Hello Everyone,
I got a question the other day about why my homestead wasn't as fancy as others they see on You Tube. I honestly got a kick out of the question until I realized you do see allot of homesteads there that look pretty fancy for someone living on a homestead. There are plenty of reasons for the tricked-up kitchens and perfect looking yards, but I have decided I don’t want to get into how someone else lives and what they spend their time and resources on, it just isn’t my business, and I certainly don’t want to be put into a position to put anyone down based on the beauty of their home and property or to measure myself up to the Joneses.
What I would like to say is don't think your homestead needs to look like or measure up to what you see on You Tube, you’re only getting the view of the best, you aren’t seeing the mess and every homestead has its mess. Some of these folks have also spent allot of their money on it and if they can afford it, great for them. We just never hide ours. Our homestead isn’t the perfect property, our house is as plan as can be and we still hand pump water into the house. Our field where the cows graze is filled with stone, in fact if you try to drive a fence post you will have allot of fun finding a place it will sink in. We have piles of rocks from where we have picked them or dug them out.
I have always lived by the old saying, “If you’re trying to make it pretty, you’re wasting time.” As I have gotten older, I have also found that I don’t move as well or as fast as I used to. I have arthritis in my hands, back, knees and feet. So, some of the things I did all day in the time just doesn’t happen anymore. Just a few hours of cutting up that big tree is almost a sentence of bed rest because near every part of my body hurts. I haven’t let that stop me yet, but it sure has slowed me down and I’m not worried about pretty, functional works for me.
Fall is upon us and we are pushing forward with the last-minute outdoor jobs that have to be done. Right now, I am drawing some wood from a few very large trees that a friend had cut down and gave me the wood if I removed it. I’m not going to say no to about 3 cords of wood. It’s time to get the barn ready to bring in the cows, my barn serves as work shop in the summer so it’s time for the tools and equipment to be put in their winter spot.
We have a couple of fall piglets coming this weekend and we have to get the shed cleaned out and I’ll be putting up a corral as well so they can go in and out as they please. We don’t intend to grow them all that big because as I have said before we raise for quality not quantity. And young makes for tender meat. Other little projects are getting the garlic planted and moving two solar panels from the old phone pole to the mount the other two are on, this should only take a few hours to move and hooked back up. And of course, a pile of yard projects to get done.
Our journey has been a fulfilling one, since we started our first garden in 1990, The homestead moved to its current location in 1998 and our dream of raising our children and seeing grandchildren come and play in the yard as their parents did has come to fruition. The enjoyment of playing with them brings back the memories when ours we so young and having their adventures on the homestead. I personally couldn't have asked for a better life than the one I am living right now.
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