Homesteading

Every morning I walk into the living room and I stare at the yard. For many years it was concrete slabs. Then it turned into a dirt-biker's heaven. After years of neglect, we have finally brought some life back into our outdoor space. It started with 2 planter beds. Our first season gave us corn, an abundance of broccoli with worms, and zucchini. It was amazing that we could actually take care of this living-breathing plant life. Our garden is increasing and over-filling our planters. We plant in buckets, straight into the ground and now, have added a 3rd planter bed.

Through this year transition, we have also gained a compost box and 3 chickens. It is not unusal to see the entire family out in the yard on the weekend: my husband and me, all 3 boys, 3 chickens, and the sassy bunny. Not everyone enjoys being outside, and eventually my oldest son and the bunny go and hide somewhere else, but it has become a relaxing and family-oriented ritual.




Just the other day I was replanting the potatoes and got so excited about the numerous worms that kept appearing. My husband must have felt my excitement because he told me that we could take a worm census (Yes, an actual count of worm members in our garden, and probably just as accurate as the US census).

Today I noticed the dirt stains around my nails and I was sad for a moment. Normally when I see that much dirt, it's in my boys' nails and I get so grossed out, but this is something natural. It is something that I should be proud of. I may need to scrub better in the shower from now on, but I know that I am doing my part to increase the oxygen supply around my home as well as to lessen my little carbon footprint on this earth.

Homesteading has been a most humbling experience for me. Normally I would not be caught dead sweeping up chicken poop from the patio....who would? I am constantly dirty, which some of you know, will effect my showering habits. An extra shower on some days, one less on another....but I still maintain a 100% average on my New Year's resolution to shower every day. We eat from the garden which is more nutritious than the items that they grow in the chip aisle of Target or even the bulk bins at Sprouts. I am learning to make nice with animals that eat everything beautiful in my garden. Somebunny keeps sneeking under the netting to eat the cilantro, but I have learned to live with that cycle of life. In return for my kindness, I get a little nip on the cuff of my pants as I water the buckwheat. She speaks to me in her silent way saying something like, "I forgive you. You are not so bad either. Keep those chickens away from me!"

So it's a step back in time, this homesteading. We are stopping to "smell the roses" (but it smells a lot more like almost fully-ripened onions). I see so many parallels to my life as a parent and my garden. Most of the time, it's chaotic and in need of weeding and cleaning. I need to water it often so it can prosper. We set barriers to keep plants from growing the wrong way and we put netting up to keep bad things from happening to our precious fruits. The one that gets me the most is that I won't see the hard work that I put in until many days, months, and years later.

It is a precious thing, raising kids, plants, chickens. a bunny......

It is also a most-rewarding thing!...Especially on those days when I sit on my patio and I see the new green sprouts and the blooming flowers, the chickens strutting their stuff across the pumpkin vines, the bunny nibbling at the hay, my husband turning the compost, and the kids giggling, throwing dirt clods against the tilting wooden fence.