Friday, February 1, 2008

Farm Dreams

We are currently living in a very nice house on .77 acres in Virginia. I like where we live, good schools, great friends, overall a lovely suburban life. However, Ryan and I dream of having land, a minimum of 5 acres, and we would prefer 10 acres. We are here in this house for the next two years for sure, I need to complete my doctorate before we can even think of making a move.

However, in the next year I will begin applying for professorships at different schools. For us, the key is to make a move to somewhere where housing is cheaper and land is plentiful. When we make the move, it will be for my job and while Ryan will of course look for work, we cannot guarantee that he will have something right away. The blessing in this situation is that most colleges begin hiring for the following year in October/November, so it would give us plenty of time to get ready to move.

I will look for positions here in VA, but we will also look in WV, the Western side of VA, Vermont, Maine and Upstate NY. Just now I found a position at a SUNY school in NY and when we looked at house, we found many houses that were less than 5 years old on 1o acres for less than our house is worth. The pictures took my breath away, rolling farmland, views of mountains, and snow-which we miss desperately.

We don't know where we will be in five years, but I hope it is somewhere with room for horses and chickens and enormous gardens.

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