One of my goals has always been to live on a farm, grow my own food, or part of it anyway, and be away from the rat race. About three years ago, that goal was finally realized. We bought 5 acres in a pretty rural area, at the end of a mile-long dirt road. I promptly got very sick and developed sepsis because of a kidney stone.
For the first six months we lived in our new place, I wasn’t allowed to lift anything at all. My husband was still working full time, driving over 1.5 hours each way for work. Between those two things, my “homestead dream” didn’t come to fruition the way I had hoped.
Instead of putting in a big garden that first year, I sat at the table and watched semi trucks go to the sod farm behind us. Instead of collecting eggs from our own chickens, I chafed at not being able to unpack and put things away because of health restrictions.
As time went by, I slowly came to realize that I was actually doing more work in my mind than I knew. Once I was allowed to lift again, I started putting things away. I knew where everything belonged because I had so much time to think about it and plan out the placement. I didn’t second-guess myself, but put things in the most logical place.
Once I was allowed to start working outside, I already knew where the gardens belonged, and the flower beds. I knew that I wanted to be able to see the goat pens from the front window and that there needed to be a gate in one particular spot to make it easier to access the field across the road.
Over the last two years, most of those projects have come to fruition. There is now a lovely garden area, with a gate, in front of my house. We have a picket fence, which I have always wanted, and our porch has been rebuilt because I noticed issues while I was stuck with little ability to do more than look.
We now have cows, and I get to watch them from the front window while I wash dishes. Our goat pen is in my direct line of sight from those same front windows and I get to enjoy the antics of the goats as they climb on top of their shelters or reach through the fence to eat grass outside their pen.
My dream is still to live on a rural property, to grow our own food, and to enjoy watching our animals as they graze and play in the fields. The difference now is that I’ve learned to slow down and enjoy those things instead of rushing around. I hated getting sick and being sick, but it forced me to stop and enjoy the here and now rather than constantly rushing to finish the next project.
