This week marks our first six months out here on the Homestead and I am feeling nostalgic and proud of just how far we’ve come in that short period.

So let me explain. No, there is too much, let me sum up…

After the baby was born, we risked everything to find our forever home and start our homestead. We were hoping to get an acre in the outskirts of Miami with a beat up old home to fix up where we would probably have to fight tooth and nail to get a couple of chickens and a goat for milk. A year, a life change and a couple of career risks later, we are living on a 5 acre farm, in a Ghost Town named Fort Lonesome (How cool is that?) with a beat up old home to fix up and 2 Dogs, 23 chickens, 5 goats, 2 Sheep, 1 precocious Piggy, 6 Rabbits, 3 turkeys and 5 guinea fowl.

Back then, if you would have told me where I’d be now, a year later, I would have laughed right in your face! The idea of a 5 acre homestead wasn’t even on the horizon. But now, each day we are faced with new blessings and challenges we could have never expected, and we are grateful for each and every one.

So here is a list of things these blessings and challenges have taught us in our first six months on the homestead:

1. It gets dark out here.

Like I mean REALLY DARK! Like I mean, can’t see your hand in front of your face dark!It also means, it is not a good time to be coming home from the store and trying to unpack groceries.But WOW, can you see a lot of stars at night? It’s beautiful and amazing!

2. Spiders can get big!

Like REALLY BIG! LIKE BIGGER THAN YOUR HAND BIG!!!

They can also create elaborate webs in a heartbeat.

3. There are A LOT of BUGS!

There aren’t a lot of roaches … (See Above! SPIDERS EAT ROACHES and all sorts of other bugs!) … but you will see bugs you have NEVER EVER SEEN BEFORE! Some are beautiful … others terrifying! Our best tip is get a bug guide for your area and get informed.

4. You need the animals just as much as they need you.

The animals all serve a purpose on the homestead. Be it to provide us with food or tilling and fertilizing the land (yes, we are talking about you Charlotte!) or taking care of bugs (like the Guineas, Turkeys, Chickens, etc.) and don’t be surprised but Pigs eat spiders, even the REALLY BIG ONES, and so do ducks. Who knew?

5. We have a lot to learn about keeping animals.

First of all, and this one is easy, You need fences for those animals! Not so much to keep them in but to protect them. There are other big baddies that would love nothing more than a free lunch. Did you know, kids and teens actually take Ag classes in school to learn all this stuff! They didn’t have Ag classes in my high school! NOT FAIR!!! I feel a little bit robbed!



6.Going to bed before it’s fully dark out, is not weird.

In these summer days, when the sun goes down later, and it stays bright outside for hours on end, it is not strange for the whole family to make it to bed before the sun goes down. We’ll catch a movie or the baby will read to us!

Quality time at it’s best!

…so appreciate your guests and be kind to your neighbors.

We get it, it’s a long drive. And the drive is rough, not the road, but driving for long periods isn’t easy. It takes time and energy … finite resources … so we appreciate everyone who makes it out here to help and generally treat them in a way that shows that! But that also applies to Handy Men and plumbers and tile layers … It’s not easy to get people to come out and work on things, even if you PAY THEM!!!! It takes a special kind of person to want to come out this far. It even applies to Grandma, only makes it out every other week and stays the weekend.

This means, neighbors are your new best friends. Treat them that way! We try to treat them about once a month to a treat I experiment with in the kitchen.

8. Planning is key.

Before long, you too will become your own personal MacGyver. But for now, whatever it is … if you’re at the store wondering if you should get something to have a back up, that answer is YES! You need a back up. And, more than likely, that back up needs a back up. It’s hard to come by certain things. So stock up on staples and things that can be made into other things. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a trip to pick up that little something you forgot quickly becomes a 20 mile drive to the store and a 20 mile drive back and can take you upwards of an hour! It’s not 5 minutes anymore!

Pizza is now homemade, Chinese Food is improvised and has our own distinct twist on it, and Bread is fresh baked! None of these things are necessarily bad, but they were things that never occurred to us! Especially the bread thing, and without a bread machine! WHO KNEW!!



9. Study and Prepare.

First Aid is at the top of my list right now. The nearest hospital is about 40 minutes away so we frequently discuss potential risk situations and study how to mitigate those risks and how to prepare should something happen.

10. Self sufficiency is a lifestyle not an end goal.

Each day, in every way, we are working to become self-sufficient. But it’s not a goal that you can throw enough money at and be self-sufficient for the rest of your life, although that would be nice. It’s a continuing every day journey and it takes the help of the animals and your household to move toward it, together, day by day.

Stay tuned as our adventures and rural education on the homestead continues.

Currently on the night stand:

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