land sharing

Krystina Szabo wrote:I have also wrestled with this question. I have been unable to find anyone likeminded who is interested in taking on any responsibility or anything permanent here in Virginia. So I think I'll sell the 200 acres and move. Either buy property or find another person with property set up. It's not about money for me. It's about how I can find likeminded person(s) with whom to share the responsibility of gardening, livestock, horses, etc. and also to share the joy of cooking great food, pets, and horseback riding, etc..... Right now a homeless friend is staying in exchange for feeding the pets when I'm gone. Not the most desirable. Next time, if I own the property, it will be a completely separate living space and a simple work for board agreement, if I cannot find anyone to dream with. Or I will try to find someone who Lives the Dream and will give me the opportunity to share. I am too frustrated to be the originator of The Dream right now, because I have been totally put off by others. No one even wants to just come to the country to ride my horses with me, for free. Much less help feed. So the big problem as I see it is not the machinations. (I have a landholding LLC, so what) It's the Finding Someone(s). I have the farm. I have the LLC. I have everything but no Someone(s) with which to share the bounty.... because it involves sharing the sweat. So I just can't figure out how that works for others. Really.

I'd be all over to helping you on your farm if you grew coconuts and it never fell below 70F. There might still be hope for your farm though, there is a lot of forums out there not just this one with people looking to work with other people on all sorts of projects. Look around and you'll be surprised, you just got to find your match.

Sent you a PM btw. Not sure how the notifications work around here. I've been a 'lurker' forever and finally signed up to post something so am a noob in the mechanics of the site.

Krystina,
Have you tried website4s for horse lovers?
I know a woman who might be somebody you could share the horse life with. She trained horses for children. She had a very farm out west but sold it after a divorce, I think. She told an incredible story about losing or giving up a mare, I can't remember. Anyway, years later, somebody offered to sell her a horse, and it was her old mare, and she was ecstatic.
I may still have her e-mail address, but I wlll have to go look for it. If you want it, send me a private message. She was really a nice, normal person. She was looking for friends or somebody to share land, I think, but I told her, I just wasn't into horses that much anymore myself.
I also have a sister with a 220 acre horse farm in the heart of the Bluegrass, and a house near the Kentucky Horse Park. She rescued 20 horses, but had to phase out that herd...just too much for her to handle, as she worked in town. She had to move her children's horse and hers to town to keep somebody from stealing them. She tried to get back into dressage, jumping and hunting, but is in her 60s now and still working. Her daughter is in college and doesn't pay any attention to those fine horses anymore.
I did have horses on my place, but they died of old age, at 32 and 28, and I did not want to get more. I want to be self sustaining, grow food, but not spend all summer growing food crops for horses, pigs and cows.
I did manage my property great for ten years, but then I had trouble with people on drugs, After they were gone, I never wanted to see another human being and to this day, I prefer wild animals to people. You are right, it is not about money. There is a universal desire to be part of a community. I sometimes hire people to work for me just because I am lonely. My father, who died at 93, never gave me orders particularly, except to say once, "Don't ever work alone." It is certainly demoralizing to work alone, and I sympathize with you. However, it sounds like you might have too many animals.