countryfolk - it is now official :)

i want to tell you something about where and how we live.

our small family (i, my husband and two kids) lives in a somewhat small town. our neighhbours are fantastic. we have a great, helping community around us. my husband has a local job and i, as of december 2011, also have a local job - which means that we do not commute to get the money we want.

our kids attend the local high school, in grades 5 (i think this corresponds to the american 'junior high' and 9.

we have a nice house with no bank loans upon it and it is almost ready. a few touches here and there and it is a dream house. like.. the bathroom needs some plastering and tiling done, the living rooms needs some painting done... but everything is up and running.

we have a great garden, which is more diverse than any other garden around us, we have shade, sull sunshine, flat areas and slope lands, a garden for veggies, some fruit trees and lawn big enough to play ball games, and a small yard to keep some chicken in.

according to the average garden size in a suburban area like ours in hungary, the area of our garden is considered large.

what is missing here, you may ask.

land, and some more land i reply.

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and now we have it.

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the land we bought two days ago, meaning now it is offially ours, is about one and a half times bigger than the one we live on.

not a big deal, one may say.

the piece of land we have bought is about 150 kms away.

pardon me, you may exclaim.

and i will detail the reasons behind this seemingly random and stupid idea.

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the quality of the soil over there is one of the bests in hungary. it is truly a great soil to produce any vegetable or fruit. the area has lots of sun.

our soil here on the other hand is not really suitable for most of the veggies.

okay, you grow tomatoes, or apples, or whatever is suited here and buy the rest on the farmers market, what a big deal, you may argue.

well, if i want to sustain myself, without any support from outside, i reply, i do need a soil that is fertile.

and how on earth are you going to produce those veggies some 150 kms away from where you have an established position, you may ask again.

well, the time may come, i start, when there will be no markets, no shops to buy groceries in, no jobs, no gasoline. cities will die. people will either eat or be eaten.

c'mon, you can't be one of those deluded believers of a 2012 apocalypse, you cry with astonishment.

no, i remain calm, i do not support that agenda.

than for what, you are beginning to loose patience.

you just never know, i say, what the future will bring. one day, one of our kids might decide to stay in the city and have a job there. and i, we, will be happy to live in the countryside with ducks and goats and all.

if that is what wou wish for, you seem to give up on me, with a sigh.

i don't know, i smile back at you, let's call it a possibility.

okay, now, can you show me photos, you ask in a tired voice.

here, here, watch this video below, i say.

the video is a random video about the village. it is not my job. our particular piece of land is not portrayed. i put this video up so as to get a vision of what it looks like now. actually, there are 15 houses, in various states of decay. ours is one of those that are quite in a good shape. still, you can not move in as it is.
about the video:
at 2:00: the catholic church
at 3:00: a local woman, she is not living there anymore
at 4:50 the local school, now abandoned