ANNIVERSARY

Friday! It is interesting that, after 15 years retired, I still think of Fridays as special. This Friday, May 1st, however, is noteworthy for another reason. It was forty years ago, today, we moved into this house and began our homestead.

We were living in Coon Rapids on East River Road. We had five acres and began to raise goats, geese and chickens. I think the area was still zoned agricultural. The zoning was a carryover from the past, and the surroundings, were becoming more and more suburban. We needed to move further in the country, outside the pull of the metropolitan expansion. I was still maintaining a private practice in Family Therapy, so we didn't want to go too far North.

We settled on this location, because it was far enough away from the city, that the prices were not exorbitant, and close enough, that I could make the daily commute. We were about forty miles from the outer rim of the metropolitan area and sixty-five miles from my office. A little far, but doable. The same house fifteen miles closer to the city cost twice as much.

It was an old farm house. It was ragged and in disrepair. It had been rented for many years and, probably, did not have an owner occupier, for at least twenty years. But underneath the rough exterior was a solid seventy year old house. The floors were level, there was no rot. There was a beautiful wood cooking range in the kitchen; but the thing that sold me, was the water, it was the best water I ever tasted. I am very tuned into the quality of drinking water and the only water as good, was that water out of Lake Superior on the North Shore. {I don't know that it is drinkable anymore after the taconite mining}

Jamie, that renaissance woman, builder, artist, musical writer and all around phenom, soon brought the pearl of a homestead out of its depressed state of disrepair.

Our goal was to achieve sustainability. We wanted to live off the land, the way people have for thousands of years, before the age of industrialization. We felt that civilization lost its soul, during the course of industrialization, and we wanted to go back and see, just what it would be like, to live more intimately with the Earth. We were not alone in this endeavor. Although, we did not realize it when we began, we had a great deal of company. We did not know, we were part of a movement, until we joined it. We discovered that there were several other families, just in our area, that were seeking what we were seeking. We formed a homesteaders club and met periodically.

Through 1975 and 1976, I commuted to the city. In the Spring of 1977, I decided to work full time on the homestead. My idea was that we could raise enough of our own food, to live well, and I could have a small private practice from my home, to provide what money we would need. Well, nothing worked as I planned and I won't go into those details.

When we first moved in, we built an outhouse and installed a hand pump on the well. We kept hooked up to electricity until 1977. From 1977 until 1984, we lived without electricity, running water, modern bath or telephone. We heated and cooked with wood and had kerosene lamps and candles for lighting. For the most part- we did not miss modern conveniences! We lived a peaceful, elegant, lifestyle. We attracted a great many people who were fascinated by  our way of life.

Noah was born in February of 1978 and Naomi was born in November of 1979. As they approached school age we felt it wasn't fair to them, to raise them, as 'oddballs' in the community. Our homesteader group pretty much rejoined the larger world. We thought we were in a vanguard, that was going to be part of a new world; instead the movement faded into the Eighties. Although, I continued, some form of private practice, throughout this time, it never was enough to meet the demands for cash. It was clear, I needed to become employed, in the outside world.

In 1984 I was hired by a rural county as a social worker. I started on the bottom rung of a ladder, I had climbed before. In 1986 I was employed by a little larger county. After six months there, I began working as an in-home family therapist for a non-profit agency. In 1988 I rejoined the metropolitan county, where I started my professional career in 1962. I was hired as an in-home family therapist. I soon, was asked, to form a Children's Mental Health Unit. I supervised that unit for a few years and then became Program Manager for the Family and Children Services of the county. I stayed in that position until I retired.

The home we live in now, is not recognizable, from the house we moved into, forty years ago. Modern conveniences are great. We have them and enjoy them. We do know, we could live without them. Our home has expanded, with two additions; one was built in the nineties and the other, was just completed last year. We now have a full bath, both upstairs and down. I don't know how life could be better. Hmmmmm, maybe  one of those big spas to soak in.

The credit, for the creation of this homestead, goes to Jamie. Professionally, she is a nurse and has had a great and varied, experience. Since living here she has worked at two local hospitals, a nursing home and public health. Our home is one of her great achievements. As I said before, she is one amazing renaissance woman.

We have raised different animals over the years. We had a milk cow once, we raised a couple pigs, we had a horse for a couple years. Mostly we have raised chickens, geese, goats, sheep, and turkeys. We have raised chicken, consistently, beginning a couple years before we moved here. We have sheep and chickens right now. We could add turkeys, goats or geese anytime, who knows.

Tomorrow the sheep shearer comes. I have to round them up and get them in the barn.

Today we celebrate the anniversary of our homestead.

Love and Peace, Gregg