When we first bought our place in the country, we knew we wanted to eventually get to a place of self-sufficiency and sustainability. It's about being healthy, conserving resources, and relying on the things God's given us (i.e. land for food, sun and wind for energy). We haven't yet gotten one step closer on the energy part of things, but we are slowly dipping our toe into relying on ourselves for food.
Hand-in-hand with self-sufficiency is the fact that I know myself. I'm not the kind of person that jumps into something both feet forward. I'm not going to go overboard. For example, when first learning to garden, I didn't go out and buy 8000 books on how to create the best dirt, then dig a huge 1-acre garden and fill it with vegetables. I know myself. If it failed, I would probably never get back into it. I start small, then slowly work my way up. I won't ever win big, as the saying goes, because I would rather not lose big. We aren't risk-takers or gamblers in life. Time also has a lot to do with how much I bite off. How much time everyday am I going to have to devote to these things? Our children are young and we homeschool. Time is a precious commodity to us. We've also learned to accept failure. Lots of times, things don't work right the first time. Whether it's what can or can't keep a goat fenced in or to what extent those worms are going to eat my broccoli, we aren't too disappointed when things don't work out. We learn from it and eventually get it right.
So we bite off little bits, and I'm proud of where we've gotten. Every year our garden expands a little bit, and we learn what works (carrots!) and what doesn't (handpicking worms off your cabbage). Last year we bought a few goats to help keep the brush down. Hopefully, our fences will expand every year and we won't have to rely on lawnmowers and chainsaws to keep the brush back. This year, we've started milking one of our goats. I was worried about the time commitment of having to milk everyday, but we've managed to get a good routine going. And the kids love handling the animals. We've got four chickens (one rooster and three hens). It's a small operation, but it works well for us. In the next couple of years we might expand it and start raising chickens from eggs. I make my own bread. I have a very versatile recipe that can be turned into french bread, sandwich bread, pizza dough, dinner rolls, etc. It's quick and easy, and full of good stuff for the family.
So here is a picture that I'm really proud of. Home-grown spinach in the back, homemade bread, strawberries (in the picture because I found them for a $1 a pound), hand-picked blueberries, farm fresh eggs, raw goat's milk, wild blackberries, carrots from our garden, and a smoothie on the right with a lot of those ingredients in it. Because we do things slowly, success often sneaks up on us while we're not looking. I was washing blackberries this morning and making the kids and I that smoothie when I realized it was there. Small gains, every day, every year.
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