My friend made the comment “animals dictate your life”.
I’ve thought about that comment because it’s not the first time it’s been said in some shape or form. Farm man’s dad has never understood our chosen lifestyle. The key word is “chosen”. We chose this lifestyle intentionally. It is what we wanted to do knowing it’s not the most popular or easiest. We give up vacations, sometimes holidays with family to be here because we have babies due to enter the world.
Why would someone choose this? I can’t speak for everyone but I can speak for myself and farm man.
Back in 2000 farm man and I lost 9 people in less than a year to death. Some were older some were very young, like in their 30’s. It was a time of reflection. I was devastated because one we lost was my grandma. I decided at that time the life we were living was not what I really wanted. Farm man had always wanted the country life but here we were chasing the “American dream”. We worked long hours, had 2 cars payments, a mortgage, a little brick home in the suburbs…but we weren’t fulfilled. We were hurting. So began our homesteading journey…
This lifestyle has saved me in many ways. I’ve had a lot of hurt in my life. I learned very early into this lifestyle taking care of another life was healing. Watching new life come into the world was a miracle very few appreciate. Animals are healing. They teach us love, compassion, trust, and the value of all life not just ours.
I learned animals love unconditionally and will never betray you. They give it all, sometimes even their life to feed you.
The truth is this way of life is in my bones. It’s who I am! Who I want to be. I am not one that wants to travel, shop or be away from home.
In all honestly this farm doesn’t dictate my life as much as working “for the man” does. I have no one telling me to be at a certain place, at a certain time. No one tells me to record my time so they can see how many hours I worked making them rich. That makes you a slave. You are making someone else rich and they pay you just enough to ease their conscious and make you feel ok about being a slave…lol…once in awhile they’ll pay you a bit more to keep you coming back! At the end of the week or biweekly they reward you with just enough money to keep you in their good graces working your ass off to make them rich! Nahhhh…not for me!
We, farm man I chose this life. We are taking care of ourselves. Farm man is self employed. He sets his own hours, all the money he makes is his minus taxes. We aren’t working to make the CEO wealthy while we barely survive. Our reward isn’t a piece of paper with some numbers on it…no! Our reward is knowing what we’ve built from the ground up! Literally! And all that we have accomplished! It’s knowing we can take care of ourselves. It’s knowing we won’t go hungry! It’s knowing where our food comes from, what’s in it and how it was raised/ grown. It’s not about anything else.
So, while there are times animals”dictate my life”, be assured I don’t mind and these animals give me far more than any human ever has. This life is absolutely not for everyone. That’s ok! But it is for us.
It’s not easy, we get tired, we re-evaluate our life from time to time. We’re getting older and know we can’t do this forever. I don’t look forward to the day that decision has to made. It will crush me.
We are doing exactly what we want to do, living the life we chose. In reality we are dictating our own life …90% of the population work for someone else for scraps!
Statistics show only 10% of the population is self employed. So the other 90% is being dictated to. They are told when to get out of bed, where to be, when to be there, how long to stay, when to go home. They are dictated to how much their “master” thinks their time is worth.
For us though, we set our own wage. We decide how much our product or time is worth. We are fair not only ourselves but to our consumer.
So in closing I want to say! Our life isn’t easy, we face many challenges. We have success and we experience failure. We have times of great elation with our animals and times of deep sorrow. We face unexpected expenses. We spend lot of money to do what do. Feeding critters is not cheap. Maintenance on a farm is alot, it can be costly both in time and money. But I will say I wouldn’t trade my life for anything. The peace, joy and satisfaction it brings is absolutely priceless!
This place has saved me. It has given me joy and purpose. It has taught me about the sanctity of life. It has taught me unconditional love and given me peace. It has helped me to realize not all of life is painful or sad. There is much good, beauty and happiness to be found. I’ve learned not all of life is going to hurt you. I’ve learned I am worthy to be loved. I’ve learned the beauty in living by the seasons and understanding natures cycles and how we can benefit from them. I’ve learned there’s as much beauty in the beginning of life as in its ending. I’ve learned this life really is give and take, in equal parts. But I’ve mostly learned, I’ve got much more to learn.
So, no! animals don’t really dictate my life…they have allowed me to have a life I’m not sure I would’ve had otherwise. They have truly given my life meaning and added purpose that I would’ve never had otherwise. I’m not sure I’d still be here if it weren’t for my farm. This place is my sanctuary, my peace, my heart and soul. There is no dictating here…only peace, joy and mindfulness.
Until next time…
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