Why is it we live a life of homesteading…

We are experiencing something right now that none of us ever thought would be reality in our lifetime. Everything that we have known to be routine, comfort, security and guaranteed has been compromised. And when those things that make up our “confidence” is compromised, fear sets in and we then begin to react without thinking through our decisions.

When we react out of fear, we tend to be blind to those around us that could be affected. We tend to forget that there are other people that need things to survive as well. When we allow the feeling of fear and unknown overcome us, we don’t even really know what it is that we actually need. And this is why, 8 years ago we began our journey into homesteading.

Why we homestead

We are coming up on 8 years into this journey. A journey that started out based off of fear and the unknown. My husband came home one day and told me about how he heard about the Mayan calendar and how the world was supposed to end. He was extremely concerned and mentioned we needed to go buy a gun.

Me, being a skeptic, dismissed the severity of what he heard and chalked it up to the media. Every year it’s something. What makes this year different. But when your partner in crime is dead set on something, it is hard not to feel that energy. I thought to myself one day, “what if the world does end and I didn’t go out and buy a gun with him. What then?”

So we did. We went out and bought a gun. But it didn’t stop there, we bought all sorts of crazy survival gear. We made bug-out bags for each car. We stock piled rice and beans. There were nights that we stayed up late trying to learn how to start a fire with just a flint. We even went as far as experiencing what it was like to go days without electricity.

It was all we could think about.

Until one day we had enough. We finally looked at each other and said, “I am exhausted!” At that moment we realized that what we were really passionate about was learning the skills to be more self sufficient. The moment we started that fire with just a flint was victory. It may have taken us hours to do but we stuck to it and learned.

It was then that we really began our journey into homesteading. Since then we have been honing in on our skills to understand what it means to take care of oneself and their family. We’ve since learned, that leaving the earth better than you found it is one of the greatest mindsets to live in.

What does it mean to leave the earth better than you found it?

It means that you realize the carbon foot print you have on earth. Whether it be consumption, the choice in products or the act of gardening not just being gardening but giving back to the soil before you take from it. This mindset also relates to building skills within food preservation, being self sufficient by learning how you can make things yourself like laundry detergent, deodorant, toothpaste…

It means not relying on a big box store to supply you effortlessly at any given moment. Because one thing is apparent this very moment, it is not effortless. We are seeing availability of these products we took for granted diminish. And that is when the fear sets in.

This is why we live a homesteading lifestyle

The term homesteading does not mean having acres, farm animals, living out in the middle of nowhere, homeschooling your kids, everything you eat has to come from your farm and it certainly doesn’t mean you can’t work a 9-5 job. The term homesteading means to have the mindset of self sufficiency no matter where you live. It means to see your home as a place that will allow you to thrive in any circumstance because you have thoughtfully prepared for any given moment.

When people learn about our lifestyle there is judgment. There are questions like, “oh, so are you a prepper?” Or, “So wait, do you like make all your own clothes too or what?”

There is a running joke with pretty much everyone we come in contact with that learns about our lifestyle it’s, “well if anything happens, I’m coming to your house!”

We give a chuckle…

…but in reality we shake our heads no on the inside. We invest so much time and energy to live the way we do and to provide for our family. Time and energy we invested almost everyday that mentally prepared us for this very moment we are experiencing right now with Covid-19.

Of course we wish were were on acres with more food production. Yes, we wish we didn’t have to be concerned with 9-5 jobs but we never went into panic mode the moment we heard we would have to be quarantined. We went into survival mode that we have been preparing ourselves for the last 8 years. Yes there were a few things we still had to gather but our mindset was where it needed to be to be aware of our surrounding when we went out. It was where it needed to be to stay calm and think through our decisions and to stay calm for our children.

There is this quote that has sat with me ever since I came across it.

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”

– Rumi

And this is why we homestead.

Happy being self sufficient!