Homestead mailing list

[Viking <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> Another thing that put us on our way was adopting the mode of, as
> they say in Gaelic "beag is beag" (little by little).  The road needs
> a well defined drainage ditch on one side where the road is steep.  I
> put a shovel and mattock there and every time I pass, I dig two more
> feet, then quit and go about what I was going to do.  A great many
> "big" projects around here are like that.  Weed out ten hills of corn
> on the way to check the mail every day, put one rock in the rut in
> the road each time you pass, drop $2 in the 401-Cow fund when you 
> return from the store.  Some things are urgent, but in practice it
> turns out that not so much really is.

I do this, too.  Ya have to, I think.  I leave a hoe here or there, weed
as I pass this or that, pick up storm debris/sticks when I go to the
mailbox, etc.  I have even started doing this for chores....clean and
fill one waterer in the morning, fill up the duck pool on the way in and
toss some feed to the baby chicks...in the afternoon, I collect eggs,
feed the rabbits, and give the chicks water on the way back.  I'll water
one raised bed in the morning, and another in the afternoon. Little by
little, it gets done, I don't kill myself in the process, and I have
time for other things.


> What I'd offer is to never look on any homestead operation, present
> or dreamed, as a done deal.  It is always dynamic and ongoing.  When
> our long time cash gig petered out and gas got to be expensive, we
> found that we passed those milestones with hardly a shrug.  Yet I
> wonder were else we will go, so many things left unexplored.  So if
> you are moving toward the self-sufficient life, you are a homesteader
> now.  It's a process now and it always will be a process.

This is soooo true.  It's almost more of a state of mind and way of life
 to try to obtain,  than it is simply a way of life.  When I read Lisa's
post this morning, I thought, "why doesn't she think she's homesteading?
 Why do people think I'm a 'true' homesteader?  I sit here in my AC,
type a little, work a little, and make lists of things I need to
do...lol...  I'm not off grid...I don't use animals to do my work...why
do people think I'm a homesteader and they are not??   Ten years ago, I
was still living in suburban Atlanta pretending to be a yuppie while
learning how to bake bread and infuse oils.  I collected books and read
them, just like Amy is doing.  I asked every question I could think of
on this list. If the old list archives are still available somewhere,
some of you new folks would get a real kick from reading some of the
questions I asked.  I'm still asking questions, too!

Everyday, you can learn to do something new.  I recall the day I learned
to back the lawn tractor with the cart attached....lol...that was funny.
 I think I blogged my triumph here. Yup, of course I did, because I was
so proud of myself...lol
Just today, I rode a 4 wheeler for the first time...boy, that was almost
too much fun!  If I wasn't so much of a real homesteader<g>, I'd be like
Will Smith and say, "Man, I gotta get me one of these!" (I can see a lot
of uses for them, but seeing as how they are one more gas guzzling
thing, I guess I'd have to pass even if I could afford one)  It was
thrilling to ride with the wind in my face and hair, but when all is
said and done, a horse would have been equally as fun, and much quieter
to boot!
Anyway, life's the journey....so is the whole idea of homesteading....it
all comes down to just taking the plunge....just do it...SISU!

Bev, who will have use of said 4-wheeler all next week...LOOK OUT WORLD,
here I come!!!


--
erthnsky AT bellsouth.net  BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm      NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W