A Few of My Favorite Things
Good afternoon friends! Today is a big day, our first REAL blog post. Technically there was one last week too, but that was just an introduction. Now we’re getting into the good stuff ;). Today we’re going to talk about my very favorite things about having a homestead. To be specific, my four favorite things because four is my favorite number. So without further ado, here are four (out of so many) of the things that I love about having a homestead.
Our first little bull calf on our happy homestead
1- My very favorite thing about having a homestead, without a doubt, is sharing with others. I absolutely love sharing the things that we grow. Sometimes it’s not very logical to give away half of my garden, or half a pork, or to drop off a gallon of milk at a friends house when I go to town, but I love sharing with others the bounty that God gives us. There have been times in the past, before our homesteading days, when we were short on money. We were eating rice and beans for dinner, worried about having to go grocery shopping because we honestly didn’t have the money for a “grocery haul” and we didn’t have gas to get to the store. But then we’d go to church, and somebody had brought us a little box of vegetables that they’d grown in their garden just because they felt like it. What an encouragement to know that they had us on their mind right in our time of need! I just love being able to encourage people in that way, wether they “need” the groceries or not, it is a blessing to bless others!
2- I love being able to feed my family good quality food. Isn’t that the reason most people start homesteading in the first place, to give our family the highest quality food that we can? It’s not always technically “cost effective” to raise your own meat or to grow your own vegetables, but it is worth it in every way to know exactly what’s in my food. I know every shot that had been given to the pigs we own. I know every part of the soil thats been added to my garden, and I know everything that our dairy cow has eaten in order to produce her milk. I know that our food comes from disease free animals; and I don’t have to scrub any pesticides, chemicals, or whatever was on the pickers hands off of my vegetables when I bring them into my kitchen (though I do still give them a good rinse :D). I also am of the opinion that food that you grow and make from scratch, especially on your own land, ALWAYS tastes better.
3- Working a homestead literally forces you to go outside everyday. We won’t have ANY vitamin D deficiencies in this family. I honestly didn’t even know that I could get that tan in the summer time. All those years as a teenager trying to get tan and look “sun-kissed” I should’ve just got a job on a farm. My kids are growing up spending more of their day outside than they do inside, getting comfortable with nature and with animals. It’s not even just a “fair-weather” experience, we are outside every day rain or shine. I’m not always happy on my way out (especially when the weather is freezing cold) but I never regret going on my daily outings. They have easily become one of my favorite parts of my day.
Our sweet little farm girls
4- I saved this for last because I felt like it was the most important to me. The most important, “my favorite thing” about having a homestead… is the way that it is allowing my kids to grow up. They get to dig in the dirt and build mud pies. They know which bugs in the garden are good and which are bad. They know how to be respectful to animals, and they are not afraid but know to be cautious. My girls are learning how to be caretakers and gardeners.They’re learning how much they can accomplish with just some hard work and dedication. Growing up on a homestead is teaching them not just a work ethic, but skills that they would not be learning if we lived a different lifestyle. If we didn’t get any other benefits from living and working on this homestead everyday, then that alone would be enough.
There are so many other things that I love about my little homestead. The closeness it brings to our family, the way that its made us more mindful of food waste, honestly too many things to even list here. This lifestyle is not without it’s challenges. We work hard everyday, rain or shine, even when we’re sick. I know in my heart that this is where God wants us to be, and I will continue to make the most of it and put my whole heart into it until the day comes when we are led some place new. I sure do love this little homestead life that we are living.