I’m almost 64. I have noticed that the median age of those I hang out with is close to that. Give or take. I know a few older. I know a few younger but ‘talking ’bout my generation’, they are all past the post (60) for the most part.

We are all hoping it is not the last post.

We invite the Chinese students to come visit, interview for ESL teachers overseas, see our own kids and their friends now and then….and then there are the Woofers. They are all in the early to late twenties. Median age say, 24 give or take. When we have guests, they are likely in their sixties or in their twenties.

Where have all the 45 years-olds gone?

We know a few 45 year-olds of course. Can’t miss ’em. They are the ones that vibrate from stress and are stooped in the back from their debt load. Their faces are creased with premature aging as they try to cope with rising and falling economies, children, downsizing, parents and a world gone mad. They burst into tears every time the price of gas goes up and they try harder every month to make it all make sense.

Like they can do something about it, eh?

You don’t see the 45 year-olds out here. Too bad. They could use a few weeks off.

What I find really interesting is the number of 20-somethings who relate to what we are doing. Indeed, the ones I am encountering are aspiring to it. There seems to be a contingent, anyway, of young people who would prefer a small homestead somewhere to membership in the rat race. That surprises me.

I recall the first ‘real, measurable, positive’ steps I took to living remote. It was pathetic, of course, but the first one was to research and then purchase the equipment required to make my cell phone work from an ‘iffy’ location where the coverage was poor. Obviously, I was missing the whole concept of getting away from it all but that is what I did.

The young fella that convinced me to buy a Yagi antenna and marry it up with a booster-pack was your classic ‘mumbling’ techie-who-does-not-speak until he found out that my purpose was to live feral.

“Oh man, oh, man! That is so cool. Man, like, that is what I want to do, man!”

“Kids. Wife. Bills. You know.”

Seems I was wrong about him cruising the gene pool but I did understand the trap that he had gotten into. In fact, it was visibly manifest by the little ‘techie’ room that was covered in equipment and had no windows. It was a cell. I saw him more clearly from then on in. He was like an animal in a zoo. Trapped. I left the establishment vowing to return someday to see if he was still there. I haven’t gotten back yet but I haven’t forgotten.

And Sarah reminded me of this last night. She is our niece and she had come up with her grandfather, Sally’s father, to visit with us these past few days. She hiked, climbed, kayaked and explored the garden. And she did it all with enthusiasm. She liked it. A lot. When we talked about our little homestead, she said that it was her dream to do the same thing (perhaps a bit more emphasis on gardening, tho. She is a vegan, mostly).

Is this a subtle sign of a civilization shift? Are young people ‘disengaging’ from the rat race without having even done a few warm up laps? Or am I seeing what I want to see?

I know that when I was frequenting some homesteading forums years ago, there were people of all ages who were either living off the grid or desiring to. But, that was a self-selected crowd. I know that W’fers, as a rule, express the same sentiments and they also come from all walks of life and many different countries. But, again, self-selection to some degree.

Maybe it is just a natural segment of all societies and eras that some people prefer the country life.

I don’t know.