Hello all!
I'm very glad to have found this forum! From the browsing of threads prior to membership, HCL seems like it is devoted to keeping the forum focused on homesteading and not letting it turn into a place like facebook! I was a member of the Backwoods Home forum for quite a few years and then one day I went to log in and poof! It was gone! Hopefully there are some carry over members here from there!
Anyways, a little about myself.
I was spent the first 15 years of my life in Central Kansas, then the next 10 in Central Nebraska. I've lived in Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming (I went to school in Laramie), Missouri (I met my wife there and our oldest was born there), Florida (our youngest was born there!), Western Kentucky and then back to Nebraska. Currently we live in my hometown where I own and operate the local body shop. I've been repairing cars and trucks for the last 21 years professionally. I have always had the dream of being a true homesteader and last year we were able to take one step closer to that dream.
A few years ago, my grandmother passed away at the ripe age of 94. She had spent almost here entire life living on our family's original homestead in far northwest Kansas. When she passed what was left of the homeplace was passed onto my dad. Now, Dad is in his 60s and really had no desire to do anything with the place, so he and my uncle talked it through and they offered it to us! To be completely honest, we weren't so sure about taking it over, as we live about 3 1/2 hours away from there, but after some reflection and prayer, decided that we should accept it. I would hate to see the place rot and fall apart and eventually become just another ghost out on the prairie.
Thus far, we have started transforming what we have there into what will become our full-time home in just a few years. We've been installing new fencing around the houses and also the pasture (what will become the barnyard). We've planted 250 windbreak trees and a dozen fruit trees as well. We've been steadily working at maintaining the buildings that we want to keep on the property, while dreaming about what we want to replace some things with. Our plan is to move down to Kansas in 5-6 years, once our boys are finished with school. My wife, is a preschool teacher, although she has been helping me run our business the last four years, and is working to get finish her degree so she can teach beyond the Pre-K levels, as the school in the closest town is in desperate need of teachers (like everywhere else). I plan to run the homestead, open a welding shop and maybe fix a few cars a year there.
I am really looking forward to discussing things with you fine folks, sharing our successes and our failures and looking to all of you for wisdom, insight and inspiration!
I'm very glad to have found this forum! From the browsing of threads prior to membership, HCL seems like it is devoted to keeping the forum focused on homesteading and not letting it turn into a place like facebook! I was a member of the Backwoods Home forum for quite a few years and then one day I went to log in and poof! It was gone! Hopefully there are some carry over members here from there!
Anyways, a little about myself.
I was spent the first 15 years of my life in Central Kansas, then the next 10 in Central Nebraska. I've lived in Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming (I went to school in Laramie), Missouri (I met my wife there and our oldest was born there), Florida (our youngest was born there!), Western Kentucky and then back to Nebraska. Currently we live in my hometown where I own and operate the local body shop. I've been repairing cars and trucks for the last 21 years professionally. I have always had the dream of being a true homesteader and last year we were able to take one step closer to that dream.
A few years ago, my grandmother passed away at the ripe age of 94. She had spent almost here entire life living on our family's original homestead in far northwest Kansas. When she passed what was left of the homeplace was passed onto my dad. Now, Dad is in his 60s and really had no desire to do anything with the place, so he and my uncle talked it through and they offered it to us! To be completely honest, we weren't so sure about taking it over, as we live about 3 1/2 hours away from there, but after some reflection and prayer, decided that we should accept it. I would hate to see the place rot and fall apart and eventually become just another ghost out on the prairie.
Thus far, we have started transforming what we have there into what will become our full-time home in just a few years. We've been installing new fencing around the houses and also the pasture (what will become the barnyard). We've planted 250 windbreak trees and a dozen fruit trees as well. We've been steadily working at maintaining the buildings that we want to keep on the property, while dreaming about what we want to replace some things with. Our plan is to move down to Kansas in 5-6 years, once our boys are finished with school. My wife, is a preschool teacher, although she has been helping me run our business the last four years, and is working to get finish her degree so she can teach beyond the Pre-K levels, as the school in the closest town is in desperate need of teachers (like everywhere else). I plan to run the homestead, open a welding shop and maybe fix a few cars a year there.
I am really looking forward to discussing things with you fine folks, sharing our successes and our failures and looking to all of you for wisdom, insight and inspiration!
from Ohio!
