I always wanted to live in the country. Fresh air, lots of space, no neighbors’ homes within view of the windows. 13+ years ago, we purchased a lovely little spot in the country in Southern New Hampshire and never looked back.
Then we fell into the bedroom community trap. We took that lovely property and turned it into a place were we rested our head at night. We treated the land as a buffer instead of truly using it. I might have had an anemic garden, and we played with the dog in the yard, but that was it.
Several years ago, my husband, who had grown up in a rural community decided that getting a small flock of chickens would be a great idea. We would raise them as pets and for the eggs. He built a coop and pen in the woods and we bought our first batch of chickens at Agway.
It started from there. I started thinking of my home as project Country Family. I tried to intentionally learn how to grow things, and use our land. Our kids got an amazing treehouse in the woods. I grew a bigger anemic garden. But I still rarely spent time at home.
In 2020 the pandemic meant that I spent more time at home and really started embracing my rural life. I made more local friends, the kids got involved in 4H, I actually tried with the garden, and I taught myself how to crochet. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn.
This blog is an attempt to share what I learn. I only hope that someone stumbles across these posts and is inspired to start their own project to better use their rural properties. Feel free to follow the journey here and on my instagrams @somekindoffarm and @terriblegardener.
