A little 'bout us

“Well, young feller, you caint get there from here” was the answer that we thought we sometimes heard as we journeyed toward the fulfillment of our dream to live the simple life in the country.  We found that simple can sometimes be very complicated.  A short version of our story (well, it isn’t very short, but at least it isn’t 47 years long) is included on this site for you to enjoy sometime when all the chores are done.

            We are Jim and Pam Smith of Erin, Tennessee.  We met while we were both students at the University of Georgia and married fifteen months later.  That was in 1965 – hence the 47 years.  We spent most of those years living in a rural environment where we reared four children.  Jim always wanted to be a farmer.  Having grown up in Atlanta, I had never imagined myself as a farmer’s wife.  In fact, I think I could sue for false advertising.  I actually married a football player and got a farmer!  However, he was so big and strong and handsome and smart and sweet and………..of course I wanted to be a farmer’s wife.  As is always the case, the Lord knew much better than I did that I could never have been so happy doing anything else. 

            Now that our children and some of our grandchildren are grown, we have figured out what we want to do with all that free time that old folk have.  We want to share our many years of experience with everybody who will listen.  My mother used to say that experience is wasted on the young.  We surely hope that is not so, because we can save you a lot of time, money and frustration by sharing with you what has worked for us and what has not. 

We own two businesses.  One is Smith Steel and Supply which is pretty self explanatory.  We sell metal roofing and siding and put folk in touch with builders who can make us look good.  Our passion, however, is the Back to the Land Store.  Here you can find equipment, books, machines, animals, seeds and a myriad of other items to help you with your simple life quest. Perhaps the most important thing we have to share is information.  We provide seminars on many subjects and just plain free advice, hoping that it is worth much more than you pay for it. 

 The purpose of this blog is to share our day-to-day experiences with you.  Sometimes I will have some wifely information and sometimes Jim will do the talking.  Nonetheless, we hope you enjoy it and that we hear from you often.  

           

~Jim & Pam Smith~