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Thread: Our family- and earth-friendly abode in Vermont--at last!

  1. #11
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    Just beautiful! I love the way the sunlight streams in to that one bedroom! Wow! How lovely and peaceful. This makes me realize how much I really do want to live in Vermont LOL Maybe someday.

    Thanks so much for sharing!

  2. #12
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    Thanks for all the compliments and encouragement, SL-ers! Looking at my pictures in the cold light of day, I see how silly it is to have so many of the same room, but I went a bit overboard in my enthusiasm. I'm now sitting here in my suburban CA home, listening to the news about Obama capitulating to raising the medicare age to 67, with no tax cuts for the super wealthy, and I'm fuming and longing for the lifestyle and ideals practiced in our Vermont place. If I fall ill again this year, as I try to work, raise the kids, take care of the family and house, and work on keeping my marriage healthy, I'm seriously thinking I might just grab my youngest child and take a "semester abroad" with him. Seriously, comparing CA and VT, Vermont is like a foreign country--a much nicer one than the USA.

    Oh well, at least I can now look forward to unpacking all the hearth-cooking implements I got back East. I'm doing a "Colonial Crafts" project with the 4-H club this year; so I can keep the fun alive in some way.

    ETA: herbgeek, I will definitely contact you when we visit Sturbridge next year! I love the Freeman farm too; and luckily, it's right across the way from the blacksmith's shop. I was able to leave my son with the blacksmiths (my son insisted on staying there, and since he's gotten to know them all so well, they were happy to have him stay without me for a short while) while I visited the farm and the cooper, and even the tinsmith on the common. I really like what they've done with the Fitch house (was it the Fitch house?)--how you can now lie down on the rope beds and roll around on the straw mattress. Is Purl still on the boards? She used to love Sturbridge, too.

    And Stella! Did you have your baby?
    Last edited by ke3; 7-22-11 at 12:42pm.

  3. #13
    Senior Member Polliwog's Avatar
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    It is absolutely idyllic. Just a wonderful environment for you and your son. I live in California and I love it, but I can see what you love about Vermont.

  4. #14
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    And Stella! Did you have your baby?
    Yes, I did! He was born two minutes into April Fools Day. Something tells me that kid is going to have a sense of humour.

    Seriously, comparing CA and VT, Vermont is like a foreign country--a much nicer one than the USA.
    I always felt like SoCal was a foreign country. I felt much less of a cultural difference between Canada and my home state of Minnesota than I did between SoCal and Minnesota.
    My blog: www.sunnysideuplife.blogspot.com

    Guess why I smile? Because it's worth it. -Marcel the Shell with Shoes

  5. #15
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    Congratulations, Stella! How wonderful: two girls, then two boys! You'll never have to "entertain" your kids. They'll just play with each other, instead of whining "I'm bored", as our "only child" does at times (his brothers are 18 and 15; he's 8).

    And you're right: it's SoCal that's the foreign country, not Vermont. On the other hand, I'd say that the culture in most of the USA is more like Southern Cal's than like Vermont's. Buy, buy, buy; money money money, fame and fortune, and, as Jack Sparrow and Mr. Gibbs said in Pirates of the Carribbean, "Take what you can!" "Give nothing back!"

    Still, idealism lives and flourishes in many pockets to be found here and there. The trick is to find those pockets!

  6. #16
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    super awesome!

    do you think you might live there full time?

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zoebird View Post
    super awesome!

    do you think you might live there full time?
    YES!!! We hope to get our older two kids off to college (oldest is going this fall), and then move, assuming one of us can find work. This is the big challenge. But it costs so little to live off the grid; and the culture is so different in Vermont, that we might be able to make it on one income, and some part-time teaching on my part. Assuming my health gets better, and not worse, as my kids grow up.

    In the meantime, we're renting the house to neighbors' friends when we can, just to cover the taxes, and staying there in the summers.

  8. #18
    Mrs-M
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    Breathtakingly beautiful.

  9. #19
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    Lovely spot and thankyou for sharing those gorgeous pictures!
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  10. #20
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    What a great house in a great green neighborhood! So happy you found your "off-the-grid" simple living homestead.

    Have you thought about applying for SS disability? You clearly are disabled by your health issues and getting that monthly income would help bring you closer to your dream... just a suggestion. If you are open to it, you should consult an attorney who specializes in these types of cases as he/she can guide you on what kind of documentation you need to provide.

    Best of luck!

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