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Its Sunday morning and the kids are picking blackberries with DH. I bought pickling cukes at the farmer's market as mine did not do well this year and am busy trying to get them canned before we go to church. For those of you who may be not have read previously, my garden is huge but hit and miss on performance. This is due to the fact that this is a new garden plot that will need some TLC to being shining star. My green beans are doing well and the entire family picked after breakfast on Saturday and I have about 12 quarts snapped. I'll get those in the pressure canner when I am done with the pickles. I also picked up some beets but I am not sure when I'll get to these. I think my apples are starting to ripen so next weekend I will have to start canning apple sauce. I picked a few peppers and will have to roast these for canning when I get a chance. As you can see I have a full load of homesteading work to do which has lead me to ponder my homesteading status. I love raising my kids, working in the garden, butchering animals, cooking from scratch, baking bread, making cheese, etc, etc, etc. However, I feel like I have a split personality. My DH requires that I work a J.O.B. outside of the home. I am a manager spending my days managing staff, negotiating settelements, and trying to complete projects within 10 hours, 4 days per week. When I start my commute I transition from thinking like a high-powered executive to thinking like a homesteader. Once I am at home I give homesteading my full attention, but there is still never enough time. So DH and I have hired house cleaners. I would greatly prefer to clean my own house, but it was the one thing I could give up control over that would not impact our overall quality of life. Some "friends" recommended I stop cooking nutritious meals from scratch, stop growing organic vegetables and preserving them for winter, and/or stop butchering our own meat. I had to really stop and think about why this lifestyle is important to me and what I was not willing to sacrifice. That included thinking about what I was not willing to sacrifice regarding time with my kids. What is the point of working this hard if my kids don't get to spend time with Mom and do things with her. I want my kids to have a good quality of life and that is why I do this, not so I can say I have done it all and do it all every day. This fall we will try to hire someone to help with some light work around the home and to be with the kids after school. It is really important to them to be at home and not at an afterschool program. They love their free time of exploring and playing around the farm. When I come home I want to be able to spend quality time with them. I am more able to do this if someone started dinner, worked on homework, and folded the laundry. It is not everything I dreamed homesteading would be, but it is our way. I'll keep plugging along trying to keep the important in perspective and doing the best I can. Hopefully someday I will reach my goal of being home full time. Happy homesteading . . . |
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