dirt under her nails

Yep, those are my hands: pudgy, wrinkled, aching and dirty. I am a book person. I love to research and read, and for a while that was enough. Eventually I had to go outside and do- outside my comfort zone into the literal outdoors and get sweaty, and dirty and sore. I was active in my local sustainable agriculture movement, a young mother, and grower- until my third child turned out to be twins. As my family grew, my external sphere of influence shrank, and my pioneer spirit became a very handmade family life. I researched! I took classes and read books and met authors and networked and learned: and then I did. Now the internet is teeming with beautiful young people sharing their journeys- as they travel them. My kids are teens now, I want to learn new things too, but young enthusiastic coaches just starting out don’t always speak to me. I want to know there is experience behind a explanation or a reason why a thing is how it is. I’ve been around a couple of blocks and now I am going around some of them again. I’ve got thoughts and opinions; but also try to keep an open mind and try new things and better techniques.

“Homesteading” and “DIY Lifestyles” involves a lot of topics that seem blur into each other; gardening leads to cooking and eating which leads to health and well-being which leads to medicine growing, preparing and using for example. Suddenly the meaning of Home Economics has shifted. More and more I find my role in life is about Economics as it applies to running a home. I am a mom, and my conscience requires I make responsible decisions about how we, as a family, live our lives. Our Home Economics is informed by our need to be frugal, our need to think ecologically, our desire to be healthy. Our decision requires us to wear many hats. We have done a lot of things on our homestead before and somethings we are doing for the first time. Learning so much, so fast can be overwhelming. I aim to simplify each subject so that you can learn a manageable amount of high impact information and therefore get your hands dirty and get started. That is what I want to share with you- Starting out- but not from square one.

I’ve moved ten miles from my old homestead with woods and pastures to a half acre in the small town in the next county. I am starting anew. Maybe you are just starting a family, or a homestead journey and would appreciate traveling with someone who has been down parts of this path before- or maybe you are like me- starting over in a new place. Either way, the best way to learn is to start- dig in- and get your hands dirty.