Adjusting the dream...

[Nyboy]

What is the difference between a farm and a homestead?

 

[Smart Red]

I'm not sure there is one for most family farms. There are, however, huge farms that are run by corporations or multiple families. Those would not be homesteads.

Originally, homesteaders were those who settled on, improved (usually by building a house), cleared, and farmed a section of land for a given period of time after which the Government would grant them title to the land.

I don't think there is any size that makes a homestead into a farm or vice versa. It is the use of the family property to live in and work (use) the land in some way related to agriculture.

Just to keep everyone guessing -- and counter any rules the Government might have for homesteads -- I call my place my farmstead. It is just a matter of semantics.

 

[digitS']

What is the difference between a farm and a homestead?

I'd like to say something about this but I'm no expert. My family has been on both sides, the fenced out and fenced in.

We didn't have a US homestead law until 1862. Notice the date. The slave-holding states were not represented in its passage. Remember your history. The "allocation" of western land was a serious problem for Americans leading up to the Civil War.

Of course, there were people living on those lands as there was everywhere in the "New World," pre-Columbus. But, the idea for homesteads goes back to notions on the allocation of unused land, however that term was defined. It's interesting how the current thinking on property rights has evolved from here but I won't digress.

Treatment of Native Americans centered on some kind of morality of civilizing them into the American society. By law, they were not allowed to homestead, however. Instead, individual families were "allotted" acreage on reservations. Unallotted land was opened to homesteading.

In some cases, land agreed on by treaty was lost by conflict. Joseph, leader of the western Nez Perce and White Bird, leader of the Salmon River Nez Perce, along with a few Palouse, refused to give up their lands and remove themselves to the Clearwater River. The result was that they not only lost their land but the Nez Perce on the Clearwater lost part of their land where those "renegades" were supposed to take up residence.

That's how my non-Indian ancestors arrived here as homesteaders. My grandmother's grandfather was a Union war veteran. He moved to the head of the line for the homestead lottery. And, there you are - and, here I am ...

Now, before I lose any chance of gaining honorary Southern adoption, let me turn quickly to my father's side! My grandfather, "Indian on both sides," was orphaned. He and his younger brother were raised by his paternal aunt. She was married to a Confederate war veteran.

Adopt me or shoot me - deserving ...

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

Tied to both sides of the Great War AND having Native American roots. How more American can one get?

That means you can complain -- from high ground -- about any issue except women's.

 

[digitS']

The Cherokee society was traditionally ..

. matrilineal.

Just saying.

Steve

 

[digitS']

Getting back to the subject of Lesa's thread ...



Maybe you are interested in taking a Victory lap around a Victory Garden, Lesa. No, I don't mean the show. I mean, what the USDA was advising Americans to do during WW2.

This is a 24 page per booklet which includes a "Suggested Planting of Home Garden to Supply Vegetable Food Requirements" worksheet. It is from the Oregon State University archives.

I printed the page and worked through the table along with my Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening for row spacing advise.

Rounding up on all the numbers for maximum distance between rows and so as to fit a garden with 50' rows (while allowing some surplus wiggle room): I came up with a 50' by 62' garden space, per person.

LINK

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

So, hoarding or squandering seed is unpatriotic? Shame on me!

 

[digitS']

I had to think for a moment what you might be referring to ...

Keep in mind that the booklet was written in the middle of World War Two. Probably, hoarding empty tin cans and bald car tires was said to be unpatriotic by many.

Rationing was the the name of the game in the grocery store. I nearly said "supermarket" and there might have been a few but I can still remember the first supermarket I was in and it must have been over 10 years after the war's end.

Times change. It was said to be patriotic to encourage people to garden in the days of food shortages and nationwide sacrifice. It was said to be patriotic to buy a new car after 9/11.

Steve

 

[baymule]

Lesa, I scaled down my dream too and I am happier than I have ever been. We had a 2500 square foot brick house and bought a 1500 square foot double wide. We had 16 acres and bought 8 acres. We are having a blast. We moved to be close to our DD and her family. It is the best move I have ever made.

Our previous home was in town, the 16 acres 3 miles out of town was black clay. If you have never experienced black clay, in hot weather it is concrete and cracks open. I have stepped in said cracks and twisted my ankle. It gets so hard that T-posts have bent from trying to drive them in to build a fence. When it rains......it goes to complete goo. It stuck to my shoes, every step I made, my feet got bigger. The black clay would suck the shoes, boots, right off my feet. Nasty mess. DH got his truck stuck once and it took a bulldozer to drag him out.

Now we have sandy soil. NO MUD!!! Sand is tough to garden on......water drains right through it, the sun comes out and the plants burn up. But the garden spot is deep mulched right now and will be composted, mulched and mulched some more. I will build good soil.

You are not giving up on your dream, you are just adjusting your dream. And it will be even better than you expect. Chickens can make your compost, just deep litter and pile in the leaves, grass clippings, pea hulls, corn shucks, any vegetable matter you have. They will eat all they can, then shred and poop on the rest. In 3-4 months you will have crumbly black compost. You can plant permanent fruit trees, grapes and berries. You will have to keep us posted on your move!

 

[lesa]

Good points, everyone! Thanks so much for your support! Bay, sand is certainly what we will have!