BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
I just need to reminisce/rant for a few minutes...
I have been involved in the self reliant lifestyle since 2007. That's really when I started doing more than helping out. I was 11 years old at the time, and I wanted to learn and do. That's what I did. I began to learn and watch my grandmother can and garden. In 2009, we added a small flock of egg laying chickens, and a hive of honeybees. I continued to fine tune those skills. I raised meat rabbits, harvested dozens of broilers, grew feed crops, made feed, started an orchard and berry patch, built a pantry to store 2 years worth of food, cooked from scratch, started a turkey flock, hauled manure and compost to amend the garden soil, canned literally thousands of jars of food (I kept track!!), planned a simply irrigation system, and so much more.
During the seven years between 2007 and 2014, I worked hard to improve, create, and carve out a little homestead on our 2 and a half acres here in Appalachia. My family was always so supportive, and we worked together to make it happen. I hauled mulch, manure, and water to our garden to get a harvest. We invested in two large All American pressure canners that I used heavily through the entire year as we harvested vegetables, venison, rabbit, and poultry. During this time, I became a published writer with Backwoods Home Magazine. I was moving my family toward a more self-reliant lifestyle.
Today, for the first time in the last three years, I realize that all of it has been undone. Seven years of work has been dismantled. In 2014, I started college and shortly moved to my university with plans to return one day to work here in the mountains. I worked away during the summers to help develop my professional skills to get a job in my profession next year.
This evening, as I have visited with my family at home, I realize it has all been undone. The garden looks awful this year. The soil has not been amended in three years, and you can definitely see the result. The chicken coop hasn't been cleaned and bedded since I don't know when. The chicken flock hasn't been culled or added to in three years. Egg production is negligible. My bees are gone. The pantry has not been stocked in three years and it is bare. Mice have also been busy in there. My berry patch is a weed patch.
I'm not blaming anyone for it, and I know that priorities change and I'm just as much to blame as anyone. However, it still hurts to see that in such a short time my work has been undone. My journey in self-reliance has suffered a major setback. So, tonight I'm just remembering the good old days...
I don't even think my family realizes the setback. I don't think they even understand how much has truly been neglected. It is sad, and disheartening.
I have been involved in the self reliant lifestyle since 2007. That's really when I started doing more than helping out. I was 11 years old at the time, and I wanted to learn and do. That's what I did. I began to learn and watch my grandmother can and garden. In 2009, we added a small flock of egg laying chickens, and a hive of honeybees. I continued to fine tune those skills. I raised meat rabbits, harvested dozens of broilers, grew feed crops, made feed, started an orchard and berry patch, built a pantry to store 2 years worth of food, cooked from scratch, started a turkey flock, hauled manure and compost to amend the garden soil, canned literally thousands of jars of food (I kept track!!), planned a simply irrigation system, and so much more.
During the seven years between 2007 and 2014, I worked hard to improve, create, and carve out a little homestead on our 2 and a half acres here in Appalachia. My family was always so supportive, and we worked together to make it happen. I hauled mulch, manure, and water to our garden to get a harvest. We invested in two large All American pressure canners that I used heavily through the entire year as we harvested vegetables, venison, rabbit, and poultry. During this time, I became a published writer with Backwoods Home Magazine. I was moving my family toward a more self-reliant lifestyle.
Today, for the first time in the last three years, I realize that all of it has been undone. Seven years of work has been dismantled. In 2014, I started college and shortly moved to my university with plans to return one day to work here in the mountains. I worked away during the summers to help develop my professional skills to get a job in my profession next year.
This evening, as I have visited with my family at home, I realize it has all been undone. The garden looks awful this year. The soil has not been amended in three years, and you can definitely see the result. The chicken coop hasn't been cleaned and bedded since I don't know when. The chicken flock hasn't been culled or added to in three years. Egg production is negligible. My bees are gone. The pantry has not been stocked in three years and it is bare. Mice have also been busy in there. My berry patch is a weed patch.
I'm not blaming anyone for it, and I know that priorities change and I'm just as much to blame as anyone. However, it still hurts to see that in such a short time my work has been undone. My journey in self-reliance has suffered a major setback. So, tonight I'm just remembering the good old days...
I don't even think my family realizes the setback. I don't think they even understand how much has truly been neglected. It is sad, and disheartening.