I haven’t really even started writing “blogging” about our homestead and I am already being asked why. Why do I want to write about it? Wont that make even more work? It’s just doing it going to be hard enough? Seriously, why do we do anything? There is usually a rational reason as to why we do the things we do and what is rational to one person may or may not be rational to another. For me I want to share and document what we are doing, what works and doesn’t work, at least for us. I want to be a source of information and help to other people who have questions. I certainly don’t have all the answers but I have done quite a bit of reading on the subject(s) and if nothing else the humor in it all should be a source of memories for us and laughter for others.

I grew up in a family where my mother gardened. She grew up gardening and it was just part of who she was. Those were the days when we would drive to our grandparents farm where my parents had an allotted area to grow vegetable for our family. We dug potatoes and picked peas, beans, tomatoes and squash. We harvested and braided onions and helped Mom prep and can her infamous Piccalilli relish and Bread and Butter pickles. We stored, some seasons in abundance, many bushels of winter squash in the dirt half of our basement where it always seemed to stay cool as well as moist. I have a lot of wonderful memories that are grounded around these rituals and feel blessed and obligated to share these experiences with my own kids. I’ve had a garden for years but always felt a pull at taking it to the next level. We expanded into chickens and that was quite a learning experience. We currently don’t have any hens but will be ordering our new batch of day old chicks in the coming weeks.

We are blessed to have a small community of friends who are like minded and supportive in our dream. Together we share skills and stories as well as laughs and tears. We lean on each other and are always grateful for the connection we have. I hope I have answered the question “Why?” and look forward to sharing our journey.

Heather & Kevin