My Story of Becoming a Homesteadmaker™
The nitty gritty of this story really started in 2006. It was the beginning of so many facets of our lives. I had triplets in April and we moved a few hours away in June. My husband was starting a new job that consumed most of his time. And I was learning how to survive being a mom of seven kids, seven years old and under. Oldest was 7, twins were 6, middle was 3, and triplets were newborn. Survival became my motto for a while. And before you ask, Yes, the multiples are natural and planned by God himself.
But soon I didn’t want to just “survive” anymore, I wanted more. I was faced with being a mom of seven, a modest budget, and a desire for peace and meaning to living each day. It was in that desire and searching that I found the journey of a lifetime. Two pivotal things happened.
I was invited to a wives Bible Study that had onsite childcare provided.
We picked up a book at a yard sale called “Little House on the Prairie”.
Those two things weren’t just pivotal, they were critical to my journey.
Bible Study provided not only a mom break once a week, but a connection to other women living in the moment of where we were personally and together(our husbands all had the same/similar line of work). I went to Bible Study all seven years that we lived there. And I balled my eyes out my last day at Bible Study before we moved away. It truly was a Godsend for me during that time in my life.
The “Little House on the Prairie” book sparked several things:
1. Homeschool: My 6 yr old daughter read the whole book in the car while we were still wondering around yard saling. The kids needed more opportunity to learn and read on their own. I wanted to give them real books and real experiences to learn from.
2. Homemaking: I remember watching Little House on the Prairie when I was younger. Back then I related to Laura. I was about the same age during the show, and Ma and Pa actually looked a lot like my Mom and Dad. But this go around was different. Yes, the books are different from the show. But that’s not all. This time I related to Ma in the show and books. She was the perfect example of making due with what you have, from scratch living, living out being a good example, and managing the home.
3. Homesteading: Learning the basics and building knowledge and experience from there. There was so much to learn. And that’s just what I started to do.
So I started homesteading, homemaking, and homeschooling right where I was. We were living in a three bedroom rental home at the end of a culdesac in a dense neighborhood in suburbia. I started homeschooling the kids. We started our first vegetable garden in the backyard along with a double compost bin made out of cement blocks on the sunny side and a clothesline I wrapped around all the trees on the other side of the yard. I canned for the first time, making tomato sauce from boxes of tomatoes from the farmers market. I made my first load of bread from scratch too. I learned a lot during those three years. As our knowledge and experience grew so did our dreams of homesteading bigger and on our own land. Looking back, those years in that home were just the beginning of a lifelong journey.
Now that I have adult kids and homestead over a hundred acres I look back to the beginning of what started this lifestyle of mine and smile. It all started with a desire and a decision to try. Never stop growing and dreaming.
Share this with the person that comes to mind when you read it. They can use the encouragement.
Your Homesteadmaker,
Neva