "IC", many moons ago!
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@Duncan I am a old retired navy guy, well not old but by Navy standards I am old! lol I traded my crow in for anchors with one star before I retired, "MNCS". So welcome shipmate! I failed to read before my first welcome msg! o_O
PS I am 45 years old
 
Homesteader33 said:
@Duncan I am a old retired navy guy, well not old but by Navy standards I am old! lol I traded my crow in for anchors with one star before I retired, "MNCS". So welcome shipmate! I failed to read before my first welcome msg! o_O
PS I am 45 years old
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Right. Isn't an E-8 superchief about halfway between a 4-striper and a RADM? That's what I learned from our leading chief, anyway! LOL!
 
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