Michigan

[Avalon1984]

Hello from Muskegon!

I stumbled over this forum through backyard chickens. There seem to be a lot of interesting ideas out here. I live on a 14acre old dairy farm that we have converted into a horse farm. While the horses are currently lazy and not being used (due to the fact that I work countless hours and hubby is gone throughout the week) we do have a large flock of dual purpose chickens, gardens, an old orchard that I am working on rejuvenating, and bees. We live in a rural area within the city which is great. I don't know how much longer I will have my job so I am exploring different ways to save money/make goods/ sell goods I made, etc. I look forward to learning more from fellow members!

OMG, that's where I was born & raised!!! I've never "met" anyone else on a forum who was from there!!!

Welcome!!

Yeah! How cool! I don't know if I really count since I am actually from Germany and came over here 5 years ago but nonetheless My husband was raised in the Heights. He always tells me "Well, things surely have changed there over the past 30 years." Thanks for the warm welcome! Here are some pictures of the farm. I need to take new ones for obvious reasons

 

[Denim Deb]

Big horses! I'm not up on the larger breeds, what kind are they? (They'd dwarf all of my horses, an Arab, a Chicoteague pony, and a Welsh cross pony)

ETA: Forgot to say,

 

[Avalon1984]

Big horses! I'm not up on the larger breeds, what kind are they? (They'd dwarf all of my horses, an Arab, a Chicoteague pony, and a Welsh cross pony)

First one is an old Clydesdale mare, the second one is a Drum Horse (50% Clyde, 50% Gypsy). I am into big horses. I just bought an 18.1 Shire mare imported from the UK. Here she is...

Must take new pictures of her sometime as well. Weather here in Muskegon is rainy today so I will probably come home to wet and dirty horses and chickens. Not sure why they love to get wet and then roll in dirt...oh well...

What type of Arab do you have? I always thought about getting me a pony to offset the big guys.

 

[Denim Deb]

She's supposed to be Egyptian, but I'm not 100% sure. She was a rescue, and came w/out papers, so I tell people she's an Italian Arabian. Some get it, some don't.

 

[SSDreamin]

Hello from Muskegon!

I stumbled over this forum through backyard chickens. There seem to be a lot of interesting ideas out here. I live on a 14acre old dairy farm that we have converted into a horse farm. While the horses are currently lazy and not being used (due to the fact that I work countless hours and hubby is gone throughout the week) we do have a large flock of dual purpose chickens, gardens, an old orchard that I am working on rejuvenating, and bees. We live in a rural area within the city which is great. I don't know how much longer I will have my job so I am exploring different ways to save money/make goods/ sell goods I made, etc. I look forward to learning more from fellow members!

My Dad grew up in Muskegon Heights- Jackson Hill area. I spent my early childhood in the Dalton area (take the causeway-the old one, not what we always called the flats on the xway- north, keep going, keeeep going...oh, you blinked and missed it )

Moved farther north because my Dad thought it was 'getting crowded' - I think there is just a store and the half moon tavern in Dalton today! I still have family/friends scattered all over that area; SIL lives off Laketon, BF lives on River Rd in No. Muskegon, plus cousins all over the place. I lived on Apple Ave, the 'rural' part, for quite a while.

I love your horses as well! I try to go to the Oceana County ( north of Muskegon, about 45 min)fair every year- they have beautiful draft animals there. It never fails that somebody has a pair for sale and I really, really want them. I'm guessing that's why DH always insists we take the car!

 

[Denim Deb]

I'm sure someone would be willing to haul them home for you.

 

[Leta]

I'm on the North coast of the U.P., near Marquette. DH and I were both raised way downstate, though, in Jackson County, which is the second tier of counties up from the Ohio/Indiana borders.

The job situation is grim, but if you can get any type of government job- military, postal service, corrections, fire department, police, state/county/federal agency, social services, etc., OR if you are in the medical field, you can find good work here.

The town I live in has some great situations- the mine is here, and the miners start out at $40/hr. Miners often make $85K per year. The average house here costs under $50K, and that will easily get you a 3bd/2bth. Most truly middle class people (say, $40K and up) own two homes- one in town, and a camp, or a house and at least one rental.

There is a single mom right up the street from us, she is under 30, has two kids, just graduated from college, and owns her house. As in OWNS, outright. She figured since she was applying her financial aid overage to rent anyway, she may as well buy a house. So she found one on land contract for $25,000, and paid on it what she would have paid in rent, plus she put her tax returns toward it, and paid it off in three years. So at an age when most people are struggling to pay off their student loans in order to save for a house, she has a paid off house and just has to get her student loans paid off, and then she's debt free. Knowing this chick, I'm sure she'll be free and clean by her 30th birthday.

If you pick a spot with a low COL, and you don't have any (or much) car/student loan/medical bill/credit car debt, you can easily live on one or two minimum wage jobs. I mean our mortgage payment (on a 15 year note) is $300/mo, which is 25% of a gross monthly full time minimum wage salary. 25% is just about a perfect ratio as far as housing costs go. If you have two people working at minimum wage here, even if they aren't getting full time hours, you can still make it.

 

[Avalon1984]

I know exactly where Dalton is! My husbands family has a cottage in Montague up on White Lake so we always like to take the old highway to go up there. Have you been to Muskegon recently? Seems like a lot of change going on, even within the few years I have been here. Lots of restaurants and banks opening up but a lot of the old factories are closing down. I always wonder who will be using all those banks if nobody has money? I am on borrowed time with my job but I am fortunate enough to have some incomes on the side that I could live off if I really had to. I feel bad for all the other people losing their jobs and not having that luxury.

I never go to fairs- I would make myself too dangerous. Hubby is fine with my chicken mania going on at the farm but he made it very clear- no more other critters. Plus having to load and store hay for the year for 6 drafts is enough to make one rethink the amount of horses we have.

@Leta: and hello from Muskegon

 

[i_am2bz]

My Dad grew up in Muskegon Heights- Jackson Hill area. I spent my early childhood in the Dalton area (take the causeway-the old one, not what we always called the flats on the xway- north, keep going, keeeep going...oh, you blinked and missed it )

Moved farther north because my Dad thought it was 'getting crowded' - I think there is just a store and the half moon tavern in Dalton today! I still have family/friends scattered all over that area; SIL lives off Laketon, BF lives on River Rd in No. Muskegon, plus cousins all over the place. I lived on Apple Ave, the 'rural' part, for quite a while.

This is so cool! My mom was born in Dalton (in the family's farmhouse), my granny later lived in a tiny house just a couple doors down from the store at the traffic light. When my mom was a teenager the family moved to the Heights & she graduated HS there.

And I graduated from N. Muskegon HS. My dad & his wife still live in Muskegon (Norton Shores area).

 

[Avalon1984]

My Dad grew up in Muskegon Heights- Jackson Hill area. I spent my early childhood in the Dalton area (take the causeway-the old one, not what we always called the flats on the xway- north, keep going, keeeep going...oh, you blinked and missed it )

Moved farther north because my Dad thought it was 'getting crowded' - I think there is just a store and the half moon tavern in Dalton today! I still have family/friends scattered all over that area; SIL lives off Laketon, BF lives on River Rd in No. Muskegon, plus cousins all over the place. I lived on Apple Ave, the 'rural' part, for quite a while.

This is so cool! My mom was born in Dalton (in the family's farmhouse), my granny later lived in a tiny house just a couple doors down from the store at the traffic light. When my mom was a teenager the family moved to the Heights & she graduated HS there.

And I graduated from N. Muskegon HS. My dad & his wife still live in Muskegon (Norton Shores area).

Yeah! Us too. We are in one of the last "rural" areas of Norton Shores. Sometimes I feel like singing to Montgomery Gentry's "Daddy won't sell the farm". There is something to be said about the "urban storm" going on in our area. I always hate seeing perfectly good farm land turned into developments. oh well...