Hey all.
Yeah...it's been a while. This blog has been in hiding for quite a while (and it was put there rather abruptly). Sorry about that, but the relationship AND the homestead were broken up kind of abruptly too.
However now, years later, I am feeling the call of the homestead again and am starting to look for a new place to do it in and a whole new way of thinking about things. For a while I've been living easy in a suburban Pinellas County, Florida apartment, fooling myself that one day I'll build a balcony garden and grow some veggies but really...deep down...I'm just a country girl. This apartment just ain't big enough for me; there's just not enough outside space in it. And I soon realized after moving in 3 years ago, my outside space doesn't get any productive light so what I could grow is pretty limited without some elaborate and possibly awkward lighting setup.
So, after an appropriate period of wound-licking followed by trying to find my perfect homesteading companion, I've suddenly realized that I don't necessarily need to have a partner in this, there are a lot of things I can do on my own to live more of the life that I want. But first I need to decide where.
I love my job and the people I work for/with but finding any kind of homesteading type of property in this county is a pretty laughable venture. There are almost 1 million people living in this county and it's only 279 square miles of land. That's a population density of 3,300 per square mile. PLUS, according to Wikipedia there is 587 miles of coastline, 42 nationally protected, state or county parks and beaches, all of which is great for tourism and seeing the beautiful Florida scenery, but it doesn't leave a whole lot of land open for those 1,000,000 people to live on.
When I first moved here I thought this might be a great opportunity to explore some of the urban agriculture that I write about...join a community garden, start a garden right here on my screened-in patio but none of that happened for me. Instead I tried to get involved in the art scene here, attended markets, festivals and events, started getting further into my photography and digital art. I bought a vendor tent, got some help with my setup from friends and invested money in printing, matting and framing various pieces that I created. I love the creating part, and even showing what I've created to the public and I sold several pieces - problem is that I'm just not a public kind of person. I don't enjoy sitting out there talking to an endless stream of people about ... whatever. I'm much more of an introvert, so while I would love to be able to subsidize my income by selling my art, every time I sign up for an event and pay to display, I get all twisted up inside and try to talk myself out of attending. So, it's really kind of counterproductive. Plus the set up and tear down of my space at each event was pretty elaborate. I was usually one of the first ones there and one of the last ones to leave because my setup time was way too long. I'm sure there must have been a better way to do it but all I kept looking at was all of the people there who were working as a team; couples who were out there exhibiting together, enjoying being there together and how I was there alone. My son would come with me sometimes and a friend tried to do it once but neither of them were really into it and I knew they'd rather be somewhere else. Hell, I kept thinking that I would rather be somewhere else. So, I've listed my art on a few sites online and have all but given up the idea of attending these shows.
But I'm not here to talk about art.
I've been hearing the call again. That nagging, pulling feeling that I just need to be out in the country. There is nowhere to go on this peninsula where you don't run into other people. Even when it's not tourist season there is always someone within several feet of you. Parks, beaches, nature preserves ... everywhere ... eventually someone will walk, jog, or ride by you. Sometimes a girl just wants to be alone.
There are no hills or mountains here. No rocks. No black dirt. No mud. Florida is a beautiful place to vacation and I know there are many successful homesteaders here who enjoy the year-round growing seasons and the many perks of not having to deal with freezing temperatures but I just miss ... home.
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Yeah...it's been a while. This blog has been in hiding for quite a while (and it was put there rather abruptly). Sorry about that, but the relationship AND the homestead were broken up kind of abruptly too.
However now, years later, I am feeling the call of the homestead again and am starting to look for a new place to do it in and a whole new way of thinking about things. For a while I've been living easy in a suburban Pinellas County, Florida apartment, fooling myself that one day I'll build a balcony garden and grow some veggies but really...deep down...I'm just a country girl. This apartment just ain't big enough for me; there's just not enough outside space in it. And I soon realized after moving in 3 years ago, my outside space doesn't get any productive light so what I could grow is pretty limited without some elaborate and possibly awkward lighting setup.
So, after an appropriate period of wound-licking followed by trying to find my perfect homesteading companion, I've suddenly realized that I don't necessarily need to have a partner in this, there are a lot of things I can do on my own to live more of the life that I want. But first I need to decide where.
I love my job and the people I work for/with but finding any kind of homesteading type of property in this county is a pretty laughable venture. There are almost 1 million people living in this county and it's only 279 square miles of land. That's a population density of 3,300 per square mile. PLUS, according to Wikipedia there is 587 miles of coastline, 42 nationally protected, state or county parks and beaches, all of which is great for tourism and seeing the beautiful Florida scenery, but it doesn't leave a whole lot of land open for those 1,000,000 people to live on.
When I first moved here I thought this might be a great opportunity to explore some of the urban agriculture that I write about...join a community garden, start a garden right here on my screened-in patio but none of that happened for me. Instead I tried to get involved in the art scene here, attended markets, festivals and events, started getting further into my photography and digital art. I bought a vendor tent, got some help with my setup from friends and invested money in printing, matting and framing various pieces that I created. I love the creating part, and even showing what I've created to the public and I sold several pieces - problem is that I'm just not a public kind of person. I don't enjoy sitting out there talking to an endless stream of people about ... whatever. I'm much more of an introvert, so while I would love to be able to subsidize my income by selling my art, every time I sign up for an event and pay to display, I get all twisted up inside and try to talk myself out of attending. So, it's really kind of counterproductive. Plus the set up and tear down of my space at each event was pretty elaborate. I was usually one of the first ones there and one of the last ones to leave because my setup time was way too long. I'm sure there must have been a better way to do it but all I kept looking at was all of the people there who were working as a team; couples who were out there exhibiting together, enjoying being there together and how I was there alone. My son would come with me sometimes and a friend tried to do it once but neither of them were really into it and I knew they'd rather be somewhere else. Hell, I kept thinking that I would rather be somewhere else. So, I've listed my art on a few sites online and have all but given up the idea of attending these shows.
But I'm not here to talk about art.
I've been hearing the call again. That nagging, pulling feeling that I just need to be out in the country. There is nowhere to go on this peninsula where you don't run into other people. Even when it's not tourist season there is always someone within several feet of you. Parks, beaches, nature preserves ... everywhere ... eventually someone will walk, jog, or ride by you. Sometimes a girl just wants to be alone.
There are no hills or mountains here. No rocks. No black dirt. No mud. Florida is a beautiful place to vacation and I know there are many successful homesteaders here who enjoy the year-round growing seasons and the many perks of not having to deal with freezing temperatures but I just miss ... home.
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| No, this isn't MY home (or my picture - I stole it off the internet at http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/picc35742.php. It says it's Columbia, KY) but it's a pretty accurate depiction of a place I could call home. |
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