Late November 2022.

It’s Monday and a week of possibilities lies ahead.

The weekend was full of little jobs that I hadn’t exactly planned, it was a case of focus on what I can do.

On Sunday Michael and I got some big gardening jobs accomplished,  shifting plants around and making better use of garden beds. Michael dug, weeded and shifted plants. I watered, opened gates, kept Bluebell and the hens off the vegetable beds and out of the path of the wheelbarrow. We talked about gardening ideas, fruit and veg crops, and cleaning out the hen house hay storage area, hopefully it will make things easier for when we get our hay delivery.

Going down the homesteading rabbit hole.

When it was raining I stayed inside and went down a homesteading rabbit hole on Youtube. I started out researching some preseving recipes, and one link lead to another. Gee, people share generously and there are some great ideas for pantry storage and putting food by. It got me to thinking about the definition of Homesteading.

I really don’t think there is a one size fits all definition for Homesteading and none of us can be fully self sufficient which seems to be a myth that comes with this kind of lifestyle.

Sure, it is all about putting food by for as long as you can and being as sustainable as possible, but that will depend on;

How much storage space you have.

Your budget.

Your capabilities.

Time.

Food preferences.

Allergies.

And so many other factors that are relevant to you.

Homesteading really is what you make of it and how it will look for you is your choice.

To be honest, I’m a bit sick of the point scoring some do, if you don’t have thirty five kids running around learning “wilding skills”, milk five house cows and twenty two goats twice a day, make every cheese under the moon, grow everything in the seed catalogue, make everything from scratch including sewing by hand your own underwear and butchering your own meat in one hand while fermenting in the other, all while Instagram designer ready, are you even a homesteader?????????

So let’s keep it real, try not to let the point scoring peeps put you off, homesteading really is what you make it and there is no place in it to judge others and point score. Learn from each other yes, appreciate each other, yes. By the way, if you do come across a pattern for homemade, hand sewn underwear, you know not to send it to me!

Much Love,

Jude x