Transplanted City Girl
• Saturday, April 15, 2006 - Homesteading Mama: Do you REALLY have what it takes?
Since joining this wonderful blogging community, I have been giving a
lot of thought too: Exactly what does it take to be a
homesteader? Is it knowing how to cook healthy meals? Is it
the ability to make your own cheese, whole wheat bread, soap? I
would like to submit that these are useful skills, but simply not the
skills that are truly necessary. Here is my personal view of
"homesteading."
While we think of "homesteading" as simpler, it is in reality more
demanding, and more complicated if you're trying to make the switch
from a city-type life. For yu will have lots, and lots, and lots,
to learn. But it is not so important for a homesteader to have a
lot of "earthy" skills as it is important that they are willing to
learn. Most of the skills are not that hard to come by.
What is more rare is the sucessful attitude. Homesteading is
about using the resources you have to their maximum capability for the
good of your family. At least the way I see it.
Homesteading is about tough love, resourcefulness, loads of joy and
tons of thankfulness.
Homesteading mamas learn to take that
sweet, loving nanny goat, grab her by both ears and kick her hind-end
as hard as they can in the interest of convincing said nanny that only
one goat at a time gets milked. They know it's not cruel, and
will save both them and the poor goat with her head in the stanchion a
lot of bruises, wrenches and frustration. This would be the tough
love part.
Homesteading mamas can feed that lovely bull calf,
pet him, and give him the tending and love he needs, all the while
knowing they will eat him later. They understand that far worse
then the quick slaughtering of an animal is a filthy pen, forgetting to
milk or leaving them all day without water. They learn that it is
better to consume a animal that you know had a good life and a quick
death, then to purchase one that could have had a miserable life and an
awful death. This would be the resourceful part with a lot of
tough love.
Homesteading mamas don't wait until their husband
gets home, tired and worn out from his hard job, to get the fences
fixed, the barn doors repaired and the animals rounded back up.
They fix the things they can, and leave the things they can't.
Homesteading mamas can work in the wind, in the snow, in the rain, to
care for the animal that needs it. They can get up a little early
to fix a good breakfast for their man, who has a long day ahead of
him. And they can enjoy it. They can do it with a smile,
with a heart wide open and eyes mostly shut, determined to focus on the
wonderful things of the day. After all, practice makes
perfect. It is impossible to enjoy the tough life of a
homesteader, let alone a wife and mother, without a daily dose of joy
that you determine will be shown in you.
Homesteading mamas
don't complain. Or they shouldn't. Instead of staring into
that refrigerator full of milk and complaining for the bounty, they
began planning meals that involve milk. Lots of its.
Gallons of it. But they use it and are glad they don't have to
make a trip to the grocery store because they ran out. And if it
pushes them into learning a new skill, such as cheese making, they are
still glad. Thankfulness.
Homesteading mamas don't worry
about skills, because they can learn. But without the ability to turn
mountains into molehills, they'll never make it. Homesteading
mamas know that truly being self-sufficient means loving, using and
being thankful for what you have, be it a bumper crop of nasty squash
or way, way, WAY too much milk and too many eggs. They know that
sometimes they will have to forget their visions of perfectly balanced
and healthy meals in order to use up what they have. But hey,
it's still better then store-bought. And yea, I'm still very far
from being there......
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• Saturday, April 15, 2006 - Wow!