Romanticize the Hell Outa Homesteading

Romanticize the Hell Outa Homesteading

In my usual pursuing of homestead blogs I’ve noticed this re-occuring theme. Almost all the blogs I’ve read have at some point mentioned how homesteading isn’t as romantic as it seems or how the author doesn’t want to lie to you and make their life seem perfect. That seems like a good thing. Of course we shouldn’t only share the positive stuff about homesteading. So I started remembering to not to let my posts paint too rosy a picture.

You know I wouldn’t want to lie to you folks so I made sure to throw in the less than awesome parts of my day. I thought about how many things people in history had tried because someone else had talked it up.

Then of course, came my ah-ha moment:

Last night I was on Tumblr (read every night) and I saw this post from @rabbitridgefarmwv.comthegestianpoet that read, “romanticize the fuck out of life if that’s how you cope who cares fuck those text posts that are like “your life will never be a wes anderson movie” well of course it won’t but I’m buying that cute yellow tea kettle anyways motherfucker don’t harsh my vibes.”

I love that (even though I really want to fix the grammar).

As surely as you know our lives are not Wes Anderson movies you also know that homesteads and especially animal sanctuaries are not perfect or easy or always fun. You know there’s handwork and failures, and risk, and loss. If you hadn’t thought about what could go wrong (or already had it go wrong) on your homestead you probably wouldn’t be here reading my advice would you?

And while I can’t tell you that I’ll never share this homestead’s mishaps or sadness with you again, I can promise you this: No longer will I remind myself to include the not so great parts of this lifestyle or tell you that’s not perfect. Because if I even half to remind myself in the first place it’s damn close enough to perfect for me.

When we share things, and I mean everyone not just bloggers, whether we’re writing or speaking or even drawing we are making those things focal points in our lives. I gotta tell you, I just won’t let mine be the bad stuff. When I read what inspires me is the good guys coming out on top. Sure there may be bumps in the road but what keeps me going is reading about the good days. So when I get the urge to type it’s so often about this romantic little slice of heaven.

There were farm mishaps today but let me tell you today was pretty perfect. I started my morning just thinking about all we had accomplished this weekend. Scott worked a side job for extra cash, we moved our hoop house, I got our garden fenced in for the winter season, Scott wired our new chicken coop (they have lights now and a house!), we camped under the stars and got a wall finished on our new house.

I mowed around our electric fence that we have never lost an animal in, got an entire garden prepared to plant wheat, and talked to my mom on the phone. Scott’s evening return found us both in the garden weeding around rows of garlic, carrots, and kale as we talked about our new house, wild edibles, and work. Before coming in I dug a few fingerling potatoes that will pair nicely with some wild onions for tomorrow’s breakfast. Just before jumping into bed with still healthy 14 year old farm dog, newly rescued puppy, and Scott of course I said goodnight to 14 of the cutest rabbits you have ever seen.

Good vibes.

P.S. sorry for the language you should try talking with me in real life though ha. Also this post is not meant to dis people who write about all those mishaps. Venting is still important 😉