Simplifying...not so easy anymore!

As with so many others, our lives have become so busy.  A few weeks back my husband and I began talking about simplifying our lives and taking stock of what our time is spent on.  Since we always seem to be busy and we can't ever seem to get everything done, we have kept track of our days and the projects we are doing.  When we looked over everything, we figured out real quick the only thing we were doing that was wasting time was the time spent on face book and the time spent on the phone.  Since I refuse to be completely unconnected to family and friends that live a ways away from us, we decided that eliminating face book would free up about 2 hours every day. 

As I posted yesterday on Face book about leaving, it occurred to me that I really don't want to be disconnected completely.  I want to stay connected with those that I care about.  Many times the only way to do that is on Face book.  Although we went many years without cell phones, and Internet, and Face book...it seems to be more important to keep up with Face book than to let it go.  So in a mutual decision, we decided to keep the face book page associated with our web site active.

So, as to simplifying...some aspects are easy and seem to be a natural transition, others are much more complex and require some compromising.  For me personally, I have never been real good at compromising.  I like things my way, and right now!  That just doesn't work well when you have a spouse, children, a farm, and extenuating circumstances.  So, as it goes, I am still learning all the time. 

Although we have a goal of being 100% self-sufficient, at least in our food supply, we are slowly working towards that goal.  Our oldest bought his first calf in September of last year.  That calf has become the first of many we hope to raise.  Richard had been asking around about the cost of purchasing a pregnant sow/guilt.  As it happened, our former landlord, has one that is out of his breeding schedule and he is looking to unload her.  She is due to have her litter of piglets in June.  I believe that we will be working on a pen for her this weekend.  Then we just have to continue our search for a dairy cow.  We have found a few locally, but they are either really expensive or they have sold within hours of being listed.  We have our minds set that we do not want a Holstein.  We are wanting either a purebred or a cross of Jersey, Ayrshire, Guernsey, Brown Swiss or Dexter.  I am having to learn so much so quickly because our family's goals require it. 

There is a lot of work that goes into our lifestyle.  It isn't a lifestyle for everyone, but it's great to get support for the lifestyle we have chosen.  We don't buy much at the stores anymore.  Just the absolute staples.  All treats, bread, and meals are prepared from scratch when possible.  I'm not saying that our diet consists only of homemade, since we still love to roast hot dogs over the fire (Beef only), and occasionally we will eat out when necessary.  When we do, I have to prepare for it though, because without fail, I will spend a couple of days sick.  When you go through and eliminate the white sugars, white flours, white rice and anything else that has been bleached or has an ingredient list 3 miles long...your body goes through a withdrawl.  It is an honest to goodness thing.  It takes usually 3-5 days to get past the dependency those foods create.  The first few days that I went without soda, sugar, and store bought bread...I ended up with a 3 day headache.  By the 5th day, I felt pretty good, and by the end of the first week, I started noticing some energy returning and the occasional stomach aches were gone.  After an entire month, I think my body was thanking me.  Many of the aches and pains I had felt were gone, and even my complexion cleared up.  My moods leveled off and my other body functions also leveled off and became consistent.  Once in a while, I still crave "junk" food.  I will crave a greasy burger or greasy fries, a snack cake or those cursed doughnuts at the grocery store.  Typically, I prepare for getting sick if I eat any of them though.  I do still have an occasional jack and Pepsi....but it's pretty rare. 

There are days that I really just want to throw caution to the wind; not read labels, not have to plan every night for the next days meals, not have to spend 1 whole day baking so we have snacks for the week, not being so tied down to our home that we don't get vacations or weekend trip, or the convenience of living closer to town.  However, those days don't happen very often.  I look at our life as, what we are doing is being done to keep our family healthy, keep our kids safe, and to teach the the responsibility of living an intended life.  We work hard, each and every day.  We work to raise chickens for eggs & our freezer, we work to keep our calf growing, we work to keep our horses exercised and keep up with our yard.  We check fences about everyday, and now we will be adding a pen, and a pig and babies.  Once we get our dairy cow, we will be milking daily, and eventually raising calves from her as well.  It's work, but it's very rewarding work.  We look at our gardens and see the seeds of labor growing, we look at our hens who lay 3 dozen eggs daily, we look at our baby chicks of which 38 of them will be in our freezer in a couple months, the rest will be our new laying hens.  We have 2 broke horses that we can ride, and 3 other adults to train to be ridden, plus 2 young ones that we have begun working with.  Although our efforts are occasionally slowed down by finances or weather, they continue to move forward and will continue to do so. 

I am anxious to keep updating you on our progress, at least it's progress for us.  Even though some think we are crazy.... I am very happy to have "simplified" our lives.  We don't have the regular stresses of working to work or keep up with neighbors.  We work what we have to and focus the rest of the time on our family. 

Wishing you all a simplified life of faith, family, friends and health!
Salli