Hobby Farm Reality

I often read Hobby Farm Home, which is like the rural version of "Home and Garden". It's a beautiful magazine, with lovely pictures of produce and fancy chickens. It would make anyone want to give up their McMansion in the suburbs for a quaint farmhouse in ruralia. It actually holds a lot of information that is pertinent to me and the function of our little acreage. I strive for my home to be like the pictures of opulent country living. However, I/we miss the mark. Our dart is totally off the Hobby Farm Home dart board actually.

There is a major difference in vision versus the reality. They fail to mention several things:

• Hobby farms and death go hand in hand. Chickens will be massacred by predators, goats and sheep will fall to mysterious illness.


• Renovating a farmhouse is a lifelong project. You will be victim to previous renovators and the wood paneling, and shag carpet that they left behind. There is no way to prepare for all of the house issues you may encounter.


• Once you have decided to take on a hobby farm, you are likely stuck there. It's hard to find someone to take on your gazillion chores and do them right. I have attempted to write out instructions for chores, and I think the result was about three typed pages, single spaced. If you hire some hapless teenager to do the job, you know they will stop reading after the third sentence and "wing it".


• Finding a snake in your laundry room will be a uninteresting occurrence. Barely worth mentioning to friends and family. This happened last week and my thought was "No biggie. It's not poisonous."


• Every insect for miles will see the light on in your kitchen and fling themselves against the window repeatedly.


• Field mice will trade the field in a heartbeat for a little nest in the coat closet. Expect to battle a rodent infiltration at least twice a year.

Of course there are a lot of great things about a hobby farm like fresh eggs, and a bunch of animal compainions. It's just a life that lacks glamour.

On another...totally unrelated note: I got my first pair of cowboy boots! I have needed a pair for some time. Jason bought them for me as a sort of early birthday present. Looky!!! Aren't they cute?