Why do you garden, have chickens, raise a cow, maybe milk a goat?
Do you do it because you have decided to be a "farmer"? Is it because you saw a cool website of these people who were totally organic, and you thought that was pretty hip? Maybe because one of your good friends has started doing some organic farming, and you are kinda tagging along, seeing how it works?
What ever your purpose is, you need to REMEMBER it. You need to weekly, if not daily reflect back to that purpose and ask yourself if you are keeping on track to that purpose? Is there any TRACK to keep on, in your purpose?
If you are doing it because it looks cool, or because "so and so" is doing it, save yourself some time and money and stop now. You MAY be able to make it with that purpose, but chances are slim.
You have to have an idea, a dream, a GOAL that DRIVES you. THAT is your purpose. That will drive you for MUCH longer than a "fad".
SO what if you started out thinking it would be cool, and then now you really want to DO this? Decide your purpose. Why do you want to do this? Money? Recognition? We may as well stop there if those are going to be your purposes! In farming, there isn't much money. Farming, farming for health, farming for families has started to become a job similar to a Steam Engine Conductor... nearly non-existent.
Yes, but I drive by farms all the time! HUGE ones!
You may... but those are most likely producing GMO corn or soy, working FOR a bigger company. A bigger company that tells THEM what to do, how to farm, WHAT to farm...
If you want to have an organic (or nearly organic) garden, meat, eggs, milk... You have to get yourself a purpose. Because when you are standing in your local farm supply store and all there is on the shelf for insecticides is chemical, you have to look back to your purpose. What about feed? GMO, or expensive organic? Maybe raise some grains yourself?
How far do you go?
That is where your purpose comes in handy!
OUR purpose is WORKING TOWARDS organic. We don't have money to burn. And to buy organic feed is going to take CA$H.
My husband works a more than full-time job, and I stay at home. We have 4 young children. Working towards that goal for us, is the best we can do. One step at a time.
Simplify. Our purpose is to try to improve our ways of doing things, slowly. Making things more organic, and more healthy. I always look back and imagine what it would have been like to live in the Great Depression. There were no frilly extras there. No boxed meals. No hoppin' in the car and running through a fast food drive thru because we didn't have time to make supper because of work.
Things were simple. Simplify. Does that mean we take out all of our luxuries? No. We still have ceiling fans, but we don't but use a window air conditioner a few days out of the entire year. DO we never eat fast food? Well, not if we can help it! We have gotten to the point that home raise chicken, organic carrots and potatoes and fresh baked bread is WAAAAY more enjoyable to us that a processed chicken sandwich and some grease fries with a super-sized soda.
SO what is YOUR purpose? How will you achieve that purpose? Where do you see yourself in a month? In a year? 5 years? How will you get there? Where do you find your inspiration? Who tries to knock you off course? Who or what will cause the most resistance in your journey?
Are YOU READY?
What is your purpose?
6 comments:
Sarah,
This is such an excellent post which speaks to the passion of my heart! Everyone needs to think about these things and often. It's what will keep you going when things get tough. Homesteading and / or farming isn't for the faint of heart, but the rewards are great!
This is where we're at right now...finding our purpose! Sometimes it feels like everyone else is doing more than we can and of course, better. But that's not where we're at...yet. We have to find what works for us, what we can afford, and figure out how much time we're willing to spend on our farm. Thank you for this post!
To eat. :-)
My first purpose is to honor God in all that I do. Our Father has taken me on so many adventures in life and He has blessed me in so many ways. I have walked through the streets of conspicuous consumption and I have danced with delusions of grandeur. I have been on the corporate side and I have been on the indy side. I spoke French when I lived in a flat in the 9th in Paris and I stared at the lights of Manhattan from the top of my roof in Brooklyn. But when the day is done I realize all those steps in life were to bring me here: Barnesville, Georgia. The purpose? To honor Him in all that I do and all the people that I meet? Do I always pass muster? No. In fact, some days I feel more defeated than exalted. In a month I will probably feel the same way. But I know that in a month I will be closer to being the steward of the Earth that I believe He intended me to be. My wife and I garden and hobby farm and raise animals and make our own cheese and bread because it is the most responsible thing for us to do during this season of our life. He has given us an excitement for the simple things in life. Through our farm we work side by side, learning about each other and about the world. In our garden we experience Him. It is our inspiration and our motivation; relationship - with each other, with Him, and with the world. I don't know what will come in 5 years or what our world will look like. We may meet the enemy on a number of fronts disguising himself as GM companies or neighbors or disease or even Uncle Sam. But we'll take it and we'll learn from it. We'll grow because of it and God willing, we'll be right here doing it as simply as we can.
Oh boy. I'm feeling so convicted right now! Guess I need to get back to my kids and purpose. It is so easy to fall into the convenience trap! Just found your site - can't wait to read more!
Blessings!
Great post!! I really had to think about this....What was our goal? Our reason?
Both my husband and were raised in ranching communities, so it's always been a part of our lives.
We've been "farming" on our own...for us. More control of our food. How and where it was raised, what it ate, what vacinations/treatments it did or didn't receive.
I begged for chickens for natural fly/bug control, the eggs were just a bonus.
We support a great local farmer with our hay purchases.
Our boys learn where food really comes from. Just how much work goes into that one little ole carrot. And green bean! Those little guys are a LOT of work! The boys learn responsibility for their actions, that actions have consequences and rewards. They learn to caring and compassionate when feeding and caring for the farm animals. They will ultimately be better men, better parts of society for it.
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