The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Bionic on June 22, 2012, 11:22:51 am
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I was gainfully employed in a stressful job until last Sept when I took early retirement.
Before that I worked long hours, drove a fancy convertable sports car which was my pride and joy, my nails were always polished and pristine. The wardrobes and loft space were bulging with clothes, shoes and handbags and I had so much make up and toiletries of every description and my hair had to be 'just right'.
In Feb I moved to a smallholding, got rid of my sports car and bought a 4x4. My bottles of nail varnish are sitting in a cupboard somewhere, if only I had nails to put the polish on now. I wear leggings/jogging bottoms most days and old t shirts. The other clothes and shoes are still in the garage where I put them when we moved in. I haven't worn a dress/skirt since I got here and the high heels have changed to crocs and wellies.
My pride and joy now are my hens, my pigs and my sheep. Oh how things have changed.
Am I happy???
YES
Sally
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Same as you really, Sally - long stressful hours in a managerial position within the NHS, running to cardiac arrests while 38 weeks pregnant, dealing hospital red alerts due to bomb threats at Heathrow - loved it at the time but wouldn't want to go back to it now :)
I still have a little red MGF with my number plates on - its undriveable currently but reminds me a bit of who I used to be.
Must admit to still wearing skirts and dresses with my wellies a lot of the time though :) [size=78%] [/size]
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My one concession is that I moved my personal number plate over to the 4x4 ;D ;D
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Yes all of the above, much happier now doing less hours, roaming round in a grubby pick-up instead of having to keep our posh car immaculate, physically working harder but mentally less so unless you count doing AML's. ;)
Life is good and i try to remember each day that i have to make the most of it.
Happiness for me is mainly pig shaped. :love:
mandy :pig:
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I haven't changed yet but I haven't found my dream place yet. Oh my..... I dread to think what I will change to. :eyelashes:
I've never dressed up even as a child, always in jeans and t-shirt or jumper and trainers or wellies. As a teenager I couldn't be bothered with the dolling up malarky much preferring to 'scruff it' walking the dogs ::)
Even going drinking with friends as a teenager I wore jeans and a top and boots. ( just cannot do the hi-heel thing )
I've already got the 4wd be it a CRV so good economy for city use too ( wouldn't like to do too much cross country with it but it manages muddy fields well, and light trailer.) great for muddy dogs and cage of hens.
Perhaps I'll have an opposite effect and become a posh designer country girl with an Audi TT convertible :D :eyelashes: ..... No, I can't see that happening either ::) oh well, will just have to stay as plain old ME ;D
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I'm living the two lives side by side for the foreseeable future, as I can't make the finances work to give up the job. There is a door off my hall which goes into the 'real' house, ie the kitchen, dogroom, snug and bathroom.
It divides upstairs (clean, dog hair free suits) from downstairs - dirty, tatty farm clothes ;D
My farming amuses my high powered work colleague immensely - and it keeps me sane :) The giveaway is my hands - they stick out from my suits, broken nailed, grufted with dirt and frequently stained with Terramycin spray (http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k70/jaykayg/emoticons/eb64905e.jpg)
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I had raised a similar subject a while ago,especially one about wellies ;D and one about changing:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=22685.msg218237#msg218237 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=22685.msg218237#msg218237)
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Think kids changed me more than smallholding - from running multi-million pound architecture projects to changing nappies, it gradually wore me down, I was killing myself. Think women have been told we could have it all but it was all at huge cost and I had to make a choice in the end.
Love taking care of my kids and animals and the place we have is a huge project but worth doing. I'm physically exhausted rather than mentally (in fact don't have a brain cell left). Would warn my daughter if she wants to do a long degree though.. ::) In retrospect I'd rather have had more kids (too late now).
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Think kids changed me more than smallholding - from running multi-million pound architecture projects to changing nappies, it gradually wore me down, I was killing myself. Think women have been told we could have it all but it was all at huge cost and I had to make a choice in the end.
Love taking care of my kids and animals and the place we have is a huge project but worth doing. I'm physically exhausted rather than mentally (in fact don't have a brain cell left). Would warn my daughter if she wants to do a long degree though.. ::) In retrospect I'd rather have had more kids (too late now).
I can identify with you there Goosepimple. I wouldn't change my 4 for the world but the reason I had to return to work when my eldest was only 3 months old wasn't totally financial :-\ it was the fact I was going stircrazy. Then we moved after the 2nd baby and I had to complete 2 OU diploma's just to keep my mind active! Reason the soap business has come about is because I need to be doing more than just housework/being mum.
Hardest part of being mum for me though isn't just the physical - it's taking onboard all their little fallouts and worries at school and getting stressed on their behalf ::)
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Yup, can sense already I need to keep out of it :innocent:
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Nah, I'm the same yokel I always was. All I did was change from running a fish farm to running my own sheep (in a convoluted way). Didnt really leave the countryside, even when I went ro uni it was Aberystwyth which is hardly a heaving metropolis. I'll never have the money to buy land, a house etc, can't see me ever caring about all that though. Its all just stuff, you can't take it with you as the saying goes.
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Marraige changed me. Paul wanted to move to Wales. I had no inkling of what was in store really. Prior to getting married I - like Bionic - had a wardrobe full of clothes and bags, a personal shopper, BMW Z4 sports car, expensive extreme adventure holidays.......
Now - like Jaykay - I have double life: Monday to Friday office-based in Birmingham - academic, intellectual, writing and research. Saturday and Sunday - tatty leggings and toil. Car and holidays are a thing of the past and I've NEVER BEEN HAPPIER :-D
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I was a Personal Secretary to the Top fella at our local hospital. I still had my animals (although not as many as now!) and got up early every morning, to deal with them.....before donning the power suit and high heels and make up, and tottering off to my office. I realised there was more to life than that,and took the decision to leave, and had a couple of years off. Went back part time working as an accounts clerk, which suited me better.
I am just happy earning enough money to fund my animals. Posh cars and clothes mean nothing to me. I am sitting in now, in mud splattered leggings (torrential rain) a scruffy looking fleece, and my nice comfy wellies. Hair is plastered to my head with the rain, and my hands ....hmm......ingrained with mud. Probably a few splatters of mud on my face too. I no longer worry about what people think.....if they want to walk round supermarket looking like they have stepped out of the fashion pages, thats ok .....I want to walk round in my wellies. Although I do sometimes put a clean fleece on, but not if I think I can get away with my scruffy one!!
Gone are the days of pubbing, and shopping for clothes. Any money I have is spent on the animals, feed or new housing for them.
Walk between the two farms, to save on fuel......people are amazed that I walk 4 miles each way. Nice countryside, good views, whats the problem?
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Dont think I could ever give up the pub.....
How do you think us yokels know everybody elses business? ;D
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Believe it or not,I had not been in a pub since the smoking ban came in, until last summer when I ventured in ......and this is someone who could in the past, down a pint or three with the best of them!! Seeing as most of our pubs have shut down anyway, looks like I will be hard pushed to find one to go in even if I wanted to :D
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Think kids changed me more than smallholding - from running multi-million pound architecture projects to changing nappies, it gradually wore me down, I was killing myself. Think women have been told we could have it all but it was all at huge cost and I had to make a choice in the end.
Similar story here - I couldn't do the career and children thing, and with blatant sexual discrimination in the workplace still an ongoing thing I decided I was better out of it... ALL skirts and suits went to the charity shop and I have so far defied all prediction from my ex-colleagues that I would be back in a job within 6 months...(that was 7 years ago!)
Don't miss the work place - happier with my goats, human and caprine kids, and haven't bought a pair of shoes other than wellies or (walking) boots in the last 7 years. Jeans and old t-shirts and fleeces only things I wear, but I do have a couple of "city" t-shirts.
Although the "car" thing always passed me by, I could never see the point of a personalised number plate - only made it easier for the police to remember your car...
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Wow - all you high-powered ladies. I'm glad you've changed or are changing ;D
I've never been one for high heels and make-up, hairdressers and statement cars (fast bikes, yes 8) ). I grew up on a farm, lived in a city for uni, worked with my sleeves rolled up, raised my kids and grew our food. Now we have our smallholding and we just do the same things on a slightly larger scale.
I am very different nowadays though, living more for the moment and certainly worrying less about not fitting in, after major illness has left its mark on both me and my OH. We appreciate everything we have and love what we do :farmer: :sheep: :chook:
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Wow - all you high-powered ladies. I'm glad you've changed or are changing ;D
I've never been one for high heels and make-up, hairdressers and statement cars (fast bikes, yes 8) ).
That's me, too. Although my bike was rather slow and steady. Never managed to have a career - result, I can't afford to turn to smallholding. Fact of life. But can't say I'm too unhappy; not at the moment - this can change at any time, of course. Actually, at the time my bank statement tells me I'm skint again.
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Wow - all you high-powered ladies. I'm glad you've changed or are changing ;D
I've never been one for high heels and make-up, hairdressers and statement cars (fast bikes, yes 8) ).
That's me, too. Although my bike was rather slow and steady. Never managed to have a career - result, I can't afford to turn to smallholding. Fact of life. But can't say I'm too unhappy; not at the moment - this can change at any time, of course. Actually, at the time my bank statement tells me I'm skint again.
Course you can. You just need to get out of the 'must buy land' mindset. Loads of things can be done on the cheap. Henhouses made from palletwood, growing veg etc. I started with 15 sheep on somebody elses paddock. I still graze it - bung em a lamb every now and then.....
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i totally agree.
any back yard can grow veg,i once just had 2sqm and fed us off that for weeks! and most could keep a chook or two. :thumbsup:
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I lead two lives Monday to Friday i run a busy research lab for a university based at a hospital, evenings and weekends i'm out on the farm. My partner does the farming bit between contracting and AI work. it's the only way we survive by having other jobs, there would not be enough to live on otherwise as much as i would love to be on farm 24/7
I love handbags, shoes, nice clothes and polished nails but they only last a short while, until i handle some sheep then off come the nails not the clothes!! what is it about sheep wool and nails, they always snag and catch in the wool.
I do love my job and i do love farming even if i'm knackered at the end of the day, or only have a few hours sleep after lambing.
I used to work and live in London but i would not go back now.
It's all about finding a balance, i love nature and bird watching and gardening but i also love a challenge at work. TV? well if i can find anything worth watching i usually fall asleep before the end of it! :D
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things have changed for us great deal over the last 10-12 years ... but for a variety of reasons.
the animals definitely keep us going, I was going to say "sane" but that's just not true, they make us slightly crazy!
I wouldn't change it for the world ... except maybe to be bigger, have ponies, be less muddy & not be in debt to the feed store & vets!! :D
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Yes the handbags, skirts . long nails , high heels etc , had to go with me too.
Oooops , wrong forum !
Car smash was my life changer . Now as time goes by , i step back in time a decade or three each year .
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We all change, sometimes not by choice. sometimes by circumstance beyond your control, I've gone from being a butler/valet/chauffeur in charge of 10 staff looking after minor royalty and celebrities who think they are minor deities, then ran my own driving school,from there to management of a prototype department in the motor industry. This is where I got my thumb ripped off in a bad accident with a disintegrating holesaw. That was my lifechanging moment beyond my control, Ok , they paid my wages for 12 months and offered me menial work on a mind numbing production line, not challenging enough. Had to give up playing golf 3 times a week. Moved to Wales ,rented house and land ,got the animals and the daily grind/challenge of surviving, no regrets. :thumbsup:
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Wow - all you high-powered ladies. I'm glad you've changed or are changing ;D
I've never been one for high heels and make-up, hairdressers and statement cars (fast bikes, yes 8) ).
That's me, too. Although my bike was rather slow and steady. Never managed to have a career - result, I can't afford to turn to smallholding. Fact of life. But can't say I'm too unhappy; not at the moment - this can change at any time, of course. Actually, at the time my bank statement tells me I'm skint again.
Course you can. You just need to get out of the 'must buy land' mindset. Loads of things can be done on the cheap. Henhouses made from palletwood, growing veg etc. I started with 15 sheep on somebody elses paddock. I still graze it - bung em a lamb every now and then.....
Not everybody's circumstances are the same. Yes, I do grow veg in the garden - I am lucky in the way that I live in one of the council houses that do have some garden that's not all under chuckies. But if I put up a henhouse from pallets, the council would have me out of here in no time at all - if they'd agree to let me keep hens in the first place. And anyway, the neighbour's dog would probably prevent any livestock from thriving on my tiny piece of land. And even if I kept sheep on somebody else's land - I'd have to find that first, I'd have to find money for sheep, I'd have to always have a functioning car to get to the sheep - ok, maybe I am too security aware, I just feel too old to risk my last penny on something like that. I did have a couple of goats at one stage, but lost my job along with the house where I kept them in the garden - and got into trouble about that, too - so maybe I've just had too much negative experience to try again? I'm not complaining - I'm just saying it's different for everybody.
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Ina,
I agree that its different for everyone. Perhaps you could find someone with animals who would welcome some help. I know its not quite the same but you might be able to satisfy your passions that way without it costing you a small fortune.
Sally
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Just doing the things that I have always wanted to do, never wanted the high power jobs because them type of people I find difficult.
A bloke brought his BMW Z4 gay lord does my bum look big in this thing to us for an MOT. It failed, broken rear springs. After repairing the car, he returned complaining that the drop down sun roof no longer worked ? I was polite with the chap, so was my mechanic, but the owner turned nasty? What happened is that because we had raised the car and rotated the road wheels, the cars computer is programmed to lock the roof closed to protect the Yuppies inside because the car thinks that it is having an accident ?? I had to pay the BMW agent to unlock the roof. The owner went on to threaten me with violence. A Range Rover owner was similar because his pompus monstorous Chelsea Tractor failed the MOT on lights. He states that I should have repaired the lights on the MOT. He also threatend me. All in the space of one month. Neither of them frighten me, but certainly upset me, but as a lowly MOT Tester I have to behave impeccably, which I do.
Money and big cars change people, puts them above the law and every one around them. Allows them to park on pavements & Yellow zig zags to drop Penelopy and little Jimmy off at school. Stresses them out as they have no time. :-*
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Odin,
I don't think you can lump everyone together. I probably didn't have the sort of money that you are talking about but was nicely off through working hard. I would never treat anyone as you have been treated and never park on pavements or yellow zig zags, Mind you I probably would have been frustrated if my convertable roof stopped working after a visit to you too.
Sally
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hes right about the z4 tho...
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Cancer changed me, I was always busy with work and my ponies that I felt run down and had little time for anything. Now I take each days as it comes, spend as much time with the animals that I can as this helps me relax. like the others I live in jeans or leggings. I do have posh clothes so now and again if we are going somewhere I do make the effort. OH likes this. Since the age of 15 I have worn perfume every day, its just part of who I am. although I still try to make time for other people not so quick to jump in now with offers of help. My time is precious to me. I think I am so lucky to have a way of life that means I can grow our food and raise our meat. not many get to do this.
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Sabrina,
I am the same with perfume. No matter what I am wearing these days I always wear some perfume although I do wear the cheaper ones for the pigs ;D ;D
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All your replies are so interesting and some are quite humbling. Also amazing to see how many high flyers out there are brought back to the land. Seems the most natural thing in the world really.
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All your replies are so interesting and some are quite humbling. Also amazing to see how many high flyers out there are brought back to the land. Seems the most natural thing in the world really.
everything feels hollow once youve permanently got dirty hands.
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All your replies are so interesting and some are quite humbling. Also amazing to see how many high flyers out there are brought back to the land. Seems the most natural thing in the world really.
everything feels hollow once youve permanently got dirty hands.
God yes i went for my ring fitting and i was soo embarassed there was all these pretty girls choosing wedding rings with lovely long nails of pretty shades and there was me and my monster sheep hands broken nails with permanent grime from planting the veg :o i was holding it together until my intended pointed out i had wood shavings in my hair as well ::) we did have a laugh ;D
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Wow - all you high-powered ladies. I'm glad you've changed or are changing ;D
I've never been one for high heels and make-up, hairdressers and statement cars (fast bikes, yes 8) ).
That's me, too. Although my bike was rather slow and steady. Never managed to have a career - result, I can't afford to turn to smallholding. Fact of life. But can't say I'm too unhappy; not at the moment - this can change at any time, of course. Actually, at the time my bank statement tells me I'm skint again.
Course you can. You just need to get out of the 'must buy land' mindset. Loads of things can be done on the cheap. Henhouses made from palletwood, growing veg etc. I started with 15 sheep on somebody elses paddock. I still graze it - bung em a lamb every now and then.....
Not everybody's circumstances are the same. Yes, I do grow veg in the garden - I am lucky in the way that I live in one of the council houses that do have some garden that's not all under chuckies. But if I put up a henhouse from pallets, the council would have me out of here in no time at all - if they'd agree to let me keep hens in the first place. And anyway, the neighbour's dog would probably prevent any livestock from thriving on my tiny piece of land. And even if I kept sheep on somebody else's land - I'd have to find that first, I'd have to find money for sheep, I'd have to always have a functioning car to get to the sheep - ok, maybe I am too security aware, I just feel too old to risk my last penny on something like that. I did have a couple of goats at one stage, but lost my job along with the house where I kept them in the garden - and got into trouble about that, too - so maybe I've just had too much negative experience to try again? I'm not complaining - I'm just saying it's different for everybody.
I know plenty in council housing who keep hens - dunno if they ask though. ;D
Maybe its different in the sticks - the row of council houses that backed onto the school where I went as a kid had at least 4 different cockerels in four different gardens - we would hear the crowing being passed from one end of the row to the other....
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Sorry Bionic, did not mean to upset anybody with been personal, unfortunately in my experience, cars do change people. I can remember a Walt Disney cartoon about cars made in the 1950s. The character, Goofy, known as Mr Walker comes out of his house all placid and pious, picks a worm up off the tarmac and puts it back in the soil. He then gets in his car and becomes possessed by the devil and becomes Mr Wheeler. Selfish, evil madman behind the wheel. absolutely hilarious but so true.
My job is to Mot and repair cars, take money off the customer, pay the overheads and what remains is for us doing the work. A car is a persons 2nd biggest investment/cost after their home and we work with that in mind. Some customers have little money and are decent folk. Others have a lot of money and are decent folk, but some folk have a car above their station and they become difficult folk.
After dealing with members of the car mad society, there is nothing better for me than pratting around in my field, feeding birds, introducing wild plants and trees, growing a crop and DRIVING at 10 MPH on my ol' David Brown Tractor on a road at five o'clock rush hour ;D :-[
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Odin I think I may have been behing you when I was driving my sports car ;D ;D
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Then bin the sports car coz they are a bit 'yesterday', get thy'sen an old tractor, bolt something on the back that looks like it fell off Bodecias' Chariot, checked shirt and wellieys, cherry fuel, no mot, its the future. :thumbsup:
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Sounds good Odin. The sports car has already gone as I didn't think it was suitable for the country lanes. I have a 4x4 now. Still need to get th tractor.
Sally
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I think I have changed gradually over the years. I started out working as a secretary in a University, moved to the NE with husband and started working as a research assistant in the summers which was basically wandering around a moor counting various wildlife! We had a reasonable sized garden and started keeping a few chickens.
Moved back down to the NW with OH, again!, and then got a few more chickens and within the last 3 years have added a pony, turkeys, ducks and this year, goats! as well as an assortment of dogs, totalling 10.
Helen
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For years I was absent for most of the week and per-occupied or jet-lagged when I was at home. I was very good at my job - but I very much more enjoy not doing it. I still work as a consultant, but part time and from home. I'm off the beta blockers and sleeping tablets but the hay fever is worse. The cars average nearly ten years old, the tractor being newer than any of them. We at better, more varied and more local food. Despite almost no holidays we don't seem to miss them, and we don't fly anywhere!