Obstacles

In my previous post I said we had several obstacles in our path to homesteading. The biggest one at this point would be credit. After so many years of me being laid off we are in a great pit of debt and without a second income I don't know how we are going to climb out.

Right now, we live in a trailer court. Yes you heard me right; we live in a trailer court! We pay an astronomical fee for the lot rent, but the trailer itself was free because it's falling down. At one time we had hoped to fix it up, but again without a second income this is impossible. We have now decided we no longer wish to fix the place up because living in a trailer court with all their rules and regulations just doesn't fit with the goals we have. I thought I could improve on my gardening, composting, and all around country living skills while we were here, but the new manager of the "park" does not allow regular gardens or compost piles. We are not even allowed to have a clothesline! We have to manicure our lawns so short the hot summer sun bakes them into a pile of dry brush to which they want us to add water to supposedly green them up but more often than not turns the yard (if you can call a narrow strip a yard) into an unattractive pig wallow minus the bonus of pork meat! Does this even make sense? I'm kind of on a rant here, but I really need to explain the absurdities running rampant in this place! I have a small back deck. The walls for said deck are made of lattice to help foster a sense of privacy. In the summer time beautiful bell shape flower vines climb their way up the lattice to provide living walls of privacy. In the fall the flowers and vines die back and the next summer the new vines trellis themselves over the old vines creating another layer of privacy. Well I was told these brown vines had to go because they were dead. I strongly objected, but was made to feel like an errant schoolkid who didn't realize that brown meant dead. Actually I did realize this, but my vines created more privacy by climbing up the dead vines already in place and they did it quicker and quicker each year. Last year I had to tear it all down per the manager's instructions. I did that and this year the vines didn't even make it to the top of the lattice. I'm a private person. I like having time to myself outside. When on my deck, I can spit and hit the next trailer! Now this little bit of privacy has been taken from me and I am not happy!

But I digress. I hate living in a trailer park. I want a few acres out in the country where I have all the privacy my heart and personality desires. This place needs to be in the great state of Pennsylvania because that is where my husband and I are originally from and we wish to be closer to friends and family. It doesn't even have to have a house on it; as long as I have the land the rest will come even if I have to sleep in a tent!

Probably the next obstacle we face after credit is time and health. As I said before, my husband has had several hernia surgeries and I myself have had two ratator cuff injuries, one of which required surgery, and I just had surgery on the ulnar nerve in my elbow. I need exercise which I would have plenty of if I were living a homesteading life. I have high cholesterol and all problems associated with it, but if I had a steady diet of home-cooked from scratch (you would be surprised at what some people consider home-cooked meals to be) food I believe I could beat the cholesterol problem. I am worried about time because neither of us are getting any younger and I don't want to be starting out on this life when I am fifty! Once I get started, I will do it until there is no physical way possible to continue, but if I continue to live the way we live now, stress will have me in the grave within the next five years.

Don't get me wrong, I know living a homesteading life is not easy work, nor is it stress free, but I truly believe it is less stress and the type of work it entails is not only good physically but spiritually as well.

Time and money are my enemy, but again hopefully I can find some way to have an income which will allow me to save to make this dream a reality!