Things I want to do someday

Chocolate Covered Banana's "People I'd Like to Meet Wishlist" reminded me that I wanted to do a post about some of the things I want to do some day (as in the day the kids are old enough to be put to work helping me out). Some of these require a bit more money than we have now and a bit more time than I can spare from chasing kids around the house and down the street.

The possible.

1. Bee keeping. I really love the idea of having my own source of honey and bees wax and making my own special blend of honey.


2. Raise chickens. Hubby did this when he was a kid and I would love to get the kids started on it some day. It will teach them some responsibility and we won't have to buy eggs or chicken at the store.


3. Grow vegetables. Our current location is too shady and wet for vegetables. The first year we lived here I tried to grow sweet corn but the kids next door kept knocking it over with their basketball. They moved out but the backyard is still not very hospitable to growing veggies. :(


4. Grow herbs. I have a few herbs growing in the driest sunniest spot in backyard right now but I want more. More! More!

Forgot one.

5. I want my own smoke house to make my own bacon, ham, sausages, and what not.

Big fat maybe

1. Keep the land where the first house I remember living in was built in the family. That house is long gone but the land and another house remain. It's all been in legal limbo for several years now since an older relative's death. No one has been willing to put any work into taking care of it because them may not get to keep it for themselves. There's been talk about selling it and I've been dreaming about pooling resources with my dad and sisters and buying it.


2. Restore my grandparents' garden. That garden was one of my favorite places as a child before I came to the States. I could wander out and pick whatever was ripe and eat it. I guess it got to be too much work for my grandparents as they got really old. In her last days grandma really wasn't up to gardening and grandpa spent a lot of time taking care of her. He's not much up to gardening these days either. I'd like to replant and revive the garden in their honor.

And now for "this ain't likely to happen."

1. I'd love to buy large tracts of land that are slated for development and not build a thing on any of it. Do we really need yet another subdivision out in the boonies when there are beautiful old houses in our cities going to waste?


2. Buy some of the beautiful old houses in my city and fix them up. I was driving through the west side neighbourhood of Syracuse the other day. There are lots of beat up old houses there that would have been a sight to see in their glories days. I saw one particularly decrepit looking house that sprouted satellite dishes the way a rotten log sprouts fungus. I couldn't help but think that if I lived in a placed that looked that bad I'd save the money I could spend on a satellite TV and put it towards finding a better place to live.


3. Buy an old farm house and fix it up. There's an old barn near where my sister lives that's been looking like it's about to fall apart any day now for nearly 15 years. I'd love to bring it bask to its former glory.


4. Run a farm and restaurant with my sisters. Every holiday when we get together in the kitchen we talk about how each of us has our own specialty that we could contribute to that kind of enterprise. It's a nice daydream to keep us from killing each other in the kitchen.