Love to live somewhere semi rural
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@JulienHello, I'm starting on a journey to discover a better way of living in another country.My husband and I are financially self sufficient and would love to live somewhere semi rural where we could grow organic and meet friendly folk.Thank you for any imput.🙏- @biscuitdixon
For self suffiency, yes we eat vegs and fruits, 80% out of own garden, but also we like meat, wine, whisky, .... (difficult in self suffiency). Also we liked to go to restaurants from time to time. We also had a car (does also not really match, even if we tried to limit the use, we had one). - @cdw057
@fluffy2560 I would trust not myself in making Palinka, I knew some neighbours who did, but I am too afraid to drink my own produce. (but yes possible)
For self suffiency, yes we eat vegs and fruits, 80% out of own garden, but also we like meat, wine, whisky, .... (difficult in self suffiency). Also we liked to go to restaurants from time to time. We also had a car (does also not really match, even if we tried to limit the use, we had one). - @cdw057You could make your own palinka. My FIL used to make litres of the stuff. He had a large piece of land north of the far end of Balaton with many grapevines and fruit trees. He has his own little winery/brewery/cellar. It was like jet fuel. He could have also put it in a car as I'm sure it would have worked in an engine even if with mixed with diesel.- @fluffy2560
I knew many people in Hawaii who grew everything for their own use but that soil is good for just about growing anything.Sandy soil might be good for growing grapes and not much else.I know my in-laws had one the the best gardens in Erd in the day. My FIL was raised in the countryside in the 1920's in Romania as a German . He spoke Hungarian, Romanian, German and after being held as a POW in a work labor camp in Russia as a prisoner of the HU Army after WW11 for nearly 6 years, he spoke perfect Russian as well.He knew everything about growing, how to take care of fruit trees, how to keep bugs and all sorts of insects away, how to can foods, how to slaughter a pig ,chicken or rabbits how to build his own house and make sure his cellar was totally water proff. Most of his neighbors in Erd had water issues with their cellars.It would depend on how much you have to invest in land and a place to live.Most of the cheaper areas have issues.Mostly just older people stuck behind while the younger ones moved away to work closer to the cities.If you have allot of experience with gardening, and living off the grid it's still going to be a hassle to find help if needed out living in nowhere's land.One needs to be a jack of all trades.People in some villages will be very suspicious of outsiders coming in.It's going to take allot of research to find the perfect place.In these smaller towns and villages making palinka and wine are a real hobby.When my FIL passed he left behind 200 liters of wine, we gave a good 100 liters away to the alcoholic living next door. This was still basically within the city limits in Erd. He would hang a large bottle on a tree that was between our properties. He had to hide it from his wife so he hung the bottle out of the way for us to fill up for him. He just wouldn't take no for an answer either. In the end he would hang a roasted chicken in the tree for us in exchange for a bottle of wine.Put us off roasted chicken for awhile...He dislocated his shoulder when he slipped washing his floor. His wife was so embarrassed by how drunk he was that we had to drive him to the local ER.The next day he was riding his bike, drunk with his arm in a sling.That's about the excitement of living in the boonies.- @Marilyn Tassy
She was not a drinker at all but as her husband had died and her being so frugal, she didn't want the grapes to go to waste.
Yes, we only were out in Erd which is I suppose semi-rural.Everyone was a drinker.They collected all the rotten fruit off the ground and made palinka with it.I helped my husband and his mom make her last batch of wine.
She was not a drinker at all but as her husband had died and her being so frugal, she didn't want the grapes to go to waste.Dang, that was hard work , at least for lazy me it was!Making sure the grapes are growing up the vine, tying them up, picking them, sorting them, making the wine with sugar, it does involve allot of bees...They were always around buzzing away, too tempting for them with all that sweetness in the air.It was a bit sad after my FIL passed and my MIL got too old to work the land by herself.We used to visit her every 6 months frm the US for a couple of years to help her out.We really just turned everything over and grew some grass, not even the fun sort of grass!! ( God knows I could of used some being out in Erd!)They had a double sized lot so it was allot of land and work to keep it up.Sad to see the best garden around turn into a weed garden.The women who bought the house was a country women and even she tore down all the outer buildings and just has a nice big grass lawn now.- @Marilyn Tassy
My FIL bulit his own house in Erd. Had to have inspections along the way to make sure everything was up to code.He also helped built my SIL and BIL's homes.My husband and his friends help with the framing but that was many years ago.Our friend in AZ built his own house and also bulit several homes in Hawaii for people.He was a framer by trade.We rented one house in Hawaii for a month that he built, not too bad, at least it didn't leak!No, it was pretty nice.On the BIg Island most homes are kit homes, like nail by number do-it yourself homes.The homes our friend built were actual homes with blue prints ect.It's hard when people age to know when it's time to pack it in and move to an old folks home. Or a safer place.My MIL wouldn't leave her house even at age 80 when she fell in her garden and had to lay there until someone found her.We bought her walkie-talkies so she could at least contact someone in the house if she fell again.No interent service or many cell phones back then.- @Marilyn Tassy
My FIL built his houses back in the commie days,They waited for inspectors to show up and everything had to be done by the book.Literally.We sent a ticket to my husband's step-bro to come to S. Ca. around 1987 to work on our house for 2 months.He had tons of experience mostly with concret work and tiles.He worked for many months per year in Russia in work crews building.He did nice fast work and knew how to do almost any house hold job.Problem was we told him we would pay him per hour of work, free room and board.We didn't realize when we gave him such a nice offer that he would smoke us out and just about drink us out of house and home.Not counting trips to Disneyland, SF and Vegas all on our dime.I swear he learned more then consturction working in Russia all those years...He learned how to drink as well!We told him he had to keep it to just wine or beer.Well, a gallon jug of wine plus a 12 pack of beer was about his daily average.Smokes, I was buying a 12 pack carton every other day!I got a call from a neighbor telling me that a man almost fell off the ladder when he was painting the exterior of our house!I was never so happy to see someone fly off, the kicker was a few weeks after he left we invited some friends over to see all the work done at our house.We kept some nice bootles of hard liquir in our extra room in a cabinet.We never really touched the hard stuff and kept it for entertaining.Went to serve some drinks and found every single bottle of brandy, vodka, rum empty.Sneaky guy drank every drop in sight.We must of served tea or ran to the market, can't remember but I know we were madder then a hatter.- @Marilyn Tassy
It was bth funny and maddening when my sweet 80 year old neighbor rang me up to infrm me there was a man almost falling off the ladder while painting our house.So lame.We tld him he had to d his work hours then his time was his to drink, smoke or whatever. I was hme most of the day keeping tabs on him but it wasn't easy.The work got dne though, looked nice.We had him put in tarre cotta tiles on the pati by the pool.He make about 20 rws and they were not striaght.Mus tof been hitting the brady that day.My husband got home from work, tld him he wasn't paying for those hours and he had to pull up all the tiles and redo them.Funniest thing ever to see was my mother's new tile flooring in her bathroom.My alcoholic step-dad, husband n. 3 put doown mosaic tiles that came in nice square sheets, just put them down and add grout later.Well, ding-bat him, he cut each tile out of the preformed sheeting and put them in piece by tiny pice. A patchwork of a mess!My mother just laughed it off when we saw it, called him an idiot drunk, no one argued about that fact!!- @Marilyn Tassy
It was one of the funniest things ever, seeing my mother's new tile floor.I dragged my sister over to see it and the moan that she made was priceless...Mom was going to pull it all out but just gave up.He was plasted for sure when he did the job.You could see where maybe he had been semi-sober when he started the work but by the time he was done it really was a masterpiece of his own creation!That was the funny part, the swirling of tiles was truly a work of pop-art.Right up there with some of Warhols best!- @Marilyn Tassy
Flower power groovy!
Hello!Balaton region is very nice in Hungary. Good climate for growing, I just started a garden and surprisingly lots of vegetables growing and better than I expected.Good luck!Livia- @Livia Kretsch
Are you experiencing water shortages? Balaton water levels are very low right now and it hasn't rained for weeks.
Are you experiencing water shortages? Balaton water levels are very low right now and it hasn't rained for weeks.North Balaton where I live, very dry. The local government has implemented restrictions that prevent watering of vegetable gardens since July 21st. May garden is suffering..... All those lovely plants in June now are dry and wilted.Rain suppose to come tomorrow.... we shall see. Predictions have been wrong all summer. :-(- @Balaton Wine
@Balaton WineEverything is super dry! This was my first vegetable garden and it looked really good earlier, but now it’s awful. My husband hates the large rain water barrels (attracts mosquitoes) so we never had one. It would be pretty useful now.The lake was surprisingly descent yesterday. I thought it was going to be lower…- @Livia Kretsch
@Balaton WineEverything is super dry! This was my first vegetable garden and it looked really good earlier, but now it’s awful. My husband hates the large rain water barrels (attracts mosquitoes) so we never had one. It would be pretty useful now.The lake was surprisingly descent yesterday. I thought it was going to be lower…- @Livia KretschYou can put some olive oil on the top of the water in the barrel.It supposedly stops the mosquitoes laying eggs and emerging.Seems to work for us and it's obviously green.- @fluffy2560
@Balaton Wine- @fluffy2560
@Balaton WineEverything is super dry! This was my first vegetable garden and it looked really good earlier, but now it’s awful. My husband hates the large rain water barrels (attracts mosquitoes) so we never had one. It would be pretty useful now.The lake was surprisingly descent yesterday. I thought it was going to be lower…- @Livia KretschYou can put some olive oil on the top of the water in the barrel.It supposedly stops the mosquitoes laying eggs and emerging.Seems to work for us and it's obviously green.- @fluffy2560I maybe think you replied to the wrong person..... Edit issue with your reply? No problem. This site seems to have problems with that.FWIIW: I did not mention water barrels..... Someone else did. I do know how to deal with water barrels for pests and loss to evaporation. But those also ran dry this year. My fault. I simply did not have enough. Quantity issue not quality. :-)But since you mentioned it..... Rain barrels can simply use proper sealed and planned plumbing, metal screens and covers to keep out pests. A one time purchase and install. No need for buying expensive oils. :-)Hope this helps.- @Balaton Wine
@Balaton Wine- @fluffy2560To prevent any confusion, my handle in bold at the top of your reply seemed to indicate you were replying to me. But it seems you were not.Mea culpa. My error. Hope this helps.- @Balaton Wine
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