What's your favorite thing about homesteading??

badlander · #41 01/11/11, 02:58 PM

The STRESS!

No, all kidding aside, I enjoy the feeling of satisfaction I experience at the end of the day when I have been up early, worked outside all day removing fencing, pulling posts, helping my husband chain down dead trees, chaining them to the tractor and pulling them to the burn pile and generally clearing the land. I enjoy the pleasant muscle ache I experience when I split wood and/or help my husband stack wood that he splits. I enjoy the warmth in the house and knowing that we provided it not by twisting a thermostat knob but by producing our own split wood to stoke the stove with. I enjoy serving a nice dinner of roast pork and all the fixings and knowing that I did it with a wood stove and my own ingenuity.

I enjoy the planning for the future and watching our homestead blossom under our care and hiking in our timber, looking around me at the forest and thinking THIS IS ALL OURS!

I wouldn't trade it for all the Mc Mansions in the world.

Sgt.Sausage · #42 01/11/11, 08:16 PM

Dirt. The smell of wet dirt.
(After a long day of working the field)

TessiersFarm · #43 01/12/11, 07:01 AM

What I love is the fact that it forces me out of the house at 4:30 AM. Rain, shine, snow, wind, they still gotta eat and I love doing it 365 days a year, more some years. It may sound crazy but way too many people waste the best hours of the day lounging around with a cup of coffee. I gotta admit, 2 days in January when I have to break 4" of ice out of the stock tank at 20 below and the wind is howling, I think I'm crazy, but I just smile and keep going.

Laura Zone 10 · #44 01/12/11, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sgt.Sausage

Dirt. The smell of wet dirt.
(After a long day of working the field)

MMMMMMMMMM dirt.
I wish they made a candle that smelled like the freshly till fields in spring. I'd burn it all winter!!!

Txsteader · #45 01/12/11, 08:50 AM

I love the simplicity of homesteading, being relatively self-sufficient and living in accordance with nature.

lmrose · #46 01/12/11, 09:09 AM

I agree with the others! We like the freedom of making our own choices, independance from stores, the great healthy food, our animals, challenges to solve, sharing information about farming and homesteading with others getting started on their own venture, knowing we can take care of ourselves in almost any situation, simple pleasures like watching wildlife and beautiful sunsets. We like simple choices too like staying in close to the fire with a good book when it storms outside. No going out except to the barn when it storms!Life is challenging and great!

menollyrj · #47 01/12/11, 11:11 AM

I love the babies the best. There's nothing like a nest box full of baby rabbits, a momma hen with her chicks around her, or the hungry slurp of a bottle calf.

I also take great satisfaction in sitting down to a meal where everything but the condiments came from our property. I like knowing where my food has been, and how it has been grown & harvested (whether that be animal or plant).

michiganfarmer · #48 01/12/11, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laura Zone 5

MMMMMMMMMM dirt.
I wish they made a candle that smelled like the freshly till fields in spring. I'd burn it all winter!!!

actually, there is a scent killer that can be bought at sportiing good stores that hunters wear. It smells like dirt.

CountryWannabe · #49 01/12/11, 11:59 AM

I'm pretty much with everyone else. I love being able to run my own life. I don't answer to anyone other than the cows, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, dogs... LOL.

I love spending time with the animals. I love being in the garden (except when it is too hot) I think my favorite time is when I am milking the goats - there is something almost zen about the "squish, squish" as the milk goes into the bucket. But really, I love everything about the lifestyle. Even when it is freezing cold, like today, and I spend half the day heating water to take down to the tanks. Though I would probably gladly forego that pleasure.

Mary

Lizza · #50 01/12/11, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryWannabe

I'm pretty much with everyone else. I love being able to run my own life. I don't answer to anyone other than the cows, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, dogs... LOL.

I love spending time with the animals. I love being in the garden (except when it is too hot) I think my favorite time is when I am milking the goats - there is something almost zen about the "squish, squish" as the milk goes into the bucket. But really, I love everything about the lifestyle. Even when it is freezing cold, like today, and I spend half the day heating water to take down to the tanks. Though I would probably gladly forego that pleasure.

Mary

Hauling water in freezing weather is pretty far down on my list too! We don't freeze very often, and then there is that night that all the hoses freeze and I didn't drain them, that sucks. We had our well go out on a really hot summer for two days, hauling water for a half acre garden, really really sucked. I've lived pretty rough for most of my life, I think the thing most people don't realize is being able to turn on water (inside the house even!) and get water to come out or flip a switch and get electricity on, these are very exciting things! I think I've lived without both enough that I am never not thankful when everything works!

luvrulz · #51 01/12/11, 03:41 PM

Knowing what is in my food! And that it didn't have to travel -

lovinthislife · #52 01/12/11, 04:44 PM

I've really enjoyed reading your posts on this thread. They have brought back wonderful memories and smells and smiles to this ole heart. We live on 2 1/2 acres and it's all paid for. We have big pines all along the front and it keeps out the road noise and it's private. Our garden is in the front because half of our property is on a hillside. When the corn is up and tall, you can't even see our house until you pull in the drive. I LOVE that, my mom always asks, "Why would you want to keep out everyone else? It's not like your doing moonshine or something." She doesn't get it.

I love that we raise a big garden and that first catalog in the dead of winter gets your heart pumping and your mouth watering. One of you mentioned the taste of a warm tomato. Oh my goodness that is the best. Last year my husband and the 5 yr. old grandson brought in the first tomato to me. It was still warm from the sun. I offered it to my hubby, and the grandie but thankfully they said I could have it. I just rubbed the dirt off, no need for washing the thing. It was so soooooo good. It tasted better.

I love it in the winter when we have a meal that came from our own land. God is so good. And I'm so thankful that I can live here. Just wish I was able to do more like have some animals to raise.

Quercus21 · #53 01/12/11, 06:17 PM

The well worth labor of enjoyment. It's a good tired after a hard days of work.

lonelyfarmgirl · #54 01/13/11, 07:21 PM

being able to do what I want, even though animals prevent you from doing what you want.
knowing I can take care of myself.
LACK OF CITY!!!

Ravenlost · #55 01/13/11, 08:55 PM

The lack of human beings in my day to day life.

treesaw · #56 01/14/11, 11:51 PM

From a semi-newbie, homesteading is like a permanent vacation!!! It's already been said in different, yet like-minded ways...there's nothing more satisfying in the world than planning the next big project, successfully raising some bottle calves, watching newborn lambs frollic together for the first time across a pasture, hearing peeps from the incubator, stargazing in the evenings, being surrounded by friends who support you, and enjoying the fruits of the garden's labor....NOTHING!!! I may be poor in dollars, but I am very wealthy in rewards!!! My only regret would be that I didn't make the "leap from the big city" much, much sooner!!! I definitely over-thought it and sometimes you just have to do it!!!