How did we end up here?

I've been asked how we got our start "homesteading." I am also often asked how we "learned" to do something. Truthfully, most of the time, we just fly by the seat of our pants but to make this more interesting I'll share some of our story.

I was raised on a farm --of sorts. We always lived in the country, on acreage and we always had animals. We had chickens for eggs and a goat for milk but my parents didn't raise any animals for meat. They kept a garden when I was very small but didn't most of the time I was growing up. I have always been fascinated by the "pioneer" way of life. Living simply, making your own clothes and growing your own food. I read book after book on the subject. I started to grow my own garden in my teens. By trial and error (lots of error) I learned how to make jam and put by  some of my harvest. I got a sewing machine when I was 16 and I taught myself to sew. That has been a long and painful process but I am capable of sewing (simple) clothing for myself and my family and things around the house. I started cooking and baking at a young age, mostly out of self-defense. My parents weren't terribly creative in the kitchen. We were generally broke for most of my childhood and as the saying goes "Necessity is the mother of invention."

My husband was raised on his family ranch (non-working), hunting, fishing and trapping. Pretty much a boys dream. His familys business was logging. In highschool he raised pheasants and turkeys for FFA and butchered and sold them to his neighbors. He went to college on an Ag scholarship and took many useful classes about plumbing and wiring and using a chainsaw . He has all the practical knowledge. I'm just the idea man. He is a natural cook. He can create a delicious meal with no recipe and quite often does.

We  both had dreams of ranching on a large scale that have yet to come true. Throughout our marriage we have always desired to stay in the country and raise our children on a farm. Starting out we weren't very self-sufficient but we have continued to grow in that area. We have had a garden nearly every year we  have been married. They continue to get larger and more diverse and we put by more of our harvest each year. We continue to add different kinds of animals, trying to maximize our usage of our small acreage. One of my first posts was about my cow. Well, when we brought her home, I had never milked a cow. Goats yes. Cows no. So here I was, faced with a rather large animal that needed to be milked every day. We just waded in. My husband helped for the first few times and a wonderful friend with much cow experience came over several days in a row until we had her fairly gentled. Did I neglect to mention that we had no stantion? I was just milking her in the barn while she ate her grain. Still am 3 years later. 

Many of the things we have attempted we probably shouldn't have. But we have been less than well-off much of the time and if we wanted something done it was "do it yourself or not at all." Through the years we have learned to raise, prepare and store much of our own food.  Neither one of us had much actual instruction in these things. We read a lot of books, use the internet and pick the brains of our friends and neighbors who have "been there, done that." We are currently learning to make our own sausage, bologna and salami. Cheaper, healthier and tastier. We also are setting up a "meat cutting room" we hope to outfit as a home butcher shop. Again, no one is teaching us, we want to do it so we are figuring it out.

Sometimes it gets tiresome and discouraging and we talk about selling out and buying a town house. But we don't want that. We want to raise our children in the country. We want them to know how to take care of themselves. Our 8 & 11 year old can do all the chores if necessary. They can, and do, feed and water and care for the animals every day. We want to train them in the ways we weren't. We want them not to have fly by the seat of their pants quite as much. Although that is a useful ability. My husband and I have learned to roof, build, fence, plumb, wire, paint, drywall, harvest, butcher, cook, freeze, can, smoke, milk, medicate, chop, sew, store etc., all because it was the life style we wanted. You have to be committed. And you have to stubborn. But mostly, you have to want it. No one else in our families lives like this. And, yes, they think we are pretty strange . But at the same time I think they are a little envious.

Blessings.