Archives for August 2014

  What is homesteading? Why would you bother with such a thing when we live in an age with so many modern conveniences? Aren’t there better things to do with your time? Homesteading sounds romantic, but most of us don’t live on acres of land with tons of free time to put these skills to use. Not to mention the money. It costs a lot of money. So why bother doing all this stuff? The gardening, the preserving, the foraging, the constant research (because these are skills that aren’t passed down to us by our parents and grandparents anymore. It’s not second nature anymore. We have to relearn)? Why bother when it’s not the cheapest, easiest, nor the simplest way to go about things? Plus … isn’t it exhausting? Do you ever get burnt out and just want to throw in the towel and join the rest of the 21st century who can accept and appreciate modern day convenience? Sure. Sometimes I get burnt out. Sometimes I wonder why we bother trying to do this stuff. Living simply, cooking from scratch, living on a very humble income, gardening, canning, preserving, and hopefully someday raising livestock. This week, for example. I’ve been feeling rather ill and just plain exhausted. I’m feeling uninspired and once or twice, I’ve looked out at my thriving garden wondering why I put all that energy into it when I’ve been feeling too sick to even be able to enjoy what it’s producing. I wonder if I’ll be feeling well enough to preserve any of it when the tomatoes really start rolling in. Here’s the thing: the alternative kind of stinks. We’ve […]