Origins

 I'm not going to lie, I like to get ideas from other people and try them out.  One idea I want to follow through with is the idea of beginnings or origins.  How did we get to where we are? Where did two city people get an idea to start a farm and have absolutely no previous knowledge of how to run a farm?  So that is where I will start...

Alex and I grew up in suburbia where everyone mows their lawns on the same day and grills out on Saturdays.  Every summer, we went on vacation to the same place and fought with our older siblings.  Our idea of farming was watching our parents garden and listening to our grandparents' stories of the "good ole days."  We spent summer nights outside and fall weekends building forts in the woods.  Little did we know how much of an impact that would have on our adult lives.  All that time crafting our skills at making lean-twos and exercising our small bodies racing through the neighborhood on our bikes was shaping us into the adults and parents we are today.

Our dream began long before it actually happened.  The urging deep within us to leave behind what we knew and do something drastic knocked on our very souls for years before becoming a reality.  We were comfortable and had started our family.  Our goal was to have a plan for retirement.  That plan included selling our house and buying a little homestead.  It was set and we were content.  Then Alex's grandmother died.  Nothing makes you re-evaluate like losing someone you love.  What were we waiting on?  Why were we planning on doing a job we hated and living a life that wasn't fulfilling?  Why would we choose the comfortable way out?  Why are we holding ourselves back?

Fast-forward a few months and the next thing we knew, we found an amazing realtor, put our house on the market, and was looking for large plots of land.  BUT where were we going to live?  Ahh, RV life is not for the weak-hearted or those in weak marriages.  That life is a whole other blog.  I can say this, though, living in an RV with four kids under the age of six is the hardest and most revealing thing I have ever done.  PERIOD.  And I have the gray hair to prove it.

We conquered living in a campground for over a year and then moved on to living off of the ten acres of land we found.  The land was welcoming; however, the work to get the land workable was not so welcoming.  Never have we seen land where the dirt was a white clay where only certain things will grow.  So there went that dream of having a CSA.  Dang. Next came chickens.  This was our first dose of homesteading reality.  We had a great set-up: flat land, a pond, a couple of barns, and an awesome neighbor that looked out for us.  We needed a house and that land just couldn't provide that for us.  What we lacked was running water (I can tell you all about how to deal with shallow wells, thaw frozen water hoses, emptying composting toilets, and keeping warm in a very small and uninsulated space) and a little bit of sanity.

That brings us to our current home.  Yes, it is like a castle after living in a 36 foot RV for three years.  It was perfect...25.3 acres of perfection.  Add in some more chickens, turkeys, ducks, and hogs and you have an instant homestead.  Did I mention, we have three gardens?  Everything is transient in a homestead.  Need an extra space to house your additional animals?  No problem, convert a garden and throw up a fence.  Need some more fence posts?  Oh well, go cut some small trees and dig a 24" hole and shove that sucker in there.  Need a weight loss program?  Well, make sure you walk around your field a few times with that pesky Walker Hound that loves to run off and get attacked by coyotes.  Are you feeling sick but don't have time to crawl in bed and feel better?  Make sure you get you a few swigs of whiskey and get your butt back out there.  Oh wait, did I mention the possibility of a pandemic?  Haha.  I guess you better get on those knees every night and thank whoever you worship for having food, water, and a means to provide food for your little family. 

Okay, okay. I think by now, you have gotten my point.  I have left out so many of the experiences we've had and given such a basic overview of how we got to where we are now.  I wish I could say that it is smooth sailing from here on out, but that would be lying.  As a matter of fact, this lifestyle weeds out the weak.  It isn't for the daydreamers who talk a lot.  It isn't for the ones you can squeeze and then they fit into a matchbox (and you all know at least one person like this).  It isn't for the whiney babies.  You know, the ones who always have an excuse for their behaviors.  I can honestly say this was me five years ago.  Of course, I revert back to making excuses when I feel defeated, but I have this amazing person in my life that constantly holds me accountable.  I hate it and I love it.  

So here is a very little piece of our origin story.  I can tell you I know absolutely nothing when it comes to this lifestyle.  I know nothing about animals.  I have no idea how to work a tractor.  I can't tell you how to build stuff.  What I can tell you is that I have learned to drive a tractor, I have given penicillin to an animal and saved his life, I have cuddled baby animals, I have watched eggs hatch, I have cleaned more than my fair share of poop.  I have built troughs, fences, and put up roofing.  My comfort zone is very small.  I have been pushed past where I want to be in life.  I am not where I thought I would be at 42 years old.  I am shocked at how we ended up where we are.  

Five years ago seems like an eternity.  I am ecstatic that we took that blind leap of faith, even when people thought we were crazy.  And, trust me, we were crazy to follow this pipedream with four small kids and debt that was swallowing us up.  BEST DECISION EVER.  It was also the biggest and scariest thing we have ever done in our twenty-three years together.  As a result, I have gained so much more confidence and learned to not be comfortable and that is okay.