I have always dreamed of living a simple life on a farm. I want to raise my animals and children in a quiet simple life. The life I dream of will not be an easy one. I dream of raising and growing 80% of our food. I picture a couple huge gardens, apple and peach trees, a huge red raspberry patch, a field of strawberries, and growing tons of grapes. I want a milk cow, chickens for eggs and meat, a pig, and a steer for food. My kids want horses for fun.
It's easy to become discontent with what we have when we focus too much on our dream life. I can complain about what I can't have or can't do. It's easy to become frustrated about our living situation and to just throw my hands up in the air and be crabby. However, I've realized that I can still live the simple life where we are now. I might not be able to have any chickens, cows, or pigs but I can buy fresh eggs and raw milk from a friend and not have to do the work myself right now.
I planted strawberries and red raspberries last year and I'm going to add to those this year. I'm also going to expand our garden. I can continue to learn how to can and freeze our produce. My children and I can spend Spring and Summer days in our garden.
We can simplify our life by cutter down on our clutter, spending less, and staying home more. We can learn to be content with what we have. I can learn to quilt and mend now when we only live five minutes away from our local 4-H center and use their free sewing machines and fabric. I can cut our electric bill in our current home and use the savings toward our "dream life".
I can also focus on learning how to store bulk purchases and making all things from scratch. I dream of not needing to go to the grocery store. I'm hoping to make that a reality this spring and summer when the garden is in full swing especially since I don't need to go to the store for milk and eggs. I can purchase a side of beef and pork from local farmers. I can learn to live on less.
What things are you doing to make your dream life a reality?
This post has been linked to Works for Me Wednesday
5 comments:
Autumn, you can have chickens even in town. I know of people that have them in your town. Just raise a few hens for eggs. You can even raise some meat chickens. They take about eight weeks to mature and there is a processor in Martinsburg. That doesn't require very much space and if your yard is fenced, you can free range them a little every day to cut food cost for them. They eat lots of kinds of scraps as well. Just a suggestion for ya. Good luck in your endeaver as it sounds much like mine. Suzette
Autumn, we share a lot of the same goals and dreams. It sounds like you have a great plan in mind and are well on your well to being self sufficient.
I am hoping to expand my herb garden and fruit plants this year. I also want to increase our canning production to get us through all of next winter so I don't have to rely on the grocery store so much.
Keep reaching for your dreams and some day they will come true!
Thanks for the reminder Autumn, you know I needed it. I want to live the simple life, but the outside world gets in the way. It seems to always be a battle. I have to change my mindset, which is something I am working on.
I don't know how big your yard is, but why can't you have grapes? We have just under a 1/4 acre lot, and we have lots of grapes. We live in the suburbs with walls around each house. In front of the walls, we have grapes growing on wires. If you have fences, you can grow grapes on those.
Your garden can be beautiful as well as edible.
I have a few more photos to add, but you can see my grapes and my garden here:
http://theprudenthomemaker.com/ediblelandscaping.aspx
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