The Reason we homestead.

I've been writing this first blog for almost a week now. At one point I had close to 20 paragraphs, because there is so much I have to say. I want to tell you our story, our belief structure, the reasons why we hold those beliefs and how those beliefs have impacted our lives. I want to teach you all about the things I've learned through failure and cooperation. I want to explain where I think people go wrong in terms of homesteading and how they are setting themselves up for failure. There is so much I have and want to say. It's always been that way with me. I'm essentially saying to much right now...but I am what I am. But..... After reading through it over and over again, it hit me... "This isn't my last chance to speak. I don't have to say everything right now". Maybe its the last time you will listen, but I can't control that. My dad used to always say... "worry about what you can do.... not what you can't do." which has always stuck with me. Of course my heavenly Father says, "don't worry about anything" which also is a pillar of my ethos...

I'm doing it again... lets get back on track. Why do we homestead? I'll lay it out as a list to make it simple. This is list is by no means exhaustive, nor in any particular order.

1- Self-reliance. There is verse I'll share on this later, but I believe strongly in self responsibility, self accountability, and being what the pioneers were, rugged persistent individuals. Homesteading helps us remove ourselves from being dependent on other people and the system. That means we are able to serve them.

2- Organic Food (formerly known as food). It is no secret, at least to the majority of people who will be reading this, that our food system in America and across the world is in dire need of major improvement. (Had erase a huge rant I just went on... look for it in another post). Food you grow, if you grow it as God intended, is hands down better for you. Homesteading is healing the soil we grow in and the bodies we work with.

3- Family Life. I love my wife and my kids and I want to spend as much time as I can with them. I want to experience life with them. I want to teach and prepare them to do the same when they get older. Homesteading involves growing our own food and making a lot of the things we use gives each and every day. This gives us more time together and teaches us skills we can leverage in the present and future. Win-Win.

4- Resilience. You probably noticed that the world is in a bad place. Whether you believe in entropy, bible prophecy, or both... its clear that it is only going to get worse. If I have what I need at growing at my house it means I do not have to go look for it somewhere else or potentially compromise myself to get what I need. Homesteading done right makes you resilient to all sorts of world events.

5- It feels.... right. It feels so good when your wife says, "I need some potatoes and carrots for dinner tonight" and your able to just walk outside, pull up what you need, and be like "Yo... I got you girl." There is just something so fulfilling when you're sipping on the bone broth you made yesterday from the chicken you and the kids butchered the day before, that you raised from a chick, watching it grow up so strong and healthy and happy. It's almost spiritual. Maybe its just me, but I honestly believe there is a connection that we have lost in our culture. There is that old question about what is the "first profession"... and there are a lot of answers.. but biblically speaking... Its Homesteading. Adam and Eve were homesteaders. At least that's how I like to view them. Tending to the Garden of Eden, naming and taking care of the animals... sounds like homesteading to me.

Homesteading isn't easy. In fact it takes a lot diligence, discipline, and deodorant. I think I just made a catchphrase. T-Shirts incoming. I don't know the exact point that my homesteading journey started, I'm sure there are a lot of factors.. but I know that this verse really struck me when I read it the first time.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 "and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." That idea of working with my hands, of being dependent on no one, so that others may view my life as respectable and worthwhile really sunk into me. I want to live a life, where my actions directly impact not just my life, but others lives, in a distinct and meaningful way. There is more I want to say, but I'll leave you with this.... Homesteading at its core is an embrace of purity.