I'm floored

Simply FLOORED. I never realized I was making an impression on folks until yesterday. Okay, so fellow homesteaders have told me they are amazed by our progress around here and by all we do, and yada yada yada. But non-homesteaders really don't chime in much, so I don't really know if they are reading or learning or amazed or what. Until yesterday.

One of the ladies I went to high school with took a bit of exception to my calling myself "a poor, poor start of a homesteader." She said, "I read your post and am amazed by all that you do/have done at your homestead. I wouldn't even know where to begin! ...not that I'd even try to live a homesteading life." Then added the hastag of "leftanimpressiononme." I'm simply floored by this. Ok, so she'll never likely ever homestead or put in a garden or know the joy of canning and dehydrating and using it in the cold months to feed your family, and knowing it was your hard work that put that food there that tastes so absolutely amazing you can hardly get enough of it.

But to know someone who doesn't homestead and probably never will is still amazed by all we are doing here ... wow. Just WOW. Seriously, folks, what we do here really isn't all that amazing. We cut down scrub trees and turn them into firewood (some days, it seems like all we DO is cut firewood). We weed whack what "yard" we have because of the rocks that would kill a mower or brush hog, because we want to keep the local tick population down to a dull roar. Which is another reason to cut down a lot of the trees - they harbor ticks as well and the little vampires like to drop down out of the trees as you pass to ride around on you. Plus the bites itch like freaking fury - if you get them off you inside of a day or so, you can usually avoid diseases like Lyme, but the bites, oh my god, the bites itch. It's worse when the little monsters bite you in a place that you really can't scratch in public without looking like a total pervert, because, like any itch, they itch worse than ones you can comfortably get at.

We clean up trash and burn it along with our own. We use a sawdust toilet, we haul in water and shower with a Coleman camp shower (talk about water savings, haha). I heat water on the hot plate (no stove) to wash dishes or for us to shower in cooler or wet weather. In hot weather, the camp shower bag just goes out on the deck on a towel so it doesn't get stuck on anything and spring a leak. (All that because we don't have running water.) I'm working on a garden this year. We take scrap metal to the recyclers for a little extra cash. I'm working on the website for the farm to help bring in off-farm income other than our jobs, through affiliate products, Amazon products reccommendations, and my own books, crafts, and seeds.

It sounds like a lot, but it doesn't seem like it sometimes. It's just life in the country, and you get used to it. You learn to schedule things. Like last night, when I wanted to catch up on my favorite programs on Hulu (hubby gets the TV because his shows don't usually show on Hulu like mine do, plus it means he and I don't interrupt each others watching with convos that drive the other one nuts). Anyhow, while show #1 (Arrow) was loading up, I put the laptop in a safe place to load the show while I made the bed. Seriously, if you're going to live in the country, homesteading or not, you learn really fast to not only multi-task, but to seriously prioritize and to do as our Grandparents did in the Great Depression - "Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without."

Quentin is fond of whenever I wear out a t-shirt, for example. When they start to get see-through from wear and tear, of which there is often a LOT around here, or just generally get stained and torn, I will cut them up into small grease rags for him for his various vehicular projects and repairs. When he's done with one, it becomes a firestarter for a burn barrel. If one of us wears out a pair of jeans that are generally in good shape, I will either turn them into a pair of cutoff shorts (depending on where the rips and tears are), or they become jeans purses and/or patches on a denim quilt. (Which, by the by, are around as warm as one of the scrap yarn afghans I make that hubby is so fond of snuggling under.)

This is just typical life for us, outside of our jobs at Tyson's. I don't think I really am all that amazing. Truthfully, several of my relatives are more amazing. My Mom just retired after 26 years in business for herself (I wonder just WHERE I get that entrepreneurial spirit from?). My daughter is in college as a vocal performance major and already puts her stuff to work with her jobs (yes, multiple) singing. Mom's brother retired from GM and he likes to work on motorcycles (specializing in his and his wife's beloved Harleys). Mom's Dad was a preacher and soup chef. HIS Dad was a master chef and was in the local paper back home once (so was Granddad for that matter). Mom's brother (yeah the GM retiree) - his oldest has worked for McDonald's ever since he first could hold down a job. I have a second cousin who is an actor. I have another second cousin who is a dog trainer teaching Reactive Rover classes. Now THOSE are some awesome and impressive people, folks. I am NOT impressive. I will deny it to my dying breath.

And the funny thing is, in saying that, I realize that I'm saying the same thing all those relatives of mine likely did and do. "I'm nobody special. I'm not impressive, I'm just me, doing my thing that makes me happy and allow me to support my family." But it's that "just me" vibe that so impresses others, I think, and I like to believe that somehow, in some way, someone is going to someday be so impressed by me following my dream of homesteading and writing and crafting for a living, that I've had for so many years, that they'll dust off an old dream or two of their own and say, "You know what? I'm going to do it, just to see what happens." Go ahead and give it a whirl, folks. Because while it's still going to be an awful lot of a hard, freaking slog to get anywhere noticeable to yourself, every little step will show to others, who will be awed by you. And you'll be ridiculously happy with who you are and what you're doing, that the discomforts will be as nothing. (Trust me on this one - we have no running water and have to haul it all in, so a shower with the camp shower is sheer delight ... but the no running water thing really isn't so bad once you get used to it and learn to work around it.)

With all that said, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my day off, and find y'all some good free books, and just generally have a good time the rest of the night, basking in my own awesomeness for a few hours, before the reality of how big that to-do list really is hits me again and brings me back down to earth and takes me out of the stratosphere. So thanks to everyone who reads and cheers me and hubby on, whether you comment or not. Thanks a lot for all your thoughts and prayers and support. It means more than you know.

KINDLE FREEBIES OF INTEREST


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