'I have always hoped for a community of support ....' (a future homesteader's dream)(The Question of Community)

Not everyone is fortunate enough to find helpful, like-minded people to share homestead dreams, ideas and work with. But as the next correspondent indicates, that doesn't mean they don't yearn for that sense of community.

I am nestled up with my Great Dane pup and six back issues of Countryside. The wind chimes outside haven't stopped tinkling all morning, even above the rain, and as I've been fighting a cold, I decided I'd better take it easy this afternoon ... in other words, daydream about a future home stead, researching ideas and alternative home plans.

This is why I write... I want to know if there are any people, clubs or organizations in my area who gather together to share ideas, friendships, lives, and a cyclical view of living with nature. As a senior at Ohio State University I commute 40 minutes each day from country roads lined with green fields and livestock, to cement walled freeways and exhaust fumes and noise, all tolerated so that I can live on my parents' farm and earn a degree at the same time. But several years of this process have left me feeling slightly lost ... I have no interest in bar-hopping, sports cars or MTV, and have yet to meet another person who feels the same way. I am not a pessimist, and I do have lots of friends; it's just that I'd like to meet people who believe in community, who don't like McDonald's, who are interested in life as it surrounds us and not just in how we can supposedly shape and control it.

I have been building my dream of a "homestead," but have always hoped for a community of support. Is the idea of establishing a home alone feasible, even if I am financially prepared? What of the emotional changes ... wanting to express joy and grief through sharing ... it doesn't seem logical to attempt everything as a loner.

If I stay with my family, however, I will always have their support and love ... actually, it doesn't matter where I am or where I go ... my family ties are strong, and in this sense I will never be a loner. And my family farms. My father raises Suffolk sheep and sells very competitive club lambs. I had 13 producing ewes of my own this year, which he helped me with tremendously. We also raise beef cattle, have several Nubian goats, two donkeys (sheep protection), and chickens, in the summer.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I want to share these things with people who have common interests ... because family and farm life are especially dear to me, and I feel the need to communicate with others who feel the same way. There are countless lessons I need to learn too, and some of them I cannot learn on our farm. For example, we are putting in soybeans this year with a no-till drill. It's all technologically innovative and chemically treated, and I don't have any say in changing this process because I do not run this farm. Someday, however, I am going to farm my fields with draft horses, and this is where I lack experience. I want to be able to run a farm without pouring gas or diesel into any engines.

So I am submitting this letter as a record of my dream at its starting point, even though I actually started planning several years ago. It was only in the last month that I picked up an issue of Countryside for the first time. I was so excited by everyone's dreams and commentaries and hints - I never realized that there were so many people out there who feel the same way I do!

What I'm wondering, I guess, is why so few of the contributors seem to be from Ohio. Perhaps this is true only of the few magazines I've read so far, but I'm wondering if Ohio is populating too rapidly to encourage homesteaders. Subdivisions are increasing and even my parents plan to move further out within the next five years.

I will be writing again to share my progress, and would like to hear from anyone who has advice or just simply shares my beliefs and is also working toward a truer country life.

Thanks Countryside!