Homesteading Burned Out

shellyr44 · #1 10/14/07, 04:48 PM

We've been homesteading for about 5 years now and I think I'm burned out.
We only have a small flock of chickens, ducks and turkeys. We garden to grow our own vegies and can others from farmers markets we don't grow. We use a wind generator for back up and emergencies. I know that this does not sound like much work but I don't know if I can do it anymore. The thougth of draging buckets of water and going through the cold this winter to feed the chickens makes me gringe. My husband helps out a lot but we both have full time job and they are both physically labor intensive. We love our work and have great pay and benefits so quiting or cutting back is out of the question. Maybe I am just being a cry baby cus I know that there are people out there with tons of acreas and lot of farm animals and they do it everyday with no problems. I used to love to make my own butter and laundry soap but it just seams easier to buy it so I can relax. Has anyone else got to the point where they had to back off on some homesteading stuff? I could really use some advice from you guys. Thanks!

DJ in WA · #2 10/14/07, 04:54 PM

Is there some standard you have to meet? Over 90% of Americans do absolutely nothing to grow their own food. If you do ANYTHING, even growing a tomato plant, feel good about it.

canadiangirl · #3 10/14/07, 05:06 PM

Animals add a lot of work to a homestead. I made myself sick several years ago trying to do too much and had to give up everything for a couple of years. In hindsight I should have given up the animals and concentrated my efforts on my gardens, and taken a break in the winter. I am just now adding animals back on my homestead but slowly.

OkieDavid · #4 10/14/07, 05:08 PM

Right on DJ, I couldn't agree more. There is no one size fits all....Don't want to feed chickens during the winter- Kill them off in the fall and throw them in the freezer. Start over next spring with young chicks. Don't want to kill them off- give them away and start over with chicks in the spring. I will admit that there are times when we forget to collect eggs for a day or three- I go through and throw all the eggs out and never skip a beat. I garden when it's convienient and not too hot. You have to have balance with the rest of your life.....Sure, good old hard work is theraputic but so is a nice weekend sleeping late.....Take a mini vacation and spend a week in town living in a motel to remind you why you chose the country......

Luck to you,
David

shellyr44 · #5 10/14/07, 05:13 PM

No standard but maybe I'm misunderstanding about what this homesteading thing is all about. To me homesteaders grows all or about all of their own food weather it's gardening or with livestock. They live by doing all they can with out depending on others or outside resources. The other day I saw a post where someone had bought a new motorcycle and the others posted all of their motorcycles. I felt kind of funny reading this when to me this did not fit in a homestading lifestyle. I thought of one time trying to live with a very simple lifestyle, no tv, no electricity, etc. Maybe I'm confused about what homesteading is really about. Maybe I read Carla Emery's book to much. It just to seem so exhausting.

Spinner · #6 10/14/07, 05:17 PM

Hey, it's your life, back off anywhere you want to. Anything you don't enjoy doing, quit doing it or find a easier way.

Can you put in an automatic feeder for the chickens? How about an automatic waterer?

Does DH want to keep the animals? Is he willing to take over the care and feeding of them?

Are there other homesteaders nearby? Maybe they would like to have any of the animals that you don't want to keep caring for. You could give them the chickens with the agreement that you get free eggs for a couple years.

Send the ducks to freezer camp or give away a breeding pair with the agreement that if you decide you want ducks later, they will give you a breeding pair back.

If you make a deal with another homesteader then you will be lowering the pressure on yourself without burning your bridges.

Thanksgiving is coming up, maybe sell the turkeys then, and maybe make a deal with a nearby homesteader to take a breeding pair and keep the line going in case you want some again later.

Life is to short to be unhappy. Decide what is important and work towards that goal.

shellyr44 · #7 10/14/07, 05:17 PM

Thanks everyone. I have felt so guilty about this whole thing. My last reply makes me sound like a winer. Maybe I need a trip to the city to whoop it up a bit. Maybe a nice bottle of wine. Any recommendations?

Cindy in NY · #8 10/14/07, 05:23 PM

Homesteading is whatever you decide it should be. We live in town, have a garden, do canning, I make some gifts, and we do most of our own home repairs and restoration. We do not have any farm animals and probably never will. I'm sure that some here would say that we are not homesteading. However, I feel that we are as long as we are doing what we can to be self sufficient. My first thought was what David wrote, get rid of the animals over the winter and start new in spring.

Iddee · #9 10/14/07, 05:32 PM

Am I a homesteader>>>

I put about 10 deer in the freezer each year.
My dw and I can a hundred plus quarts of food a year.
We do not hunt or raise a garden. Our friends do.

We heat with wood. I do not cut wood. Three tree trim companies are glad to have a place to dump them without paying.

One day last week I taught 3 kids how to dress and cut up a rabbit.
Yesterday I taught a kid how to shoot a rifle and a shotgun.

My wife made the shirt I have on. She also made the pants and blouse she has on. She just finished making our dgs's Halloween costume.

I keep from 5 to 25 hives of bees and teach beekeeping.

So what is homesteading??? To me it is living the simple, carefree life of the country and doing what each wants to do to survive.

Liese · #10 10/14/07, 05:38 PM

Shelly, you don't sound like a whiner to me but I would definitely prescribe a glass or 2 of a nice red every evening whilst you watch those chickens! The other point I'd like to make is that homesteading really should not be about doing everything yourself because that doesn't build community. Maybe you just need to find something to do that you enjoy or find more enjoyment in what you do - not easy but taking a different POV can suddenly show you different horizons...all the best.

farmmaid · #11 10/14/07, 05:38 PM

We used to do everything. I am getting older now and have modified by lifestyle. Still have goats but do not milk in the winter. Raise ducks and chickens but freezer camp in the fall. My horse has a vacation until early spring. Only keeping a tri of rabbits over the winter. Hubby works the 6pm-2am shift and I work 3 days as a nanny after teaching 25 years. Between the 2 of us chores take 40 minutes in the AM (hubby) amd 15 minutes at night (me). We catch-up with major cleaning on the weekend, maybe 1 1/2 hours total...that is all now.
Homesteading is also a mind-set. I still watch the pennies, recycle and enjoy what mother nature gives us each day. I try to teach the children I nanny for the same.
Have I lost the "homesteading life? Yes and no. I am doing the best I can at this moment in my life AND enjoying it! There has to be a balance...Joan

Wayne02 · #12 10/14/07, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shellyr44

Thanks everyone. I have felt so guilty about this whole thing. My last reply makes me sound like a winer. Maybe I need a trip to the city to whoop it up a bit. Maybe a nice bottle of wine. Any recommendations?

No your last reply doesn't make you sound like a whiner, it makes you sound like someone who is coming to the realization that you should be living your life for YOU, not for some goofy definition of a lifestyle, and a bunch of people on an Internet chat board who pontificate about it.

"Homesteading" is what you make of it. Want to buy a new motorcycle? Do it and don't look back. Ignore those who turn their noses up at how you choose to live the homesteading lifestyle. There will always be a few blowhards in any kind of "lifestyle" that think their way is the only way. Forget them and live you life on your own terms.

Last time I checked all of us only get one chance at this thing called life, there are no do-overs. Why live YOUR life in accordance with what somebody else defines as the "official homesteading" way. This makes no sense at all and are wasting your life if you are not living it the way YOU want to live it.

What will be different when you come back from the happy vacation? Nothing, that's what. The animals will still need fed, the water hauled etc etc etc. Make changes, and make them now, scale back, opt out, do what YOU want to do. Times a wasting. Apologize to no one, the only person you are accountable to is yourself...

OkieDavid · #13 10/14/07, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shellyr44

They live by doing all they can

Those are your words sweetie!!! The key phrase there is "doing all they can"...I know of no one like Carla who can accomplish what she did AND hold down full time jobs....Don't be so hard on yourself. Look at the responses you've received- I'm sure EVERY one of them do things that could be viewed as wasteful and not in the homsteading spirit, but we all stand and support each other for doing all we can......

marvella · #14 10/14/07, 06:12 PM

yes, you can pick and choose what you can do, there's no standard to hold yourself too.

i'm just grateful we don't HAVE to do it anymore, and can choose it.

DJ in WA · #15 10/14/07, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shellyr44

No standard but maybe I'm misunderstanding about what this homesteading thing is all about. To me homesteaders grows all or about all of their own food weather it's gardening or with livestock. They live by doing all they can with out depending on others or outside resources. The other day I saw a post where someone had bought a new motorcycle and the others posted all of their motorcycles. I felt kind of funny reading this when to me this did not fit in a homestading lifestyle. I thought of one time trying to live with a very simple lifestyle, no tv, no electricity, etc. Maybe I'm confused about what homesteading is really about. Maybe I read Carla Emery's book to much. It just to seem so exhausting.

Like Wayne said, I don't understand the guilt thing. Do you think you're going to be kicked out of the Church of Homesteading if you don't meet the standards? Heck, I don't even remember filling out any forms to join this group, so how can I be booted?

If you want to be miserable, keep comparing yourself to Iddee. If you want to feel better, again I say, compare yourself to the average American.

I have come to this understanding after going through times like you. Sometimes you get tired, or things you grow go to waste, or the bugs get them, or whatever. You wonder why you're doing it. I'm hoping to focus more on quality than quantity. Grow fewer things and do them better, rather than trying to do everything that strikes my fancy.

As far as 'saving the planet', sometimes just doing nothing is best. Often growing things on your own is less efficient and requires more energy than big farmers would use. Buying is not a bad thing. Just making your own lunches is a good thing. I notice people at work heating up pre-packaged meals with alot of packaging filling up the garbage. If you just bought meat and produce and made things from scratch you'd again be way ahead of the average American.

EDDIE BUCK · #16 10/14/07, 06:30 PM

Just my 2 cents, If chickens are too much work or you don't like taking care of them, NO CHICKENS OR PIGS OR WHATEVER ELSE IS GOING AGANIST THE GRAIN. I think Homesteading is personal, Its what you like, if not its a headache. Whatever Homestead plan that makes you happy, thats the one to have. I think Homesteading and happiness go hand in hand. Do what you want, if you call it Homesteading its Homesteading. Who's to say it ain't?

:banana02:

nehimama · #17 10/14/07, 06:32 PM

You have choices. Live your life the way YOU want to. You also have skills to fall back on if the need ever arises. You haven't done badly at all.

NeHi

farminghandyman · #18 10/14/07, 06:59 PM

If I had a full time job I would not messing with goats and other things unless I wanted to, do what your time allows and cut back, I farm full time have goats and garden, (wife has garden), cattle and farm wheat and millet now was corn, and feed for the livestock, but we buy laundry soap, and many other food items we don't raise,

DO what you can do and let the rest go, if it is not your lively hood don't feel guilty, it not your survival, my animals are my survival and my lively hood, as well as my fields, we have the chickens because we like the eggs and the meat better than store bought.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MEET SOME IMAGINARY GOAL enjoy your life, if you don't need to do some thing to save moneys and you want the time for other then do it, don't get dragged down in doing things that are making you miserable,

compare you likes and desires and needs and make some decisions, and balance things out, who know it must might be cheaper not to "homestead" or at least some aspects, of it, I know on many items when I figure in some time I can not do it as cheaply as I can buy it,

Example: a friend of mine wanted some Wheat that we raised for bread (to grind to flour), so I messed around and saved some back, ran it through my seed cleaner, put in to food grade bags, and then trash cans to keep it rodent free, (problem the trash cans weigh nearly 200 pounds), so they want buckets, OK buckets cost about $7 each in small quantities with shipping, with lids, OK the wheat in them is (or will be) about $4, OK that is $11. now I cleaned and messed around with it for about 6 to 8 hrs now, in the cleaning moving cleaning up fixing up the seed cleaner, (and still has not been put in to buckets) or shipped, when said in done that would be about 20 buckets of wheat, IF I figure my off farm labor rate, when I do an out side job, that (in the past $20 hour), so do I add $160 on to it, or what? IF I do they could have or may be can (Have not checked lately) order it and have it shipped more than likely cheaper, or the same rate as I could sell it to them, with labor my labor added to it.

the same is for your homestead, If you can buy soap of $X.XX and with time and materials, it is costing you $*.** and you can buy it at or nearly at the same cost, and the quality is not an issue, then why do it, Having the knowledge is there if you ever have to revert then do so,

the same with milking goats, unless you have a need and reason and if your costs are above the cost to buy milk, then why tie your self down and do it, unless you jsut love the goats and the milk,

figure your costs and value your time and decide what is necessary and go that direction.

flatwater · #19 10/14/07, 07:29 PM

I may be reading something into your thread but it sounds like your burning a candle at both ends. Most homesteaders I know only have one job and live off grid. and some don't have any job but just taking care of the kids and the homestead without any out side help. I you both love your jobs and either have to have the money for (stuff) our the jobs are fullfilling cut down on the "playing homestead" and enjoy your life untill you really want to simplify things then consintrate on the homestead.
Flatwater

MaineFarmMom · #20 10/14/07, 08:45 PM

I think you're putting too much pressure on yourself. You don't have to live by anyone else's definition of homesteading. You don't have to homestead at all. Do what works for you. I agree with the folks who said to do what makes you happy. If you don't enjoy the birds don't feel guilty about getting rid of them. If you're not adverse to eating them can you can drop them off at the butcher and pick them up when they're ready for the freezer later in the day? Or find other homes for them.

I had to make decisions again this year because I was trying to do too much. We no longer have livestock. It's a relief. I fell for the "you have to have to have livestock to be a real homesteader" line in the beginning. I'm buying/bartering for beef and pork from other farmers now. I'm good at and enjoy growing vegetables for a living. They enjoy raising animals. It's a good deal for all of us. My neighbor is going to keep 50 laying hens. They'll start laying in a few months. I'll happily stop in once a week to get fresh eggs from her and put my hens in the freezer for soup. That leaves just ducks and turkeys. That's plenty. I make soap for my family only and not for sale now. After 14 years it's a relief to not have to fill soap orders when I should be washing greens or turning compost. I feel much better. Pick and choose. You're very fortunate to love your job. Keep enjoying your work and lighten your load. You can replace the birds later if you find you miss them.