Homesteading...

Homesteading...seems like there are all sorts of people homesteading. It became evident while watching video after video after video on the Great American Farm Tour where the Rhodes family traveled the entire United States - including Alaska & Hawaii to visit farms...many of them being homesteads. There were a few that were farms, but too many claiming to be homesteaders.

Here is the bottom line. I don't like the term homesteading...that's not to say that I don't like the idea of homesteading. There just seems to be as many different definitions of homesteading as there are homesteaders. Well, maybe not...I don't know. Go HERE for a more coherent explanation.

ANYWAY - I have decided to find another term to use for our own situation. We live on a small portion of what was a farm years ago. Our property actually has the old house and outbuildings of the old farm. So, after a little bit of research came across:

Farmstead:  a farm with its buildings. 

Okay, that's better, I guess. However it still feels too close to Homesteading. Yes, I guess I do have a problem with that word...hmmm...

Over the weekend I decided to search for a word in the language that was spoken at home all through my growing up years, Dutch. A quick search and voila! I have the name of our non-homestead.

Hoeve (HOO-vuh): simple put, Farmstead.

Somehow this just feels right. I still feel a connection to my Dutch-Indonesian roots. Since the Netherlands has quite a farming history check that out HERE I wanted to use a word that reflects that. With all of that reclaimed land from the sea and cows how could farming NOT be a thing? Let's not forget the tulips and other related bulbs.

Now that I have found a term that I can be happy with and connect with I'll be changing my blog name soon. The Hoeve...I like it. The other term I found was boerderij (farmhouse, homestead, farmstead etc). I understand it and also know how to pronounce it, but no one else would get it and it would take too much to explain. We will keep it simple.

From the Google - Schinvelder Hoeve

Yeah, this was just a rambling post, but hey - if you made it this far, it must have been okay!