It's been almost 9 months to the day that we got the call that we were moving, and then just a week or so later we were up over our heads in the moving and packing process. Life was such a whirl wind that we didn't have time to really think, rest or even take a deep breath really....it was just putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to trip along the way! It's pretty much been that way ever since! It's been nine months of hard work, hauling dirt, hauling wood chips, hauling rocks (do you see a pattern here?lol). Months of mending chicken coops, building new ones, caring for the animals we moved and the animals we have since adopted and rescued. It's been months of playing catch up with what we had hoped to accomplish in a garden. Planting, and watering and experimenting with new things. Now in the winter months, it means putting plastic covers over garden beds and researching new ways of feeding our outside animals. Months of feeling tired... in a good way... because of the goodness we are accomplishing and because of the constant blessings we are feeling. When we take the time to sit down and compare notes, hubby and I are both just feeling so blessed and renewed in this place that we are dwelling.
How can one not feel blessed to wake up to this view?
We are feeling like there has been a turn in our lives that can only be described as finding the secret of life...
For some time now, we have been inching towards a more sustainable lifestyle... It's no secret that I hate what our food industry has become and want to be no part of it (or at least to the best of our ability!) To feel the way I do about how our food is produced (how the animals are treated and cared for) and the un-needed things that are being done to the plants (GMOs) means making a change. Not a little change but a huge life altering change on a daily basis. It means watching labels and researching our food more closely but it also means that we must start producing more of it on our own. My generation was not brought up to think about where our food comes from, if anything we have been taught that it's out of sight out of mind. And for some that is ok. I truly wish that I could be that way sometimes but once I learn something it's stuck in my head and I can't go back!
It has been over the last few months that we as a family have been really taking a look at our lifestyle, and focusing on where we want to eventually be. We are finding that hard work is actually fun and that we don't need a lot of what we as a society have been taught to think we do. We are learning what it feels like to accomplish something we didn't think we could do ( like stacking a whole cord of wood- just me and my two littles). It is with this life change that we are going back in time if you will. Listening closer to the stories of family/church members who grew up on farms, and reading everything on the subject that I can get my hands on. It has even come down to changing the way we look at our entertainment options. The two favorites in our household right now are Alaska:The Last Frontier and of all things, The Waltons. Hubby and I have a running joke. When we are out working or trying to figure out a new project we just ask the other WWWD? What Would the Waltons Do? lol When he first said it, it made me laugh but now I find myself having that question in the back of my mind more and more... so I think that's what I'll title my posts that are homestead related. It really is a compliment to that show and not so much of a joke. When you actually watch the show, there are a lot of life lessons that could be learned by watching it, and for us it is just a really good reminded of what life is like in a simpler time and what it could be again if only there could be a massive shift in society and a change in the way we all view success...
