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Camping Trash

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All gone. There's to you, Mr. Pete Grannis, DEC Commish. I took this picture, only 8-months after your stupid ban went into effect. Not that there was anybody around, after a very quiet night at the Cotton Hill Lean-to. I did make sure that everything burned up completely, and left no litter around for the next camper.

Sunday March 21, 2010 — Fire

How Much Land Would I Need to Own.

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When I own a land, how much land do I think I’ll want to own? I think I would want to own enough land to:

– Be able to hunt and shoot firearms at a backyard range, which would mean at least 500 feet from the nearest other house.

– Be able to ride four wheelers on my land, have some fun in the mud without making too much of a mess.

– Have enough land to hobby farm, such as pigs, goats, and other smaller livestock, which means they’ll need pasture and a bit of distance from the house.

– Be able to compost food, leaves, and other waste.

– Be able to burn trash and have bonfires, without causing a nuisance or smelling my neighbors burning their trash.

– Be able to listen to music as loud as I want to, hang lights outdoors, drink beer, and have a good time with buddies.

– Have junk cars and other equipment I’m working on, or saving for scrap use on my land without bothering others.

– Be far enough back from the road so I don’t have to see others or have others piering onto my land.

Obviously, none of that doesn’t require that much land if you have the right kind of neighbors and the right kind of state and local government that leaves people alone, but having more land often comes with having better neighbors that mind their business while you mind your own.

My parents have a little under five acres — surrounded on one side by city reservoir property — but I think I’d rather have closer to 50 with much less house and barns, as my focus would be the wilderness not having a fancy home or barnyard. Obviously, this is an expensive goal, but living farther out means you can get more with less money.

Always Have Had an Interest in Agriculture

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I’ve long had an interest in agriculture. Agriculture is science and the practice of turning rural land into food, using natural forces combined with knowledge gained by human kind to grow and feed humans and animals alike. Agriculture defines Rural America, it is the largest land use, provides a low-impact use of land that is largely sustainable and on-going. Farm land can generally be abandoned, and quickly revert back to full woods and wildland.

I grew up in a small town, I hope to move back there someday, probably once I finally say good bye to New York.

Farm In Knox

That craving for the hills I get some times … 😍

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I am a country boy at heart. I might live in the city, work downtown and take the bus every day but that’s not where my heart is.

Seeing those mountains in the distance, the forested hills and the little farms and homesteads carved out of the mountains just touches something inside me. The rundown trailers, the old tractors, the pigs, goats and cattle. The rusting away junk cars, the burn barrels and the brush / debris pile some day soon to be burned.

A lot of people call them ignorant hicks and hillbillies. But I don’t know, I think anybody who can scrape together a living either partially or entirety off the land is pretty damn smart and educated, even if it’s not through traditional channels.

They call it rural poverty. A lack of material stuff. Although I don’t think one can really call homesteading cheap when you look at the cost of machinery and feed. And many of rural people live a life much richer than city folk.

Hills Outside Petersburgh