Why we do what we do

One morning last week, I was kneeling in the garden with my face just a few inches from a squash plant. As I scrutinized the underside of each little leaf, looking for squash bug eggs, sweat dripped down my face and mulch prickled my leg. This is a scene that has been repeated daily for the past few weeks, but for some reason on that particular day, this thought shot through my mind, loud and piercing:

“What am I DOING?”

“Why am I out here, hot and miserable, searching for the almost microscopic eggs, when there is no guarantee this will save our plants anyway? Why don’t I just go buy squash at the store?!?! After all, squash is inexpensive to purchase when it’s in season in the fall! Furthermore, why are doing all this stuff (gardening, having animals, grinding our own wheat, etc, etc.) when it’s so much work? What’s the point?”

Yes, I was having one of those days.

Dan and I have friends who think that we’re *mildly* crazy for choosing the lifestyle that we have. “Too much work!” they cry. So why then, have we chosen this path? I reviewed our reasons this week as I struggled a bit with my garden:

1. It’s enjoyable (In spite of the minor setbacks.)

We’re having fun! It’s been such an adventure trying new things together on our hobby farm (or our “homestead”, as we call it). There are so many enjoyable things to do while living the country lifestyle. Berry picking is a fun evening activity where our entire family has lots of time to talk as we work. Animals provide so much enjoyment with their antics and companionship. Watching the fireflies light up as evening falls on a hard day of work is so rewarding. Enjoying the sights and smells of creation is one of the blessings of being alive!

2. We are concerned about the quality of the food we eat – what’s in it and where it comes from.

There’s no better way to know what’s in your food than to grow it and prepare it yourself! I’m thankful to have grown up with a health conscious mother. Now that I have my own family, I’m even more concerned about what I put into their bodies. Reading books such as Nourishing Traditions and learning more about the food at the grocery store fuels my desire to improve this area of our lives. We are blessed to be able to have the space to have a garden.

3. We want to instill a strong work ethic in our children.

A good work ethic paired with a serving attitude will help them to be welcome wherever they go in life. With all of our outdoor pursuits, we get to spend lots of time working together as a family. Every age can be involved with many of the chores to varying degrees. The children are learning that they are a needed and important part of the family and that their contributions really make a difference. They get a good sense of teamwork and also a sense of accomplishment at a task well done.  (By the way, these lessons are not only good for the children, but for us adults, too!)

4. We believe it will give our children a well-rounded education.

The children get to explore our property to their hearts’ content, finding all sorts of creatures, dead and alive. They are getting a good sense of the magnitude of God through experiencing His creation. Close observation of different animals, insects and plants gives them the opportunity to see the intricate designs that God has put here for us to enjoy. Exploration and discovery brings questions to their small minds such as, ”Why did God create this bug to do this?” or “Why do you think God lets the coyotes eat the rabbits?” They can see many concepts firsthand: where food comes from, how the plant processes work, the properties of heat, light, weather, water – the list goes on and on.

5. We belive it will give us a better education

Dan and I are learning so much here on our farm. We want to build a skill set that would equip us to take care of our family if the economy worsens or commercial food supplies are low. We’ve been amazed when we’ve stopped to think about how we would fare if our local grocery store ran out of food for whatever reason. (I understand that it may be a bit “alarmist” to worry about these types of things happening on a daily basis, but to consider them at all is prudent in our opinion.) It is realistic that our American society may not deteriorate much more in our own lifetime, but it probably will  deteriorate in our children or grandchildren’s lifetimes. We want to be able to pass skills on to them so they can take care of their own families in the future. (I hate to go off on a rabbit trail, but please don’t misunderstand me. I do not believe that by learning to produce our own food we can save ourselves from bad things happening. God is the One who provides for us. That is quite clear.)

To summarize what I’ve said, we all have to do something with our time. In our industrialized society, most people have free time outside of work for hobbies/recreation. Our family chooses to engage in “country” type pursuits in lieu of sports, television and movies, shopping, boating or any other leisure pursuits. Does this make us seem strange to some of our friends and neighbors? Maybe. Will we run across people who think we are backward? Probably. But in return for choosing this path, we feel as though we are really living each day. When we are physically tired at the end of the day, we can really enjoy sitting in the cool of the evening to talk and rest. When we eat healthier foods, we feel better and more energetic to be able to run and play with the children. When we immerse ourselves in the creation about us, we see God more clearly.

Sometimes our life is hard work and I feel like quitting, but when I remind myself of the real reasons we do what we do, I am so thankful that we chose this life.

Emptying out my brain

Hi! I’m surprised at how long it has been since I’ve shared my thoughts here. Life has been full. I originally typed “life has been busy”, but then took those words back. I’m trying to get out of the habit of saying that “I’m so busy” all the time. Whenever I say that, I feel stressed out or somehow trapped by the many activities of my days. It can cause me to be unhappy in my current state, wishing for slower or more carefree days. Instead, I’m trying to appreciate what each day holds and be happy with what I’ve accomplished. Whether that be checking off a to-do list of 25 things or making a real connection with one of my children while sitting in the grass picking dandelions should not make the worth of a day.   So now when people ask me how I’ve been, I try and say “Life has been full”.

We have been spending lots of time outside as a family . Dan has almost completed the goat pasture – his first fencing job! It’s been a bit trickier than he thought it would be as the pasture runs down a small hill. The girls and I have been going crazy with seeds. We have 9-10 flats full of seedlings on our sun porch, with green popping up everywhere and roots trying to escape out the bottoms. The little covered garden work area up against the pole barn is perfect for the messy job of transplanting that we’ve been doing. We’ve used it many times so far this spring. Of course, we’ve been still been spending much time out with the dogs, working with them as they learn to obey and fit in with the family. We’ve been enjoying our many lilac bushes for the fleeting time that they will bloom. I’ve encouraged the girls to stop by the lilacs each and every time they walk outside and breathe them in, as they will be gone before we know it. Sometimes, in my rush to get something done, they remind me to stop and smell the lilacs. I’m always glad when they do.

Our neighbor’s goat delivered a baby a few weeks ago, and we just got over to see it this weekend. It’s a baby pygmy goat, so it’s really tiny. The children and I enjoyed watching her jump around and play hide-and-seek with her mother. It got us excited to think about adding our own baby goats to the farm this August. On Mother’s Day, we stopped by and visited our baby goats at their current home. I want to share more about that fun visit in another post this week!

[Ginger and Gabby in their current home]

Since I’ve last written, big changes have been occuring in our views on food. Upon Holly’s recommendation, I read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. The book is about how a family lived for an entire year simply on food they grew themselves or bought very locally. Dan and I already feel strongly about trying to slowly convert over to growing most of our own food – that’s why we moved to where we moved to – but this book had some fascinating information in it that we didn’t know. Namely, about how seeds are manufactured here in the US with genetic engineering and how major seed companies (actually chemical companies) are changing the face of farming in our country. Farming isn’t that interesting or “cool” of a topic for modern Americans to think about on a daily basis, but it really should be. (I mean, shouldn’t we care about what we’re eating?) The book has caused us to look even more closely at the foods that we are consuming.  Julie had a link in her sidebar this week to a documentary entitled The Future of Food. You can watch the introduction to this fascinating video here. It will give you lots to think about. (Thank you Julie for pointing this out to us!)

I’ve also been going through a major shift in my thinking on a very personal level. I’d been struggling with being really stressed out about everything lately and feeling as though I just “couldn’t handle” my responsibilities. My mom loaned me a book about perfectionism from a Christian point of view. I’ve always struggled with perfectionism, but thought of it more as just a “personality characteristic” that I could/should do nothing about. But as my life has progressed and more responsibilities have been added to it, I’ve found myself struggling more as I try to keep everything under control. The book really gave me much to think and pray about. I’ve slowly been mulling new concepts and ideas in my mind for a few weeks now and with God’s help, I can see small changes beginning to occur. Big paradigm shifts usually take some time. I think this is why I’ve not been posting as much. I’ve been busy thinking.

I was emailing my little sister the other day about some of the struggles I’d been having. I was relating how I didn’t feel ”at one” with Dan lately for various reasons and how frustrated I was about it. I didn’t feel as though I was throwing a pity party, but I guess that’s how it came across. She emailed me back a firey letter that REALLY caused me to stop and think. Since when did my little sister have advice for me? (Ok, she’s not really little, she’s 24 and married herself)  Here is a portion of what she said. The last part especially, hit me, so that’s why I underlined it:

 All I know is, that if you don’t find it in your heart to love and accept him fully (even if he is not 100% the same as you would want him to be), then it’s your fault just as much as his that you don’t feel 100% “as one.” He’s never going to be perfect, but it’s our imperfections that make us so unique and lovable. If he was a different man, you never would have loved and married him. So why try to change him now?

Since you said you were a perfectionist, maybe you’re just trying to force…the “perfect” family and/or marriage…

…I’ve just learned that no matter what happens or how much I want something, nobody is perfect, and it’s inhuman to try to be. You can only do the best you can, and love life for what it is. We’re not on this earth to get everything we want, we’re here to serve. But through serving, we get everything we want and more.

There is always so much to think about and learn. That’s what makes life so interesting and exciting to me. We never stop learning if we desire it to be that way.

In regular old, daily news, Jonathan has started solid foods. He was SOOOO ready to start eating – I think he would have preferred if I started him on solids about a month ago! I was so excited to find this solid wood high chair in great condition at my local thrift store for $8.99! The plastic one that we had was much larger and therefore took up more space, stuck out like a sore thumb in our dining room and one of the feet kept falling off whenever we moved it. So, this is a step up for sure!

Abigail has been steadily becoming a more solid reader and writer. She wrote her first little “thank-you” note the other day on her lined paper. I really believe in doing everyday things as “schoolwork”. Writing a note to grandparents or a widow who needs a lift is GREAT writing practice. They don’t mind if the letters aren’t perfect!

Ok, now that my brain is emptied of a few things, I’ll be able to get back to regular, SHORT posts.

Cloth diapering?

Ok, so I’ve been *considering* switching over to cloth diapers. I’ve always said to myself that I would never even consider such a switch – all those yucky diapers to wash? NO THANK YOU!

However, as I’ve looked at the piles and piles of diapers that leave our house each month (to sit in a landfill somewhere for a millenia or so) and as I’ve seen Dan’s hard-earned money flying out of his wallet for diapers (for which the cost seems to keep going up and up), I’ve begun to reconsider.

When I’ve looked into it in the past, I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of choices there seem to be in modern cloth dipaers. However, I just read a very informative post on this topic on Holly’s blog. The guest writer, Didi, does a great job of explaining things to a beginner (that would be me). It looks like cloth diapering is much easier today than it was back when my parents *tried* it!

I haven’t made up my mind yet. For me, the “gross factor” still hangs pretty heavy on one side of the balance. 

I just wondered if any of you moms out there have tried cloth diapering? Even if you’ve tried and said “this is too gross for me!”, I’d love your advice!  Is it worth it? Is it difficult? Any advice would be great. Thanks!

There must be a better way

There has been at least one sick person at all times in our house for a full 2 months. We had a “regular” head cold go through the family back in late October/early November that ended right around the time of Jonathan’s birth. Then a second cold/flu hit us right on the tail of the first one. It is so discouraging to have sick people around here all the time! We can’t go anywhere (at least not all together, anyway), visit with anyone or play outside. We haven’t been able to eat very many meals as an entire family because someone has been either too sick to eat or sleeping.

We’ve been working through these illnesses the usual route: plenty of water and juice, Vitamin C, lots of handwashing, humidifiers and cough medicine when needed at night, fever reducing medicine when needed, cold rags on the forehead for fever, etc, etc, etc.

As I go through this same routine again and again, I think to myself “There must be a better way.” I do not like giving my children over the counter medicines all the time. Even though they are touted as safe, I don’t feel comfortable with it.

I know this is the season when people typically get sick, but I have to ask myself if there isn’t anything more that I can be doing to build up the immune systems of my children. On the healthy spectrum, I know that we eat healthier foods than the average family. I thought that this alone would be enough to keep us all healthy. Apparantly not. I know that there is much more information out there that I can learn about nutrition and a healthy immune system. It’s been kind of overwhelming when I’ve attempted to look into the topic in the past, but I’m determined now to delve into it fully.

One book that I’ve heard lots of good things about is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. I’m going to see if I can borrow it from the library or find it on eBay. Hopefully I’ll be able to post about some of the things that I learn. Please share with me if you have learned anything useful in this topic of natural immunity boosting foods. I want to learn!