Those who peruse our website or social media posts are aware that we kicked off our homestead adventure with worms--creatures lowest of the low.
While this choice was dictated by external circumstances (e.g. full-time employment), I now see the benefits of starting at the lowest (literally) and most basic level. Grand views of self-sustaining permaculture pastures shared by clucking chickens, bleating sheep, and braying cows must wait. Temporal, financial, and circumstantial realities dictate the path we must take--a slow, deliberate walk, and I don't regret it.
We all face diversity of climate, soil, farm size, available resources, and certainly knowledge level. But the splendid variety in homesteading is something Ella and I have enjoyed most over our years of research and small-farm fandom. We see homesteaders build up pastures and gardens, raise dairy and eggs and every other imaginable growing thing, in a seemingly infinite variety of ways. Places like the mountains of North Carolina, the wooded farms of Vermont, the dry Great Plains, the foothills of California, even the deserts of the West, all feature intrepid growers trying to make something grow and prosper, whether it's only for their own consumption, or for sale to a wider clientele away from the acreage.
A common thread--"Success" (what does that even mean?) requires diligence, self-control, constant study, an Edison-like tenacity, and no small measure of faith.
This isn't exactly Christian faith, but it is related. It's seeing God's providence at work, His larger purpose, and an assurance that even if everything dies and the venture fails, there are still blessings to be had. Joy in the Journey....
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