Monday, January 10, 2011

The "not so glamorous" life on the homestead


Funny to me that I would say that some think living like we do would be glamorous...however when you look at the pretty pictures and magazine articles about farming & homesteading it tends to always lean tward the "glamorous" side.
While I love living the way we do, it's not reality to think you can wake up to a perfectly landscaped lawn, beautiful roosters crowing, and go take a dip in the gorgeous, bug free pond and lounge for the day while sipping on fresh squeezed lemonade and then go and admire the ever-so-tidy home and rows of canned goods without realizing the work that has gone into them. I love looking at that stuff too but I thought today I'd share a winter day with you.
Let's start off with that we had an ice storm yesterday and it's now melting, even though it's still really cold out. Then on Saturday evening my husband's back got a pinched nerve (for which he's at the chiropractor right now with our son) So....chores were up to us.
Back to my day... I did sleep in a bit, then did the usual morning routine: make coffee, breakfast, computer a bit, and even watched a show with the kids. Then I made a batch of lye soap. Did some laundry, and cleaned up the kitchen & washroom.
The chiropracter called to say they could get him in so he & my son left.
I bundled up and went out to get the feeding and watering done. I guess the chickens were impatient as feeding was a little later than usual and one jumped on my head as I was getting the feed out and scratched me. (peroxide has been applied!) Then I fed the banty chickens that are in separate cages for now. Then off to the ducks, the little pig, and then the other chicken coop. While in there I realized the tarps we are using as a temporary roof have come apart so they are able to get out. Luckily I guess they didn't realize that yet. So I got a pole and tried to prop it up in the middle to shake off some of the snow & ice. Well of course it fell and then so did a chunk of ice on my head (guess it was my day for head injuries)lol. So I finally got that fixed good enough. Then I fed the dogs in the kennels. Well one of them had pooed in his bowl (who knows why) So I cleaned that out but of course he jumped on me in the process and of course when I turned on the hose to clean out the bowl someone had left the spout on so it sprayed all over me. By now my gloves were soaked and my hands were freezing. Then it was off to the back to feed the hogs. While back there they jumped up and splashed pig mud on me. Lastly I fed the dogs in the yard, who also enjoyed jumping around in the mud right by me. So finally I was headed back inside... freezing hands, wet, and probably had just about every kind of manure on me somewhere.---How glamorous!
So here I now sit at my computer. In my warm little house with blankets hung over the windows to help keep the cold out. I have a pot of beans in the pressure cooker and a warm fire in the fireplace. AND still I'm thankful for being able to live the way we do! ~Perhaps only other homesteaders would understand...

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing. We do have dreams of having a farm one day. I probably do see it through rose-colored glasses. It is a dream that I hope to follow one day...hopefully I'll be able to handle it. :)

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