Our full circle journey to a life of homesteading........

Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 07:45

Deanna over at Hands N Hearts posted this topic, What is you homestead testimony?  So here goes.  Here is the post I did on this topic July 19, 2006:

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/spencerschool/20637/

I feel like the overall theme of that post almost 2 years ago was homesteading out of a sense of fear.  I think my thoughts on the topic have changed a little.  I still believe all that I wrote, that we are living in perilous times.  However, at that time my sweet hubby had just been back from Iraq 7 months.  We were all going through adjustments and really deciphering what type of life we wanted to have.  We were literally starting over.  Before DH was activated to go to Iraq, he ran his own business and we were somewhat successful in it.  We did not consider, not having plenty.  When he was activated we had to close the business and did not know what he would be doing when he got back.  Those were tough (mentally) days.  Now, Dh is full time Army National Guard and we have much less, as far as material resources, but we are so much happier with what we have.  The biggest lessons we have learned are having very little to no debt, learning to be self sufficient, and relying only on God.  Before the activation, we lived in new homes in cookie cutter neighborhoods that my Hubby built.  When hubby left we moved to a small acreage with a small house on it.  We immediately fell in love with that lifestyle.  The kids were happy and we were happy.  Who would have known it?LOL  We like Deanna was talking got a few animals and off we went.  Well, that wasn't the best way to go about it but it did help us to fine tune. 

Fast forward to present, we have since moved to a very small rural town about an hour+ South of our previous home.  We have had to rent for the last 9 months and are currently in the process of hopefully purchasing a home.  We had to decide what is enough acreage for our needs.  We have gone with a small acreage again.  Our biggest contribution to the homestead way of life is gardening and putting foods by.  This is our true passion.  So how much land do you need to garden and put up enough food for the winter?  For us about 5 acres was enough.  We did not want to have to fool with pasture land and bushhogging.  We don't plan on keeping lots of animals.  We do keep chickens and this is plenty for that.  We could even get a small dexter cow or two if we wanted but we don't plan on it.  We like to camp with the kids and we don't want animals who have to be tended to 2X a day.

I use to have a definition of what homesteading means to me in my sidebar, here is what it said: 

A Homesteader means a great many things to a great many people. 
To me it has nothing to do with owning a piece of land.  It is a
way of life.  There is a simplicity in homesteading that I have
not known in any other part of my life.  It is a love of God, family and
community.  It is reviving the things of a past generation and
time.  Homesteading is putting all things in order of priority with God being first.
By homesteading we are seeking a more simplified way of
living.  We are learning to make do and be thankful, with what
we have been given.  We are also learning to be more self sufficient.

I think that sums up the way we live.  Not everyones homestead is going to look the same but it is a matter of striving for a more simple life. 

Blessings,

Trixi

Untitled Comment

Posted by seventhheaven on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 08:44 - Link

We also i guess youd say downsized about 2 years ago. We did this so my hubby could go back to school. We have been debt free all this time and are loving it. We have learned to save for what we want and have made several purchases since. I feel that even tho we are living on less our quality of living is better.

Untitled Comment

Posted by gabbie427 on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 09:53 - Link

Wonderful post. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

God is working

Posted by blessingsbaound on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 08:08 - Link

in our lives as we learn to live with less. I have enjoyed all that He has given us to care for and trust one day we will be caring for more of his animals and land. We so enjoyed each day of work and learned so much. Most of all we enjoyed growing, working and learning as a family! The Lord is always teaching us! Have a wonderful week on your homestead! Mrs. Joseph Wood

Untitled Comment

Posted by a1health on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 11:11 - Link

Learning to make do and be thankful are wonderful statements you made. I think we all need to remember those words! God is the one who gives us all that we need.
Thank you for your comments on my blog!
Blessings,
~Farrah

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