Reminiscing on days gone by...

[BarredBuff]

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.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Youngin, I am proud to have been part of your journey, we've supported each other, helped, laughed, and cried together over the years. I have had the privilege to see you grow and mature into the fine young man you are today.

You know my story, I am nowhere near the lifestyle I was 10 years ago. I have come to terms with it. It's been difficult, I will not deny it. You have a long and wonderful life filled with all the opportunities just waiting for you.

Remember Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. I am proud to call you friend. I will finish this post with....

 

[frustratedearthmother]

BB - I know it must be hard seeing how things have come undone. I remember how hard you worked and I remember thinking how unusual and how awesome it was that you had that drive and that work ethic at a young age. No matter what state it's in now it wasn't wasted effort. You honed skills that will be with you forever. You still have that drive and all that knowledge and it will serve you well when the time is right.

 

[Mini Horses]

Being supportive and actually doing the work are two different things. I can feel your pain in your writing. I can feel your sorrow and gut wrenching disappointment at their not understanding. FEM is right, your skills are there, forever! But you cannot make your family do as you do. It is their loss. So be it. YOU can (and will, no doubt!!!) rebuild.

I do not know what field you have chosen for work, nor your plans for the future home site. If it is at the home place you shared above, then restorations can be done. If it is at a new property you purchase, you can establish once again. You will be successful, of this I am certain.

It is so refreshing to find a young person who WANTS to put in the time and work to be self-reliant. Your work ethic and desire is commendable, hard to find and enviable. This disappointment can be overcome and your gardens revived, a new flock & hives established and the canners are waiting to be used. It won't take as long as when you first began.

 

[Wannabefree]

Wow little brother...you are amazing! You shouldered so much of the responsibility on that farm it's no wonder there was some decline in your absence....the foundation is still there if you choose that path, and you know how to rebuild if you choose elsewhere. Keep your head up, and your toes pointing forward. Opportunity awaits. Sometimes when good things end, it's Gods way of directing you toward a new beginning with bigger blessings for your future. You're a good man, and it has been an honor watching you grow into that man through all your hard work and posts...you have such astounding intensity and drive, you can do anything!!! Maybe the homestead is a little run down at the moment, but do you realize how many people you've affected through this site alone? It's much bigger than 2.5 acres I promise you that!!! Rebuild or don't, seeds you've planted are still growing and thriving every day, in our hearts, on our homesteads, in ways you could only imagine, and none of that is gone. I love you youngin!!!! Don't be sad you da bestest mean little brother I ever had!!

 

[sumi]

You've learned a lot in those few years and no-one can take that from you. Wherever you go, you still got the skills and I can tell you still have the passion you had for it in you. You can rebuild that wonderful life again, when you're ready and always remember the flock and the garden and herds and swarm that were your teachers.

 

[Beekissed]

I too have been a fan of yours ever since you arrived and have been delighted in your passion for homesteading, but mostly for the Lord. NONE of that work was wasted time, BTW...you were learning, you were expressing yourself and you were being a good steward of the land God place you upon.

Do it again! You don't do these things for other people but as if you do it unto the Lord! You've just learned a valuable lesson that I'm still learning over and over...that lesson never seems to be fully learned while we are here on Earth. We can only control ourselves and our own actions in this world, but have no control over others.

In the end, all you can do is pray for them, keep your eyes on the Lord, run your race and do all things as unto the Lord. You did good work and you now have a challenge of doing it again, either there or somewhere else.

I'll give you my favorite scripture for living in these end days, for feelings of discouragement, I keep this pinned right by my computer so I can glance at it often...I've tested the promise therein and the Lord is true to this promise if you follow these commands...that's the key, follow the directions exactly if you want this to work. And it truly is a peace that will make you wonder, as you will not understand how one can feel so deeply joyous and full of peace in the middle of a chaotic world!

Philippians 4:4-9

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!


5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.


6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.


Meditate on These Things
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

 

[SustainableAg]

BB - It is wonderful to see a post from you after some time has elapsed. I wish it were under different circumstances. I was a fan long before I became a member of this forum - I have been a watcher for years now. I feel for you, and I understand your pain. There is an ever expanding list of things to learn, and you have been fortunate enough to learn tried and true methods from family members. Yes, it is always disheartening when your loved ones do not share the same dreams and ideals.
I grew up in a typical suburban household, but I always yearned for more. I worked on horse farms in my teens, grew a small garden in my parents back yard, and even looked into local ordinances for chickens (which unfortunately never came into fruition). Now, in my early 20's and living with my fiancé, I work so long that I seldom have time for anything else. We hope to buy property (in KY as luck would have it) and start a hobby farm in the next couple of years. But life has a funny way of interfering - and God has a wonderful way of redirecting our steps!
It is a slow learning process when no one around you has the knowledge you seek - but you have been fortunate enough to learn these skills! As everyone else said - you can always rely on these skills when you are ready to begin anew. Good things come to those who wait Don't get discouraged because it wasn't their dream. But believe me, I know how hard it is to watch something that is important to you fall to the wayside.

 

[Beekissed]

Borrowed this from another thread....

 

[Chic Rustler]

Man this may sound harsh, but eff am and feed em fish heads. Move on, get your own place and start over. Nobody can take your skills away.


But that's just what I would do with my family. U may be different