While reading another homesteaders blog this morning, I realized just how "normal" we are. It was quite refreshing to know we aren't alone in unfinished projects, a messy house, and doing things a little differently than others. Not to mention, that some daily projects are neglected when the hours in a day are minimal to the projects! Thank you, Jill(The Prairie Homestead!)
Our typical days are anything but typical. While we are not perfect and many of our days lack any resemblance of typical...here is a day in our lives here at the Hayfield Homestead.
4:30 am - Hubby's alarm starts going off. While some days, one alarm is enough...many days the snooze gets hit 3, 4, or 5 times!
5:30 am - I am typically up by this point between the multiple alarms, and the racket my hubby makes. I get up and grab my coffee!
Then we usually have about 45 minutes when we can talk without little ears and without little opinions and demands.
6:30ish - Hubby heads out to morning chores, I make his lunch/coffee or both. Take a few minutes to check the forecast before he's
back in to leave for work.
7 am - Hubby leaves for work, I have about 30 minutes of quiet time when I can check emails, play a few games and read through a
few posts on FaceBook.
7:30 am - Oldest is awake, tv comes on, fix him breakfast, and then the conversations begin. Some new idea he has come up with or
a new project he wants to make/do. It's non-stop talking from now until 10:30 pm when both kids are finally sleeping!
8 am - Youngest is awake and demanding breakfast and "her shows"(ie. cartoons!). She eats breakfast, oldest heads outside to
finish up morning chores and typically ventures a 1/4 mile down the road to visit Grandma.
8:30 am - I am cleaning up breakfast messes, and trying to get kids to table to do some school work. This usually takes all of 30
minutes!
9am-12pm - We sit down for school work, have many breaks for something to drink/eat, and end up with papers, books, and marking
utensils shrewn all over the table.
Noon - We fix some lunch as a crew. It's usually messy, and even it's only peanut butter & jelly sandwiches...it requires 30
minutes of clean up.
12:30 pm - Lunch messes are clean it's time to either go outside or do some housework. Either way it's a production to get done.
1 pm - If we are outside, we are checking the animals, viewing birds and their habits, checking for plant growth, and eventually
it's time to play for a little while before the evening chores.
4 pm - Evening chores...water pigs, horses, chickens and dogs. Feed - chickens, dogs, gather eggs, get all the toys/bicycles,
etc. picked up for the night.
4:30 pm - We head inside when we can so I can fix supper while the littles play. One days we have further outdoor projects, it
may be 8 when we finally eat supper.
5:30 pm - Hubby gets home. We either sit down for supper or have an extra pair of hands to finish up outdoor projects.
6 pm - On good nights we are eating supper. For the other nights, we are still outdoors working on projects.
7:30 pm - It's time for baths! Again, on good nights. Since the oldest doesn't take long showers, it's easy to give the
youngest a bath while the oldest is in the shower. Then there is always the fun of getting a brush through the
youngest's hair.
8:30 pm - Kiddos are playing and watching some cartoons, hubby and I are trying to talk, make decisions, and plan for our new
projects, finish the old ones, and plan for the future.
9:30 pm - We are trying to get kiddos to go to sleep! I say trying because it typically takes an hour! Hubby takes the dogs
dogs out for the last walk of the night.
10:30 pm - Kiddos are finally asleep and hubby and I are both exhausted. We get a last few minutes to chat and then it's bedtime.
This is our Winter schedule. Our Spring/Summer/Fall schedule is significantly different. Since we will begin that schedule here very shortly, it will be complete chaos. With hubby's job requiring more time during planting/harvest season, it means longer hours. Our schedules here will include planting the gardens, setting up and planting the herb gardens, spreading grass seed, weeding the gardens, and later in the Summer to include canning/freezing, and lots of picking!
This Spring's projects include building the courtyard and fencing an area for the dogs, planting 30 trees(including the orchard), building and planting flower beds, building and planting the chicken area stuff(dusting box and natural feeders), planting part of our pasture, building fence, and digging out the driveway to lay a mat and gravel.
The house is never spotless, the floors from each door to the kitchen typically have mud/manure on them until I vacuum and mop. There's days the toys filter throughout the entire house, there's still boxes that need to be unpacked...but I have to find room for them. Laundry gets washed, dried and folded but sometimes sits in baskets. Dishes get washed but may be left to air dry until the next meal. Windows get washed twice a year...because I have to be able to see our beautiful surroundings. The kids have taken to sleeping in the living rooms since neither of them ever keeps their rooms clean. While I really don't mind, because their bedrooms are on the opposite end of the house from ours...I can't hear them if they call for me. Yes, I am extremely protective of my kids, but I do it because I love them! Most days, I can't be bothered by doing my hair and never wear makeup..it takes too much time!
While I'm sure many have organized lives, and I have a serious craving for organization, ours is pretty chaotic most of the time! I love our life but some days I wish for sanity! Many days, come and go, before I even realize. We don't claim to have everything together, but we try and eventually we'll get it together.
Until then, there will be more adventures from our homestead here on my blog. Have a great and chaotic day! ;-)
~Sal~
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