As I have been dealing with all this illness and such, I have had a bit of down times in between chores and caring for things to peruse the social medias a bit. On Instagram and it's Twitter/X/Inleo-name stealing offspring Threads there are quite a bit of people who embracing the slow and older ways of living. Homesteading and slow-living are a big topic of discussion and exposition there. I found it most amusing and diverting!
One post in particular caught my attention in the stream of romanticized chicken-herding and broccoli-rearing posts. One person wrote a thread about how the reality of homesteading is doing chores every day, no matter how cold or hot, or how bad you feel. That there were going to be days of dysfunction and death, and you have to be committed to showing up because there is going to be nobody there to do it for you. (This also made me think about the importance of community, but that's another blog post entirely).
I smiled as I read the thread, for it made me fondly think about the time I waded in a blizzard, hip-dip in snow, during sub zero temperatures with a 104 degree fever to water the cattle. Bad weather has a way of showing up when you are most vulnerable.
You know what though, I wouldn't trade homesteading for the world. Not that I love going through bad things, but once you do go through it, you learn, you adapt, you set into being practices that streamline you processes for when the bad things happen, because they will and always do, at the most inopportune times.
This week has been one of the hardest of my life. But because of all my homesteading lessons, I was able to navigate it because I utilized what I learned over the years and the biggest thing I can utilize is myself. If you chose to not focus on your discomfort and lean into it, using it as a learning experience while utilizing your collected wisdom, experience, and ability to search for solutions, life becomes more of an adventure and less of a drudgery.
Which is why I am so elated to see so many people seeking a life of doing, growing, raising, experiencing. The blessing of homesteading is the accomplishment of knowing capability. I'm so beyond thankful to have gotten to experience that, and with any luck, I will be experiencing it for many years to come, for as one of my old professors constantly reminded us, There's always more to learn.
Hope you all have a most magnificent weekend, I'm gonna go turn on the well heater.😊
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's still currently charging as it has been incredibly active lately iPhone. The text divider image was made in Canva.