It’s who I am

So often over the years I have met different people that claim they would love to have lived in the Pioneer era....they have their 100 year old farm homes, and their homes all decorated with antiques and some even have a rich history of farming in their family...they have large acreage and some how they think this entitles them to call themselves 'old fashioned' or 'simple people'...the funny part is, is that these are also the same people that drive huge gas guzling SUV's, have manicures weekly, wear flashy name brand clothing and carry and the latest and greatest iPhone trading their old one in every time a new one is available....

I have to chuckle at these people as they are scheduling their next pedicure or manicure, rattling on about their pioneer spirit...LOL...alrighty then...These people are seriously only 'playing' at farming or 'pioneering'...mention being off the grid to one to of them and they look at you as if you are a 6 eyed, 3 nosed, horned alien...they own 3 hens, 2 goats and live in a million dollar home with a 6 figure income and claim its not much money....they make sure the hen house looks "pretty" and the goats are well hidden in the back 40 so the neighbors don't see them and think they are 'white trash or beneath them'....they feel this world will go on like it has for the past 40 years and they have no idea about preparedness...to them it means having a several thousand dollars invested in the stock market or in a savings account...mention the word survival and they immediately turn and run...

.My point in this?.

Having a pioneer spirit is truly who you are...not what you do, what kinda home you live in or what you have....you do things not because they are being done by others and sounds cool, but because it is deep within your soul to do these things....you prepare not because its a new movement or fad, but because it makes sense...the things going on in our world tells us to be prepared....you feel a deep connection with the earth and critters...you long to live off grid and experience life on a more simple and sustainable level...you couldn't care less about the latest gaming system or latest gadget to make life easier...when you hear someone 'working on their apple product', your mind goes to 'butter and pie'...lol...you spend your days figuring out ways to organize so things are simpler and more efficient...You get excited over seeing a new hen laying her first egg or watching the marvel of a chick hatching from its egg...you have no clue about name brand purses and shoes, you’ve never had a manicure or pedicure ...you live to feel the sun on your face, the dirt on your hands...you look forward to spring and digging the dirt and planting your food rather than getting up and running to the local supermarket and mall...you don’t follow the crowd, or keep up with Joneses….you are true to who you are! Money isn’t the reason you live, it’s not the focal point of your life. Your goals are simple…to be as self sufficient as you can be. 

You have skills many have lost in our modern day. Sewing, cooking from scratch, baking, you know a bit about herbal medicine, animal husbandry, you know how to make do or do without! You know how to grow and raise food, you know how to preserve it. You know how to live without power for an extended period of time. You have the tools necessary to do so.

One of your greatest joys in life is hearing a rooster crow to wake you up rather than waking to the beep of an electronic device...you love hard, laugh alot and live simple...your friends are like you...you have no use for the silliness that others occupy their lives with.....our down time is not spent at the local mall or pining over magazines like better homes and gardens or getting our nails and hair done...or planning our next vacation! Our life is one we don’t need to get away from! 

We spend our time sitting on the swing watching the clouds float by...we dream of our futures, but not of the new boats or bigger house we will own...nope...we dream of how many pigs we can fit in a 30 by 30 pen and how much money it save on meat, or how we can expand that greenhouse next year, or how many more raised beds we need for those 100 tomato plants...

Our lives are different....we are not like those that call theirselves pioneers of today that believe cause you live in a farm house with some land and decorate with antiques and have ancestors that wore pioneer clothing that you somehow were handed down a 'pioneer spirit'....Sorry to say it don't work that way...No one in my family is like me...lol...I am quite unique in the way I live, think and conduct my life...I am looking forward with anticipation of being as self-sufficient as we can be...we go 'chicken' shopping and sometimes "calf shopping"...I haven't been in the mall in 30 years!...I am still living...we are not in debt up past our eyeballs to finance our life...we totally understand the value of a dollar...we save for the big things and pay cash...the way it used to be done...we use the barter system a lot...We believe that society will be at some point forced back to the way it was in the days of old...before the industrial era, before everyone competed with everyone else...a simpler time...not easier...but simpler...I lay my head down at night grateful for my simple, quiet day…this is who I am.