The aging homesteader

I was up on the roof yesterday cleaning the chimney and making some repairs.  The chimney has double stacks that serve two fireplaces.  When the wind is right, the smoke tends to come out of one and be drawn down the other.  I put in a wall between the two stacks to try to limit the draw down.   We will see if that works.

The trip to the roof is worth noting because I suspect it may be my last one.  Getting off the ladder onto the roof challenged my ability to bend.  Also walking across the slope of the roof was not as easy as it once was.   Oddly, I had no trouble getting off the roof onto the ladder.  Anyway, in keeping with my first rule of life, “Don’t do dumb things”,   I will be thinking long and hard about getting on the roof again.

John F Dean wrote:   Oddly, I had no trouble getting off the roof onto the ladder.  Anyway, in keeping with my first rule of life, “Don’t do dumb things”,   I will be thinking long and hard about getting on the roof again.

The thinking is the important step! Hubby installed some scaffolding a couple years back so that he could sweep the chimneys more safely and easily. It doesn't show that much from the street.

He also installed some proper "roof tiedowns" (for lack of knowing their proper name) and has a decent fall-arrest harness.

So there is definitely a "time to retire from that job" approach, but there's also a "think about how this can be done safer" approach as we age and *both* have a place in our tool-box.

You have me checking out the price of harnesses. They are pretty inexpensive.

There are a lot of drawbacks to a low, flat, roof (namely leaks and coyotes sleeping by the warm chimney).
Now a benefit: I am grateful that, with care - and practicing 3-point-touch on the ladder - I don't need to buy a safety harness!

This morning I watched Happen Films (permaculture-focused) production of "The Life of an Inspiring 85-Year-Old Change Maker!"  I found it very positive - inspirational and aspirational - as I consider my own future. Only 12 minutes, it's given me a lot to think about.

Beautiful video! Thanks so much for sharing it, Amy.

This 10-minute, permaculture-oriented film from Reflections of Life film makers speaks to transformative loss and how the interdependence of the many beings on the homestead that depend on us is a source of healing. As the darkness of Winter Solstice nears, I found great comfort in hearing how this amazing person holds loss with grace and dignity. I’ve watched it at least 5 times gaining more insights on each viewing. Maybe it will speak to others in this thread.

I feel that some of the most important thing an aging homesteader can do is to stay active and learn how to deal with aches and pains.

One of the first steps is to accept and expect the aging process. Trying to figure out strategies to age gracefully goes a long ways.

Staying motivated helps with the challenges and rewards.

Eating right, staying fit, learn the art of self massage like T-touch, do breathing exercises, and drink lots of water.

Hi Anne,

Good point. The aches and pains are very real.  Injuries that I used to be able to shake off in 24 hours or less I now feel for 6 months or more. I am still nursing a muscle pull from last May.  

Anne Miller wrote:I feel that some of the most important thing an aging homesteader can do is to stay active and learn how to deal with aches and pains.

I consider myself a pretty resilient person, but this year was challenging.  Had a minor ankle sprain and in the following weeks I overcompensated with the other foot and ended up with another sprain.  It didn't stop me but boy did it slow me down.  Between the sprains and a bum knee, kneeling wasn't an issue, but getting back up was.  So for Christmas hubby has bought me one of those combination bench/kneelers.   Currently doing physical therapy at home along with strengthening exercises to prepare for the new gardening season.

Thank you for the book...I am guilty of pushing through til the task is done...which I"m trying to complete my tasks in bite-sizes  

Rebecca Hyde wrote:Carol Deppe, who wrote The Resilent Gardener, mentioned many tips for saving ones back and otherwise lasting longer while being productive. I always remember her advice to resist “completionism” — that compulsion to just push through until the task is done.  

The screen at the top of the chimney started clogging.
I was getting smoke back in the house when I opened the woodburner door.

There is a tree limb above the house I can tie a safety rope to, but the whole process of climbing up on the roof and getting over to the chimney is work and a bit risky.

The piping got disconnected in the house so all that was left was the straight 8" pipe up.
  I have an electric leaf blower, put it through a hole in a 5-gallon bucket lid that was used to seal against the chimney inside.

Turned it on and it cleaned the screen right out. Even put a paper ball in there to bounce around and clean the walls a little.

I'm going to have to become more inventive as I get older. If I want to keep heating/cooking with wood.
That was so much easier than climbing on the roof and it hasn't clogged again in the weeks since.

Brilliant way to stay off the roof Craig!
Your statement,

I'm going to have to become more inventive as I get older

is profound and far-reaching. Improvisation in daily life is deeply fulfilling.

4 years ago I wrote this

Fortunately I have a good news story.
I am 70 + and can do almost everything I did before without problems.
Except for the activity I could once do all night and cant do once a week now!
I do pace myself, and use levers etc to make things easier.
I still race motorcycles and I never ran so I cant report on that.
I think the techniques I now use have been things I no doubt either learned about or was told.
So good luck everybody.

6 Months ago I broke my back in 4 places in an accident, at 75 years young!
 At the time I remember checking if I could move my toes because I wondered if I had done enough damage to prevent it.
My left toes moved, so I just lay there across the ladder I had used as a landing spot and waited.
3 days later I had an operation which involved bars and screws up most of my spine,,,,arghh. It took me until recently to investigate the repairs.
I had a call from a fellow sidecar racer, Brian Williams who asked what I wanted to do, I explained I was planning to walk so I could race again.
He said put that into your mind and stick to it.

I had helped others in the past to rebuild nerves etc by constantly moving muscles anyway that was possible, just out of experience and I
was confident I could do it again.
At first I was pretty despondent for a few days, but Brians call triggered something, then I had a Physio who pushed me to try and sit up, then get out of bed and walk.
The pain, lack of mobility was profound, but a mate of mine walked in just as I was trying to put it all together for the first time and later he mentioned, " I have seen you as stubborn as anyone before, but watching you scream, push and shove your way to your feet was amazing. And then you took a step, with the physio's support, and slowly moved off groaning and crying out. But then you had to be stopped and turned around."
Anyway, I can now drive, can work with my screen business and drive a van, all carefully.
Customers have been great in recognising my limitations and are supportive.  
I tell you the story because anything may be possible for you.
In my case without any gods help.

John F Dean wrote:

...looking into the future, are pricing a chair lift to get us in and out of the basement. If nothing else, it might be useful to transport boxes,etc.

So, I wonder, what adaptive measures have others taken or plan to take?

I have a creative neighbor who is not afraid to try his mind's eye images
So on a roll, he built his basement blocks 13' high
A humongous in ground pool he never finished
A hand winching dumb waiter from his humongous basement all the way to the part of his house that is 2 storeys high

I smile and tell him never mind, he always has room for a giant!

Anyway, I think I want to have a go with his dumb waiter idea to move things from my 7' basement all the way to ground level 4' up, and then another 5' to the main level of my little 850 SQ ft house

More convenient for moving out an old washing machine that leaks and soon to be used for rainwater catchment summer laundry...
Storing the bigger air compressor and fetching outside on occasion...
Maybe doing a massive basement storage reworking while I am still motivated and capable ...

Wouldn't it be nice if someone knew how to use bicycle power to power a winch, like a crazy teenager who built a bike elevator to his treehouse on YouTube

So one sits on a reclaimed roadside stationary bike and pedals up and down -- perhaps a floating platform with an extension using a trailer hitch type platform
Well you can see how despite age difference my neighbor and I get along great!

Anyway, yeah I love the idea of stacking functions any which way

What's more, if you needed the winch for another job, you could design it so it could be removed and returned
Say, if you had a trailer with something like scrap metal needing winching on

Jan 2025
Current age 68
 I've decided to pay local help to dig my septic instead of doing it myself, mostly because it's affordable as per/hr increments instead of the outlay to purchase a machine.
 I also am keeping core strength ongoing as I plan to set the foundation blocks myself at 500+/- pounds lifting and toting each day for that task point to build in desert conditions.
  Prebuilding framing is ongoing, and being stockpiled. I will purchase a deer hunting hanging rack for the truck hitch which will position and pulley-lift framing

Kat Peters-Midland wrote:Thank you for the book...I am guilty of pushing through til the task is done...which I"m trying to complete my tasks in bite-sizes  

Rebecca Hyde wrote:Carol Deppe, who wrote The Resilent Gardener, mentioned many tips for saving ones back and otherwise lasting longer while being productive. I always remember her advice to resist “completionism” — that compulsion to just push through until the task is done.  

I call my core strength chores outside and inside efforts 'pilates' !!! Less than half hour any given lifting pulling pushing toting digging chopping gathering scenario, then go do some other effort and keeping the to-do list at only two things today, and lots of nutrition for the tasks.

This topic gets more and more relevant for me as time marches on. Old age just came up and bit me in the backside about a decade ago. This was accelerated by a few major health issues. With those behind me, it is full speed ahead. Yet we need help around the homestead.

We had a young person living in our rebuilt log cabin for a few years, and she helped a lot around here. She fell in love and hit the road to explore her world with her partner. Now we are trying to find someone else. This is no easy task. Living on acreage deep in the Cascade Mountains in Washington, living in a somewhat rustic environment, and performing classic homesteader tasks, is not for everyone.

But God is good. We are doing just finer and enjoying this wonderful way of life.

Sometimes I just have to revisit the original post (OP) to remember the topic!
John's first question:

So, I wonder, what adaptive measures have others taken or plan to take?

Dave's adaptation:

(W)e need help around the homestead.

Since getting qualified help is increasingly difficult, how are people adapting to labor shortages?

Hi Amy,

I don’t need regular help, but about 4 times a year or so, I can really use it.   I know of a gentleman who is a very hard worker.  I pay him well.  He is always available when I call.

You may have luck checking with larger farms that use seasonal help, part time help, etc. see if they would recommend someone.

I probably should have asked this first.  What characteristics are you looking for?  Strong?  Able to work independently or along side you?  Full or part time?  Etc…

Thanks for asking for more information John. At this time, I am healthy and skillful so I am adapting to a time of less capacity. To remain healthy as long as possible, I have a workout regimen to protect my joints and strengthen areas that need it.
My teachers are the neighbors around me. They decline due to sudden health issues. Within a year or so, I see their properties neglected. A year or so later, the kids come and convince the parents that they need to downsize. A giant dumpster appears in the driveway and family fills it up. Soon after, an estate sale draws in the crowds. The next month after a massive cleanup, the house is on the market. Within a short time, the obituary appears.

Adapting now to labor shortages (my own and the availability of others) means radically reducing the labor requirement. I'm pruning the height of my fruit trees by 1/3. I'm eliminating decomposing yard features: an overhead arbor, a decomposing stock tank pond, sculptures that I no longer wish to maintain, things that require chemicals for preservation. I am also focusing on garden crops that are useful and versatile: corn, beans, squash, potatoes, and fruit.

These are my approaches to adapting. I'm looking for more ideas, which is why I asked the question,

Since getting qualified help is increasingly difficult, how are people adapting to labor shortages?

To add a little, I save up especially hard or dangerous work for when my helper is around. So, in general, heavy lifting, climbing, etc.is reserved for the days when I have him around.

To add a bit more, look in the labor market where others don’t look.  Retired people are often in reasonably good physical shape and can use a few extra dollars.  You may want to limit the hours to 4 a day, but you can get high quality work during those 4 hours.  It is a rare retired person who cannot  use a few extra bucks.

I have also found people with developmental disabilities to be very successful.  I have learned to build the work relationship gradually. Say…one hour of work the first day, two the second, etc. That way you are not committing yourself.  Like the general population I have encountered dedicated workers.  I have also encountered people who stand around and tell me how hard they work.

When dealing with developmental disabilities, if a good worker goes bad, take the time to figure out why.   One case I can think of involved a young man on a dairy farm.  After a few hours his work would degrade.  Why? He didn’t know where to urinate and was too embarrassed to ask.

Another involved a person being an exceptional good worker …but was stealing family photos.   It turned out they had grown up in a state facility and the concept of family was both strange and wonderful to them.  The exceptional employer made a family album for them.

John F Dean wrote:
To add a bit more, look in the labor market where others don’t look.  Retired people are often in reasonably good physical shape and can use a few extra dollars.  You may want to limit the hours to 4 a day, but you can get high quality work during those 4 hours.  It is a rare retired person who cannot  use a few extra bucks.

So true

I have also found people with developmental disabilities to be very successful.  I have learned to build the work relationship gradually. Say…one hour of work the first day, two the second, etc.

Great tip!

Another involved a person being an exceptional good worker …but was stealing family photos.   It turned out they had grown up in a state facility and the concept of family was both strange and wonderful to them.  The exceptional employer made a family album for them.

Heartbreaking but poignant

I agree that 2.5-4 hours in a day is a good way to get quality help, starting with a decent breakfast, lots of non alcoholic fluids, an obligatory break and snack, and finish with all you can eat

They usually want to come back

I am getting myself reacquainted with accessibility issues lately. Saturday evening out of the blue I had amazing nuclear-explosion-level pain and massive swelling in my knee. Went to the ER Sunday morning, X-ray was clear but I could only get an MRI yesterday, and now I have an appt with the knee guy in a week and a half. Last time this happened it was trauma (fell on a wet floor--- maybe another topic for this thread.....) and took 6 months to heal with just PT. This time, no trauma but similar situation, I'm not optimistic.

In the meantime, I can kinda shuffle around, at least, if I use a knee brace. Garden work is pretty much out of the question, since my entire garden is on a slope.
Need I add that it's been raining since December, and we are finally supposed to start getting some sun on Sunday.......

I suppose I should be glad the pain is gone, the swelling has gone down a bit, and now I just have a knee that won't do what it's supposed to. I can bear weight, but any attempts at bending causes the whole thing to go herky-jerky. I feel like Frankenstein lurching around.
I cannot believe this is happening again (and I didn't even do anything to set it off).
Then again, I'm getting older every day, I'm trying to consider this all a learning experience for when I get older.

Muddy slope. . .
Not much time to maybe construct raised beds, if you can buy some , get someone to assemble.
 I'm looking at photos of people standing next to raised beds at waist level in height, others are designed for wheelchair height accessibility...
 My heart goes out to you, let us know how you are doing. Stay safe

Tereza Okava wrote: Garden work is pretty much out of the question, since my entire garden is on a slope.  

I hear you, only in my case, instead of pain, I got snow! Hopefully they can figure out what is wrong. I do hope it isn't another version of what happened to the base of your thumb.

Raised beds are "interesting" on sloped ground. It's more that you have to find some sort of cheap building material to make like those overseas mountains that look so beautiful in the pictures, but took generations and a lot of work to build!

That said, making terraces is definitely an approach that Sepp Holzer has also done, and somewhere on permies, a member did it just by hammering in wood posts to hold the dirt they shoveled down the slope to them creating a series of flat paths and beds.

However, even to do that requires your knee to work first. The only cost-effective instant raised beds I've seen were old metal bathtubs, and they're not as easy to come by as they used to be, and are very heavy, and need someone strong and motivated to move them.

Jay Angler wrote:
That said, making terraces is definitely an approach that Sepp Holzer has also done, and somewhere on permies, a member did it just by hammering in wood posts to hold the dirt they shoveled down the slope to them creating a series of flat paths and beds.

This is exactly what we have done, and we even concreted a path for times like now to get down to the compost/bokashi at the far end of the yard, when it rains eeeeeendlessly, because our heavy clay means that muddy feet are like weighted divers boots, you need to call in the rescue squad or you might be stuck out there forever when you just wanted to dump out the stinky compost bin.
Still, it's a hell of a grade, and I'm not going out there without a spotter just in case. All I need to do is fall and break the other leg!!! (gotta laugh to avoid the crying)

I'm so sorry, Tereza! Praying you make a quick recovery.

We're going to have to use a lot more concrete to fix our paths, too. Our garden slopes, and the existing paths are massive trip/slip hazards.

Hearing this and me being a young buck with nothing else to do but needing a place to stay is tragic. Perhaps a good solution is allowing someone to help with the homestead lifestyle in exchange for some land to live on? (I'd love to help) 🫡😁

2025
I'm personally going to try the hugukulture mound, building it now before I become less interested in stopping and bending.  The 4ft access raised beds are a great stepping stone for me to try.  But the hugukulture mound is going to be a lasting legacy for whoever obtains my garden later on.
 As being pretty strong where many many of my fellow age group are failing or sickly, I feel confident of being able to get that trench going, haul my cache of 24" 100 yr old tree sections, start the biome from the bottom up, layer in seasonal green fodder for the compost, really make a BIG effort this year after collecting elementals for the past 3 years.

  The mounds are built up to head high!! So handicapped or disabled individuals should/could/can be able to plant, cultivate and harvest to their hearts content.

My practise mounds in a community garden are low at 2-1/2ft a I've ground level, but they faithfully bring out a few perennials, a bit of grass that came up from upside down divots I built with, rocks built into the slopes hanging onto fresh compost, other dirt, the grass clippings, and transplants of hardy squashes, some herbs, and lots of easy peasy flax seeds and wildflowers.

A new neighbor in that area gave me Aspen wood she was grooming old trees, they felled a couple so I gleaned ROOTS, thankfully those did not put forth babies but one BABY Aspen would have been a good thing IMO

I knew I had done well when I discovered earthworms in the planting on that second summer!

I think that our topic host could find someone to terraform a terrace on her slope, and maybe even a gardening mound to mitigate the stopping and bending of gardening.

STOOPING  jeez

Cheli Bremmer wrote:This is an interesting and somewhat depressing subject for me as I am going to be 59 this year and have problems with my back. I'm trying to use food foresting techniques but there is still much to be done and it seems like if I so much as try to cut a few weeds I get my sacrum tweaked. Hiring men to help is quite expensive, and the option of doing it all myself is not the most appealing when I'm in pain. Moreover I live in Florida and I hate the heat (long story why I'm here) so am looking to start over someplace new! It's hard to Dominate the World when your back hurts. I very much dislike the subtropics... but starting over at 60 isn't exactly appealing either!

I am 67 and just now looking for land. I  am quite healthy although I haven't moved as much as I should have or the past few years but that is now changing, in preparation for my lifelong desire to live on land where I am mostly self-sufficient. I'm looking for this property with a friend and we are hoping to have three or four other women or men wanting to join our community. Right now we're looking in the warmest part of West Virginia and maybe moving a little further south. Any interest in connecting?
Beth

old fart update (sorry, gracefully ageing homesteader update): I got a reprieve! Things got really bad and I decided to go seek treatment elsewhere. Turned out to be nothing more sinister than effusion, also known as water on the knee, which I guess got banged into something. Turns out all my internal structures in the knee are fine. The nice orthopedics guy stuck in a horse needle and drained out half a soda can worth of fluid, and lo and behold I walked out of the clinic (needed to be rolled in). Since I only passed out once (pretty good for me), I went home, had lunch and a nap, and then promptly went and worked in the garden, because it FINALLY stopped raining.
Hallelujah! The old dog gets a reprieve and lives to bark and whine another day.

Beth Borchers wrote:
I am 67 and just now looking for land.

Beth, welcome to Permies. I realize that message above was intended for that poster directly, but if you'd like to also make a dedicated thread for your search that other folks can see, feel free!
You could put it in the Community forum https://permies.com/c/10 or elsewhere, if you prefer (like the regional forums for where you're searching for land. We can help you get it where you want it to be).

Tereza, yay for a simple fix, and "only passing out once"!

Beth, I hope you find the property you and your friends are looking for. Community, whether family, neighbours, friends, or actually living in community becomes even more important as we age.

I just love that this thread exists.  

I'll be 59 shortly and, thank the Father, I'm in good health and not on any medications.  I spent my entire life, even as a kid, helping (for free) seniors with cleaning, chores, errands, cooking, laundry, etc., so they could stay living in their own homes as long as possible until they couldn't anymore.  

Along the way, I learned from their experiences and what I saw them going through.  And that is now worth a fortune to me as I get older and am planning my own relocation and home build.

If young folks only understood - I mean REALLY understood - that older folks still feel the same on the inside as when they did when they were in their 20's.  Don't just look at an older person and see old age.  They're still the cheerleader, football star, dancer, electrical engineer, etc., that they were when they were younger.  They're still a son or a daughter.  They just don't look the same.  And it's important to them (not to mention FOR them) that folks realize this.  Don't ignore them.  Don't look past them.  It costs you absolutely nothing to smile and acknowledge them.  That's easy and free to do, but it's invaluable to them.  And remember this as you grow older yourself:  "Old" will always be 15 years older than you are right now.

"Don't despise growing old.  It's a privilege denied to many."  (And it sure beats the alternative!)

So, I'm planning my house design (and size) to suit me to live in comfortably and easily as I age.  I'm open to every suggestion folks are kind enough to offer.  It will be small, easy to keep clean, and have wide doors.  (Actually, I've always loved these things.  Then again, my mother always told me I was born 82 years old!)