Now that we have lived on our homestead for a little over a year, I decided that I wanted to start writing some specific blog posts with some of the things that we are learning through our little homestead. I know that we aren’t experts and it seems like we learn something new every single day that we live here. I also think still think it’s funny how we accidentally became homesteaders….we always wanted to live on land, but I didn’t really picture us having animals or a farm. Now we have chickens, a rabbit, pigs and a couple of cats running around. It all started with the chickens…chicken math is real, guys!
Today I wanted to mention a little piece of advice that we got when we moved to our homestead.
We were told to spend at least four seasons on our homestead before we make any major decisions.
(A major decision is something like putting up a building, getting an animal, buying a piece of farm equipment, etc).
Four seasons feels like a really long time – I mean, it’s a full year! But here is why this is so important. Being able to observe the land for a full year is very important because with each season comes major changes, and these changes can affect a lot of what is happening on the homestead. In the Spring, about an acre of our homestead floods. Imagine if we had moved here in June, built a house on dry ground and then realized in March that our “dry ground” is really a flood plain! It’s not a flood plain any other months of the year, but from March-May it is a wet, muddy swamp! Or imagine if I had arrived in March and I decided to plant a garden, only to realize that in the summer months that area is completely in the shade. It would not bode well for a lovely summer garden.
In this fast-paced world it is really easy to just want to get everything “done” as soon as possible. But the thing with a homestead is that…it’s never going to be done. And we are learning that it is best to go slow and steady, instead of rushing headlong into all the different projects that we could be doing.
I am glad that we have now spent all four seasons on our homestead- it gives us more appreciation for the land and the cycles of the seasons, which gives us more knowledge and ability to plan out the next years on our homestead.
Honestly, I think this advice could apply to life in general, not just life on the homestead. Seasons come and seasons go, but often when I am in the middle of a tough season it seems like it will never end and I want to just give up. But taking the time to patiently weather through a season or two gives so much more wisdom and insight into making decisions or big plans.
