I recently came across a trove of ancient issues of "The Mother Earth News" in my mother-in-law's back room. Earliest one there was, in fact, was Issue No. 2. I've spent a great deal of time reading through these brittle old magazines, including the contact or positions and situations ads. Some of the stories either implied or spelled out can nearly break your heart.

What I'm wondering is: Whatever happened to the authors of the ads? Are any of you reading this? If you ran a P&S or Contact ad in "Mother" during the early years and wouldn't mind sharing a bit, I'd love to hear from you. It could be instructive for those of us going through the ruralizing process now, and it sort of puts a new spin on the tradition of oral history. Any takers?

-- Earl Miller (k99grace@hotmail.com), October 11, 1999

Answers

Hi Earl. I am an old 'Mother' person. Twenty some odd years ago my husband and I (with seven kids), my sister and husband (with three kids) and our parents decided to go 'country' and become self sufficient. I have a long story...some best untold. Some of our experiences were great, others very, very sad. Where are we so many years later? My husband and I now have title to the property but have a mortgage which had to be taken to pay off my sister. She decided that she wanted to "live like the rest of the world". Our property (almost paid off) seemed like it held a goldmine to her. But, the end result was not an easy one. She sued us because we did not want to sell and then turned us into the county for some building that had been done without permit. The story gets worse.......the county has put us into bankruptcy with all the fines and permit fees. Some of the building was done twenty years ago...and they say it will fall down. Well, now the story changes again. We have rentals..old ones, but good ones. We have our garden going and it will be in great shape for spring planting. We have our wood stoves and lots and lots of wood to keep us warm for the rest of our lives (we have three buildings to tear down yet). The chickens are laying more eggs than we can eat so we give them to a friend who has lots of children and in return I always come home with something..yesterday it was two boxes of canning jars with lids. My husband and I are getting too old to start new projects that take too much time..but not too old to enjoy the homestead..(we love our "girls"..the chickens). Our children all have their own families and are going their 'thing'....they visit but are in the process of living their own lives and lifestyles. History? I have boxes and boxes of history..written and recorded. I still have a hard time going over some of it...it brings up the sadness that came when the "rest of the world" became so important to my aging sister. In the end we still love our land, the trees, the wildlife, the garden, the challenge of doing things the old way. I recently started making my own washing soap and still occasionally use the old lamp when I go on line at night. Life is ok these days. Retired, on Social Security and a small pension..not rich in money but rich in life We do what we can do to keep our county happy and they seem to realize that we will probably be dead before all their demands are met. Don't laugh..tis true! In cleaning out one of the buildings we have yet to tear down I came across our stack of old 'Mother Earth News'. Precious find...they have now taken on a new meaning and have a special place in our storeroom (which is right next to my husbands workshop). I can go research anytime and love it. Next project includes a solar cooker and we have just put an old water heater to use as solar water heater. Our original plans for life were changed by changing conditions but isn't that what life is all about? Lessons we have learned are ones we wish we could pass on to the young ones. We were there once and had all of the dreams some have now. I guess if we had lived in different times our lives would be different but we were of the Vietnam era and working to see that it was stopped....we lost a friend who was sent there and home again in body bag just a few days later..lesson was, War is Hell! Our own boys were coming of age and we sure didn't want to lose them that way. Luckily the war ended as our oldest was turning eighteen. Guess this is just rambling now..but when I start remembering it is easy for this Old Gramma to just keep typing. My best to you and thank you for your post...it was good to hear about someone considering the old 'Mothers' a good find. It was good to remember the good times...next burning season I think I will add my journal to the fire..and rid myself of some of the negative memories. Life is short...time to look for good things. I have two closing thoughts...l. Take life one day at a time and put one foot in front of the other each morning. 2. Use it up, make it do or do without. Again, my best to you and yours. Sincerely, Old Gramma

-- aka Old Gramma (Dotatrock@webtv.net), October 13, 1999.

Earl..one postscript. My sister is now living like "the rest of the world"..in a trailer on the old side of our closest city. She has her own set of problems...we have ours. We are not in contact anymore...that is sad but true and necessary. Just thought I should let you know she missed her world tour...we go on ours via Public Television....again, Sincerely, Old Gramma

-- aka Old Gramma (Dotatrock@webtv.net), October 13, 1999.

Old Gramma, PLEASE don't burn your journals. Even though they are too painful for you to read they are going to be valuable to your grandchildren. It's hard for one generation to understand the previous ones without the guidebooks.

-- Kendy Sawyer (sweetfire@grove.net), October 14, 1999.

Earl I am still plugging along. Somewhere through the years my partner decided "enough" of the lifestyle and moved on. He even shaved his beard! ha ha. Anyway I tried to hang on but eventually got tired of trying to go it alone and rejoined the rat race for a time. Spent a lot of time running with rest of the rats, then I decided "enough" and am back at homesteading again, where my heart always was I guess. Maybe it took re-joining the rat race to make me appreciate what life was really about.

There was lots of successes along the way and lots of failures too, but it all worked out and I am much richer for the experiences. It is said that everything happens for a reason and if I had not of re- joined the rat race years ago, I might not have realized how special "life on the other side" is. Also, I probably wouldn't have been able to get a grub stake to buy this place, nor would I have met my soul mate who was sick and tired of it all too so it all worked out for the best. Thanks for asking.

-- Marci (ajourend@libby.org), October 15, 1999.

Earl, did you have any idea what kind of response THAT question would generate?! I am only a MEN wanna be. I buy the old mags at tag sales and the like. I finally managed to RENT a great place, just outside of town. I know, NONE of this answers your question. The point is, all of us "wish we were there then", we were too young, or to SMART to see the truth. I find myself blaming my PARENTS for not having the forsight to buy in the country! How spoiled is that! The generation you are looking for, is not to be found on the computer. Try some of the trade papers. Good Luck!

-- k.calabro (karen2@bestweb.net), October 15, 1999.

Thanks a lot to all of you who have posted a reponse to my question. Frankly, I didn't think anyone would even bother to read it, let alone answer! I'm sort of new to bulletin boards and didn't know what to expect, so the nature, as well as the quantity, of the posts are just amazing to me. If anyone else reading this wants to share their story, I look forward eagerly to hearing it! Thanks again. Earl Miller

-- Earl Miller (k99grace@hotmail.com), October 16, 1999.

Yo, Earl, I'm out here in fly-over country in the Missouri Ozarks. I used to subscribe to TMEN until it went upscale. I went to Nam on my senior trip and spent the next 22 yrs in the Navy. After I retired I pulled a Ulyses (put an oar on my sholder and started inland) when I got far enough from the ocean that people didn't recognize the oar I stuck it in the ground, called it a tree, and bought a 20 acre "hobby farm" We have a two story frame house with bad wooden windows, a pretty good roof and an attached log cabin family room. We have a wood stove and a fireplace for heat, a sweat lodge up on the hill, a barn built by my daughter likewise a hen house. The garden provides us with fresh produce and we sometimes run a couple of head of cattle for beef. I got my deer this year the hard way (with my new truck) and we will be eating "grilled" venison (sorry) this winter. We have four generations living here and it sometimes makes life interesting. I believe that one of the primary reasons I'm living this bucollic lifestyle is my early exposure to Mother Earth News. None of my siblings has moved very far from our birthplace in Detroit. I still have a collection of tattered TMEN's use them as reference material to this day. Of course I have a collection of whole earth catalogs to including the Millinium edition and the its update. We're still out here living the good life. Cheers Joe

-- Joseph F. Longshaw (luddite@positech.net), October 17, 1999.

I am responding to your question about us "older homesteaders". We have been living a simplier life for 20 years now. No, we are not totally self-sufficent, but we do an awful lot to make us less dependent on others. We did not know homesteading was around when we deceided to move to the country and "do" for ourselves. I still have TMEN and read them to find answers even today.. Alot of other magazines have come and gone, too. We have learned alot of things over twenty years from making soap to raising our own food and canning and with Y2K coming we are very glad that we know some basic skills. Yes, we can bake bread, but we often times buy from the store. There is a balance and you have to find what fits for you and your family.. Our daughters have not followed us in the homesteading ideas but I know that they can do alot for themselves if they ever have the need to. We have friends that have our same thoughts and ideas, different but the same. Homesteading is a hard life in some ways but for us knowing that we can keep ourselves warm without depending on the gas company and we can feed ourselves for a long time without going to town gives you a really good feeling and you learn to depends on each other. If you have not gotten into homesteading yet, I recommend you start in some small way. Learn to bake bread and make jam on a Sunday afternoon or learn to can a few vegtables. It's a wonderful feeling to know that you can do for yourself and provide for your family. This is not my address, as I am presently visiting in Ga. but anything I should receive will be sent on to me. Happy Homesteading!!!

-- Helena Di Maio (chazclan@cs.com), October 17, 1999.

Perhaps I'm finally figuring out the right way to use this board...

Helena: Thanks for your message. My wife and I are indeed trying to make small steps, and have been doing so for about 19 years, but my early hopes of self-sufficiency were derailed by such inconveniences as school, job loss, and tons of overtime when the a good job finally came along. We had one small advantage in that both of us grew up on/near grandparents' farms.

I've come to fear that we'll never be able to live the complete homestead life we'd like, but we do raise a bit of garden each year, and this spring we built a henhouse and got a small flock. Kathy (dear wife) bakes most of our bread, while canning garden produce and homeschooling our two lovely daughters. Every so often, I am seized by a bug that combines cheapness, overconfidence, and and a desire to add to my skill bank, and I do something like add to the house or butcher our own pork. Maybe someday I'll learn not to spread myself so thin (although Kathy doubts it).

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's posts. I love hearing about what others have done to realize their dreams. The biggest question that comes to mind is "How did you make the break? How do you support your change in circumstances?" It's tough (I don't mean to whine) to put in 50+ hours most weeks-in fact, it's the biggest obstacle to us making our lives simpler as we'd like to. Nothing would make us happier than to spend more time working togethr to whip this place into the kind of shape we'd like to see, but there just ain't a lot left by the time I return home at night. Yet the money is necessary to support the home and other projects we've undertaken. (Don't get me wrong-this is not a Yuppie trophy house with an SUV in the garage. It's a bit less than 1200 sq. ft. from 1941 and 1989.) How does everybody do it? Sometimes it gets frustrating, as I'm sure you know.

Whew! Didn't set out to go on so long- thanks for your attention. I'm open to any advice anyone would care to offer.

Earl Miller

-- Earl Miller (k99grace@hotmail.com), October 18, 1999.

Earl, to address your last comments, and to anyone else in the same boat: I want to encourage you not to become impatient. Above all, do not overextend your credit as a cure for not getting "there" fast enough. That's what we did in the past few years and are now paying big time for our foolishness. I've had to sell my beloved goat herd and take a job, part time now, but will be full time for the winter, just to get out of debt on credit cards we used to build our barns and shelters to house animals and hay.

We went into it bass-ackwards because we figured that since we are aging boomers we had to do it now or never. The strain of time and cash deficits took its toll on our marriage, but thanks be to God, whatever doesn't destroy us makes us stronger. So now here we are, a few years older but much wiser and making plans to work hard off the homestead to pay off debt and accumulate savings to begin again. While our focus now must be on making money, we will go back to basics: modest meals, simple pleasures, and refining our gardening and home upkeep, keeping only our faithful dog and chickens.

Make a plan for your life which includes lots of time and love for your family. Your wife and kids need your love and attention now and you will never regret lavishing it on them and receiving their devotion in return. Sit down as a family and assess what you are realistically able to accomplish with each one doing his/her part, making space for just enjoying one another. Don't work yourself to death trying to achieve some ideal based on what you've read or heard about dozens of other people doing. Do only what you can do and maintain a balance between work and rest, and be happy with your decision. Set boundaries with yourself and others that will serve your highest goal as a person and as a family.

Believe me, I know how tough this is because I am just like you described yourself. If something appeals to you but you can't work it into your time or money budget, just gather information and learn about it and file it away until you can act on it. I used to think life was too short to not try everything, but now I know it is too short to try to do everything I would like, so I try to curb my tendency to do it all and concentrate on the really important things in my life and enjoy the oppportunity to do the rest if/when it comes. And you know, those opportunities do arise to surprise and delight you as the rest of your life comes into balance.

Didn't mean to sermonize, and I apologize if this is too personal, but if my experiences can help save someone else the aggravation we put ourselves through, it was worth it. Don't worship some kind of idealized "Homesteader" icon. Homesteading is just doing the best you can with what you've got and taking joy in contentment day by day. . . . stepping off the soapbox . . .

-- Nancy Johnston (nancyj@mei.net), October 19, 1999.

I found MEN while living in Saint Paul. I loved the early issues but the best thing I got from the magazine was the subscription address of Countryside. My wife and I moved from the big city to our place beyond the end of the road in 1975 and have loved the life there ever since. We bought woods so the early tasks included building houses and such, along with clearing the quarter acre garden. We have always held jobs in town which, fortunately, are within easy commuting distance. We have always done much more physical labor than was strictly required if it would result in substantial money savings; i.e. we still don't have a well and carry drinking water from the neighbors and have a cistern for the pressure water in the house. I made many mistakes along the way, most of which could be readily avoided by spending a little more time learning what others have done in the same circumstances. We did build an earth sheltered house and have been living in it since 1980. The animals have settled on chickens, cats and one dog (at a time). The time and money issues you discuss are significant and our solution is abhorent to many but it worked for us; we have no children. We work with a youth theatre in Rochester and so have a continuing supply of young people to enliven our lives and the theatre also provided us with our "grandchild" whose parents had the nerve to take her back to England with them so visits are quite expensive but not impossible. When my job disappeared in the '80's, my first concerns for a future field included the guarantee that I could work less than 40 hours/week. I work now at a computer all the time I work and that makes it seem that I will never have to retire due to physical deterioration and mentally the job forces me to do what I most like to do, which is learn. As for old TMENs, they were a forum for new ideas for me in the '70's and inspite of the "do-it-this-way-and-no other" attidue of the articles I was inspired to work towards a life style that includes the latest technology when it is better (read cheaper, faster, easier) and old technology when life depends on it (read wood heat here in Minnesota). The y2k scare that is generating so many words is the latest bogeyman that people seem to enjoy and so now is the time to acquire products that we may have trouble finding after it all blows over as well as bask in the admiration of those who haven't been working toward achieving a sustainable lifestyle.

-- kirby johnson (kirby@selco.lib.mn.us), October 26, 1999.

Ha! The Mother Earth News! I started reading that when it first came out late 60's early 70s? I was a hippie and Viet Nam vet and decided I wanted to "get back to the garden" too. Well, I did it and stuck it out for about 9 years or so. Got tired (physically and mentally) and went back to college and got my degree when I was 40 years old! Now, I have a great job and could have most anything I want and I find myself rotating back to the garden again. Once it is in your system it is hard to get it out. I now have the substance to sustain my life style of small scale farming and by the time I reach 60 should be back full circle...only now I seem to enjoy it more because the pressure of having to have a successful crop or go hungry doesn't exist and anything I grow in excess becomes saleable and the funds go back into the farm instead of paying for medical/vet bills, xtra food, and all the other things you need to survive and thrive...much better system. Seems like since the pressure is less and I'm mature enough to do this all w/out having to "light up" to enjoy it, everything just turns out better. I know it could be considered a "hobby" now instead of a lifestyle, but to that I say, eh! So what? I was a purest when most weren't even born; paid my dues with years of no health insurance and living on the edge of destruction. Now, I'm working within the system to eventually break out of the system, instead of using energy and resources fighting with the system and trying to "swim upstream". I guess I'm more patient now and can wait for nirvana, plus smell the roses along the way...anyone else raising Oberhaslis??? Peace | / \ ;-))

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), November 08, 1999.

I never put an ad in TMEN but I use to read them. In the mid 70's my X-husband, the kids and I moved to 5 acres and did the garden and chicken thing. He lasted about 2 years, then moved back to town by himself. The little ones and I stuck it out. After my dad died, I sold the 5 acres and moved back to the farm where I grew up. I only raise a few tomatoes, cucumber and peppers now, since the kids are grown. I do raise a few head of beef cattle, but no chickens right now. One of the neighbors share crops most of the farm(60 acres). I still have my town job, but will retire at the end of the year. I will probably expand the garden and do some canning next year. I might even raise chickens again. Now I will be able to do all the things I never had time to do. I'm like others writing here, the pressure is off and it is much more enjoyable.

-- Cindy Bennett (cjben84@hotmail.com), November 10, 1999.

Just wondering if anyone realized that the original editors regrouped some years back(MEN was sold,I believe in the 80's and moved to NY!) and started a new mag called BackHome Magazine.It's alot like the original MEN.They have a website-it's a great magazine!

-- Barbara in KY (conlane@prodigy.net), November 20, 1999.

I came online less than a week ago, with alot of skepticism. To find a spot to be able to communicate with a bunch fo old homesteaders just blows me away. I had my pile of MENEWS, too. I answered a few of those ads but never ran any myself. Homesteading was the answer I found myself asking myself after coming home from Vietnam. I have never regretted that decision. I traveled all over looking for my land. Even checked out Peace River Valley up in British Columbia. I finally settled on the edge fo the Ozark Plateau in Southeast Missouri. Bought 40 acres in December of 1974. Moved out the next spring. Disaster, totally unprepared didn't have the necessary skills or the necessary money. Within a year my first marriage was over and I had to leave the land. I hung onto the place though, kept making payments and set about aquiring the necessary skills and tools. 1981; I finally pay of the land then I get married and we're both working and saving and we move in September of 1983. I barely got the roof on the house by the first snow fall. The next 9 years were not easy but they were fullfilling. The first chickens, geese, ducks, establishing an orchard, asparagus bed, bery patches, clearing by hand, building the house, starting the barn, cutting firewood, hauling water, fencing, we got a horse. I mostly work on the homestead, my wife brought in most of our cash. By 1991 we're fairly well established, no debt, enough to eat, warm in the winter, not much cash, but we're happy. My wife's father dies and her mother wants to move onto the farm. I get a dozer in, contract and supervise a well driller, pump installer, septic tank installer, prophane tank installer, dig footer holes and get concrete delivered. My wife and mother-in-law pick out an expensive, large mobile home it's delivered and tied down. I put extra footing, skirting, build two porches, etc. etc. My mother-in-law is no homesteader. She starts giving my wife money. She buys a tractorand the basic implements. I fence of a hay field and start mowing, and raking hay by machine, fork it up by hand. Over the next 7 years things really come together. I finish a large barn, hand dig a root cellar, buya cement mixer and mix and pour many yards of concrete, and get the wood shop built. We get a milk cow, then another,pretty soon we're feeding and caring for 4 horsesand 5 head fo cattle. I get my chair shop going.By this point I've been working with wood for 25 years and I'm a master craftsman, the business takes off I'm getting alot of attention, I'm saving a dying art, and I'm making money. I think, finally I'm there. I'm at the point where the 40 acres is feeding 3 people and with the chair shop's income, plus selling calves, extra milk and eggs, it's providing enough cash for all necessary expenses. I'm working at least 55 hours a week but that's OK. October 1997 the roof falls in. After becoming more and more distant for a year or so my wife suddenly tells me I'm a worthless, lazy, freeloading, son-of-bitch, sitting around spending here inheritance. She doesn't need me, she could hire someone to do the little bit I do around there. She paid for everything, I don't deserve a God-damed thing, get out. Then she got really abusive with her mother's active support. I hung on for 10 months and finally left. She filed for divorce, wanting support and all property. 14 months later I finally gave up the fight. I have less now than what I had when I married her. The only animal left in my life is an old cat, I have no place to garden, I butcher wood in a commercial cabinet shop. But like John Prine sings; "That's the way the world goes round, sometimes you're up' sometimes you're down" I'll guarantee you I'll be back on the land just as soon as I can. I sure would like to hear from folks, I promise I did all my whineing in this story. .

-- Glenn Smith (chairsmith@webtv.net), November 27, 1999.

Earl:

I was a subscriber to MEN for years, still have all my old copies. I never answered any of the ads but I loved reading them. We were an airforce family then and I couldn't wait to get back to the states and start living the good life. Well, we're still living so I guess it's good! We never did homestead, but we live in the country (upstate NY) have a garden, hunt & fish. I still feel a strong longing when I drag out those old mags. My husband and I are now looking to move to Arkansas and start again with some land. We don't want to go too primitive but we would like to be able to go out our back door and bag dinner. Anyway, it's been great reading the responses you've gotten, best wishs in 2000.

-- Kathy Springer (springer@fltg.net), November 28, 1999.

TMEN was a source of real inspiration in the old days. I subscribed and have all the way back to issue #1. I keep them in the tool room and go over some old ones once in awhile.

I have often wished there was a way to find a real TMEN couple and give them a start. To help them get to where I am today.

I work in the environmental field and love it. It is a lot of work all across the country but worth it. We process industrial and agricultural organic waste and byproducts. It is a satisfying business and the basis for a love of the earth.

-- Cornelius A. Van Milligen (cavm@aol.com), December 19, 1999.

When the first TMEN came out, I was living in a rented log cabin on a 25 acre farm in Lovettsville, VA with my young son, four horses, a pony, three dogs, some cats, chickens, ducks, and guinea hens. We had a stocked pond and in the evenings, I would make my son row me around until I caught some fish for dinner.

This was my idea of heaven and my son HATED it! He hated eating fish and the pond and complained about the horses -- he was a city boy at heart which made it tough for me to enjoy paradise! I worked as a court reporter out of Washington, D.C., so on days I went to hearings, I would be gone for hours, leaving my boy alone. When I came home down the long lane, the horses and dogs and my son would all come running up, with the poultry all scrabbling along behind. It was a marvelous sight and made me feel like the most important person in the world.

The owner of the farm wanted us to feed his cattle and chickens and my son had a terrible time with the heavy bales of hay and bags of feed. One day the owner got into a temper with my son, and started beating one of my horses and gave us a verbal eviction notice.

I had some really valuable antiques, but I sold them for enough money for a ratty old mobile home in a mobile home park where they'd let us have two of the dogs, and found a nice farmer to board the horses and take the biggest dog. While living in the mobile home, I met a gal who had advertised for a man in TMEN. She was a divorced teacher who had raised two children by herself and wanted to be a homesteader. She "tried out" a different man every other week for a year. Said it took a week to recover from these relationship experiments. Finally she found the man of her dreams, sold her home and moved to Alaska.

Before she left, I asked her for the name of her three best rejects and contacted my choice of the three, a school teacher in Massachusetts who had been married, built his own home out of greenwood, and had a daughter. His wife had become very angry with him and set fire to his home, burning it to the ground whild drinking beer and laughing. His insurance company would not pay because "one of the named insured" had been the arsonist!

Silly me, I sold almost everything and moved up to Massachusetts to be with him, taking two horses, three dogs, two cats and many boxes of books. After I arrived, he announced he wanted a menage a trois. He had a female student who had an illigitimate baby. His theory was, she would do the housekeeping, I would be the big money earner (as a court reporter) and he would build a replacement greenwood house. Somehow that picture didn't seem quite right!

I went back to live in D.C., leaving my family behind. Someone poisoned my two cairn terriers with radiator fluid and they died a terrible death. Neighbors arranged for the horses to be trailered back to Virginia and stuck my German Shepherd in with them at the last minute without telling anybody. When the horses arrived, the dog bolted and tried to go back to Massachusetts. Fortunately, the folks boarding the horses were going to a party that evening and found my dog trotting up a main highway and managed (I don't know how, it was really a miracle) to catch her.

For years and years I have had the dream of homesteading and yet as a single woman (widow) who was the sole source of income, my money source has been the metropolis. I have bought and sold or lost numerous properties. At present I have land but am living in a mobile home park where I have heat, water, electricity, the luxuries it is hard to do without! Next month I'm going to make the Big Jump and have my mobile home taken to my land. At my age (67 now) I do NOT want to borrow money as I am afraid I will lose everything if I lose my job.

So, I have all those old TMENs -- almost all the TMENS ever published -- and hundreds of books on homesteading. I've never lost the dream but I have never actualized it, either!

Oh, and once I went to work for TMEN when John Shuttleworth and his wife still had it and were doing the Eco-Village and seminars. This was an unhappy experience. They called the magazine "the revolving door" because everybody kept getting fired!!!! Yes, I was one of the many who were hired and fired by TMEN!

-- Elizabeth Petofi (tengri@cstone.net), March 20, 2000.

Earl, I was a TMEN person, guess I still am although I sold all my mags and now have hot and cold running water and a flush toilet. There are a lot of us still out here doing our homesteader bit. A friend of mine put an ed in TMEN to get people to come to Elk Falls, Kansas. some of them are still there, I live a whole 6 miles away. Still have the goats, rabbits, chickens, but my garden is a lot smaller. I wondered at how many people are doing this alone. My boys are grown, and the ex is long gone. I don't think the interest is as high as it was. I have been asked countless times by countless friends and relatives " what do you do out here?'" " where do you go when you need a loaf of bread or to rent a movie?" Strange, I never seem to have enough time to get it all done. [I work full time]. I get stuff on my way to work, and I would rather be outside enjoyng life here on the homestead than watching a movie or playing Nintendo. I did find out that if you really want to live out in the country or do the homsestead lifestyle you can do it. Hope you are having fun, cause if you aren't you are doing it wrong. karen

-- Karen Mauk (dairygoamama@hotmail.com), March 29, 2000.