Yesterday when I wrote I said you may not hear from me for a little while, and I have to admit I thoroughly enjoy writing and sharing here so... Hello I'm back already!!
I had a five page paper to write today about Agrarianism and Deep Ecology. While I was researching these topics I found a lot of great information. I wanted to share this quote by Rebecca Gould, she says:
"At the moment, in much of the United States, homemaking is looked down upon as a profession. In reality, it is the most important profession and can be the most exciting of all.... The home is our most important social institution and unless we give it the respect that is its due and stop the incessant erosion that is taking place, we will suffer irreparable loss.... The home is the focal seat of education and emotional security. More and more the functions of the home have been taken over by the school, but the school is no substitute, no matter how fine the instructors or expensive the equipment....What mental insolvency has overtaken us that we can allow the core of our culture to be denigrated, weakened and reduced? Far better to burn your house to the ground and live in a cave than to lose the sense of wonder and privilege of making a home" (1).
I love this! My husband and I get so many sideways looks when we tell people that no, we do not have a full time regular job, and that yes in fact we are okay with that! We work at home, there is not a single moment while we are home where we are not busy doing something. A homesteader's job is never done. Even while we sleep if our chickens wake us up making weird noises we rush around finding warm clothes and a flash light to run outside and check on them. Usually it's only the neighbors dog, but just in case we want to make sure our girls are safe.
If we ever have a child we will definitely home-school.
Next spring we plan to add several chickens to our flock and sell/ barter eggs, we want to do the same with our fresh produce, and we hope to learn how to can fresh produce for ourselves and to sell/ barter. We already sell/ barter our home made health and beauty products so I guess we are off to a good start!
For all of you out there who are currently striving to create your homestead and those of you who are already thriving from your homestead.. keep up the good work! You inspire me, and I hope to inspire you, together we can re-establish what a home is all about.
1- Gould, Rebecca Kneale. At Home in Nature : Modern Homesteading and Spiritual Practice in America. Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California Press, 2005. p 15. Copyright © 2005. University of California Press. All rights reserved.
