how in the heck are we supposed to live these days

[FutureChickenMan]

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Henry Ford did NOT invent the car.. He made it affordable.

 

[greyfields]

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OMGOSH I'd better start cleaning the dump up!!!

I have a deadline with the day job today and was up until 5 am working on it and am back at it. So if you come for the farm market, I'll probably be skipping it and having a well deserved nap.

Don't expect anything lucid from me... but we will be around all weekend if you'd like to come visist. That's one great thing about living on the farm. It's like living on vacation. You don't 'flee' your normal life on holiday weekends trying to 'get away from it all'.

 

[greyfields]

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You're welcome to visit too.

 

[Their Other Mother]

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I have 3 horses and even with the hay prices skyrocketing right now it is cheaper to feed my horses than buy gas ( we are paying $12 - $15 bucks a bale for alfalfa) and even thou work for my hubby is too far to ride ( and then what would he do with them? leave them tied up all day only to be stiff for the return home?) ...But I have considered using them for transportation to the grocery store & to get the kids to school. I have blueprints for a Covered Wagon and am getting closer to building it everyday with that thought.

Does anyone know what the economy was really like leading into the Great Depression? I'm not old enough, but are there similarities here?

 

[mom'sfolly]

I think it is interesting that most of the large cities in the US had street car lines. Both my mom and my MIL talk about riding the street cars to go to school and shopping. After WWII most of the street car companies were bought up and taken down. The cities that are adding light rail are going back to what was available 60 years ago. I think many of the street car lines were bought out by auto manufacturers. My small city didn't want to add bus service a few years ago because is was percieved as down scale....only poor people ride the bus.

The Minneapolis street car lines were started in the 1890s and operated until the mid-1950s when mismanagement and embezzelment ruined them. Its taken another sixty years before the are beginning to reappear.

 

[Their Other Mother]

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I have 3 horses and even with the hay prices skyrocketing right now it is cheaper to feed my horses than buy gas ( we are paying $12 - $15 bucks a bale for alfalfa) and even thou work for my hubby is too far to ride ( and then what would he do with them? leave them tied up all day only to be stiff for the return home?) ...But I have considered using them for transportation to the grocery store & to get the kids to school. I have blueprints for a Covered Wagon and am getting closer to building it everyday with that thought.

Does anyone know what the economy was really like leading into the Great Depression? I'm not old enough, but are there similarities here?

After I thought about more details: It costs us about $75 bucks a week to feed our animals; 3 horses, 2 great danes, 1 other large dog, 2 goats, 6 hens, 1 goose ( with more chicks and ducks in the bator) It costs us $100. to fill up each vehicle, 1 F-150 ( fill up every 4 - 5 days) and the van ( we have a handicapped child w/ wheel chair & walker) about every 10 days (I don't go out much)

So for us YES! it would be cheaper to park something and use our horses for the local transportation. Even if the closest store is 7 miles away (Thank God it happens to be a Grocery Store & Home Depot with all the little strip mall stuff around)

 

[equine chick]

Gas hit 4.00 today here. I'm probally going to have to find a job closer to home soon. I commute 40 min to my job and at 4.00 gal I'm working to pay gas. I love where i work but just not going to work to pay the gas companies.

 

[texasreb]

I agree with not buying livestock of any kind on a whim. They take maintence and feed, whether or not you use them.

Due to increasingly erratic weather patterns (good thing there's nothing to this global warming silliness), feed is becoming more expensive and more scarce. On the horse forums I am a member of, lots of people have run out of hay for their horses these past two winters and couldn't get anymore--sure it was poor planning on their part--but they've never had to think ahead an entire year about their hay needs before. In my area, hay prices have shot up 200-300% in the last several years.

If you cannot feed your horse/cow/goat/etc with the produce of your land all year long, year in and year out--Don't get one.

 

[kisat]

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I have 3 horses and even with the hay prices skyrocketing right now it is cheaper to feed my horses than buy gas ( we are paying $12 - $15 bucks a bale for alfalfa) and even thou work for my hubby is too far to ride ( and then what would he do with them? leave them tied up all day only to be stiff for the return home?) ...But I have considered using them for transportation to the grocery store & to get the kids to school. I have blueprints for a Covered Wagon and am getting closer to building it everyday with that thought.

Does anyone know what the economy was really like leading into the Great Depression? I'm not old enough, but are there similarities here?

You know that isn't such a bad idea. Though, I do agree with the people mentioning to do research into owning a horse, before just going out and buying one, but overall I can really see a lot more people using their horses as transportation. I can just see it now. Walmart, Albertsons, etc., having not only handicapped, car and 18-wheeler parking spots, but horse carriages as well!

Though, I have to ask this, what kind of world are we coming to when we are the country that takes care of all the others, like a mom, but yet, how are we supposed to take care of everyone else, when we are starting to have problems taking care of ourselves? How many people are going to start suffering because all our money goes into groceries and gas and can't afford anything else? I can see a lot of people losing electricity in favor of food and gas, heat, etc. Just to pay for gas and food to get by. It's kind of scary when you think about it. I'm done with being all deep

It's just that I know a lot of people that are working just to afford food and that's it. We can't even live because we can't afford to leave the house.

 

[spook]

I can't keep my chickens home as it is...what could make me think I could keep a horse under control! It would be lame (I already am, lmao!!!) and throw a shoe.
Great idea, horse pool, hook up a wagon and pick up the gang.
Freezing, preserving and making your own craft items, it is the way to go. In a lot of ways, I am so glad that I never had money, nor the desire to keep up with the Jones'!
Its still not easy to cut back, yet I think it will do us good to have a reality check. We are a spoiled nation, giving out to everyone else when you look around, we have elders living meal to meal, choosing between meds and food.
We as Americans should be ashamed. Take care of our neighbors and they will also take care of us.