Let there be Light
Making the Decision to Stay on the Farm
Hello Friends!
Celebrate America and the 250th Birthday! I was a brand new high school graduate the summer of 1976. Yes it is hard to believe another 50 years have flown by. A lifetime. College, marriage, raising our family, working together to build the farm, launching our kids into adulthood and their own marriages and now grandparent life too. Am I proud to be an America? You better believe it! I also feel blessed to have witnessed not only the Bicentennial celebration of our country but now the 250th birthday too. I realize how few people can say that, not only in the world but in our own country. God Bless America!
This Week I am thinking about,
What happens if you stay? Let me share what staying here for over 30 years meant to our homestead
It sure didn’t happen overnight. All the structures came one by one. Not every year, over time. They do come along though, if you stay. Each one takes time, and help and financial resources.
If you stay long enough at this lifestyle, the upgrades are possible. Either through bartering with people along the path, retirement income if you’re lucky, savings, determination, or pure blessing.
We chose to stay. Not because this is our favorite part of the country, more because roots were growing. At some point it became more than one set of roots, as the grown kids set down their own roots too.
The farm that ran on extension cords, duct tape, baling twine, buckets, and hoses from the tenant house began to have its own infrastructure.
In the beginning, one fenced in area and a run in shed welcomed our three horses.
When our goats began kidding the first time, I sent one kid back to the house, 1/4 mile away to grab the fancy newfangled digital camera. No cell phone existed much less one that takes pics and videos!
If I needed to call the vet, I drove back to the house, called the vet and went back to the barn to wait. Sometimes I waited hours because there was no phone so I didn’t know if he was delayed.
There was no internet, no social media, no Pinterest to compare our little horse farm with another fancier set up.
The barn was built by my husband with lots of kid help. Then a goat annex was added in it’s time.
Some eras we went big, beef cows and market hogs came and went. Nothing was fancy. We use what we have first, buying only what is needed for the animal’s wellbeing.
Chickens were not planned. They followed me home from work. Somehow we had over a hundred at one point with several breeding groups of rare birds.
Over the last few years we have lessoned the population in some ways. Some might call it downsizing but I prefer the term curating. We are honing in on what worked best here. Finding the sweet spots. That’s what I’m focused on now, curating a life that fits us. We’ve added raising a batch or two of meat birds for the freezer and keep less layer hens.
I never saw sheep becoming my favorite livestock/pets. They sure worked their way in without me seeing it coming. I said no but they showed up anyway.
And as we grew and learned lessons, we made improvements. Things were added to make sheep tasks easier. Fences and gates for moving sheep without as much drama. Once your knees begin to yell at you, it’s important to work efficiently.
In other areas, we’ve added large chicken runs, manure to compost areas, fenced in gardens so we can actually eat our food before the deer.
A second farm pump near the barn was a game changer. Less hoses, and better water pressure for the barnyard area. Hoses available for watering the expanded gardens. Life is full of blessings!
We used flashlights for many years. The kind you wear on your head are super helpful. Eventually extension cords and drop lights were added to the big coops and the barns. Not recommending this, it’s just how things evolved here.
Then, the barn fire last spring. Not a bonfire. Thankfully my husband was on the property and put the fire out quickly. The cause? An old drop light on an extension cord in the goat annex.
Today, we have real lights getting installed, lights with actual wiring and switches.
Building your homestead little by little is good. It’s strong. Time gives you the ability to see what you need. A little inconvenience and hardship? Eventually these will be just a memory, if you stay.
“According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.”
I Corinthians 3:10 NKJV
Have a great week friends.
In God’s Grace,
Janet
Around the Barnyard, In the Garden and On the Bookshelf sections will return next time. It’s a holiday week and I am ready for some down time. Here are a few new photos of all the parts of Timber Creek Farm
Happy 4th of July, my friend!