A Simple Life

Sure.....Those country magazine covers make country life look enviable.  Raise your own heirloom tomatoes...build your own chicken coop...make your own bread from scratch.  It sure sounds "doable."  But when those tomatoes have critters as round as your thumb crawling all over them, and that loaf of bread you just spent three hours on is as heavy as a brick...well, let's just say it's not always as easy as it looks!

Don't get me wrong, life in the country can be very satisfying.  Whether you live on just a few small acres or your nearest neighbor is miles away, having a spot on God's green earth to care for is a real gift.  And nowadays it seems everyone is trying to get back to nature.  Eating organic.  Going green.  Striving for greater self-sufficiency.  But unless you've grown up gardening, raising livestock, and the like, there's often a learning curve when you "go country."

And I guess that's what my family and I are striving to do.  But we also want our life to be uncomplicated.  We are striving for a simple life.  One that remembers such simple pleasures as porch sittin'.   Barn dancin'.  Fire-fly catchin'.  Know what I mean?

Life in the country, or for that matter, anywhere, isn't always peaceful.  There are complications, daily stresses, and yes, even meltdowns that often arrive at our doorstep unannounced.  Like when your chickens decide to ignore fence boundaries and visit the neighbor's flower beds.  Or when your doe goat is giving birth to a kid in breech position, and the nearest vet is over an hour away.  What do you do?  Well, you scrub up and go in!  (More about that in a future post....)

Homebodies at heart, my hubby and I are willing to put up with some complications in order to live this country lifestyle.  Someone has to go to work to pay for the goat feed, and the chicken feed, and the hay, and the straw, and, well, you get my drift.

And someone has to keep the homefires burning.  Supper's got to come from somewhere, bellies need to be fed, minds need to be taught (we homeschool), and chores have to be done.

So we join as a family in a cooperative effort to accomplish all that needs doing, so that everything gets done, and so that we end up spending as much time together as possible living our life here in the country.

Come on along!  We'll share our adventures, our triumphs, our failures.  And maybe we'll learn something in this life -- this country life.