Life with Colieblack

A modern day homesteader is one who wants to live a lifestyle of self sufficiency. Most often in growing and preserving their own food. Often it includes raising livestock, and can include production of textiles and craft work for personal use or sale. It’s not defined by where you live but by the lifestyle choices that are made.

I have always loved the idea of growing and raising our own food, and being able to live a life of self sufficiency. Now don’t get me wrong, I sure love modern convenience, especially my A/C in these humid summer days. I just like the idea of being able to do it myself and not relying on someone or something else to meet my families basic needs. I like the idea of knowing how my fruits and veggies were grown, and what was fed to my chickens.

Speaking of chickens, they are probably my favorite farm animal. We raise ours for eggs, and I love having a rainbow of eggs. It’s like collecting Easter Eggs every day. I may have bought the last 15 chicks to get a broader color spectrum. I’m already eyeing some new colors “I just have to have”. I may need intervention, lol. I’ll write more about my chickens in the future.

I love digging in my garden, I find it to be a great stress relief. Now if you saw my garden right now… well, I will just say it’s hard to see my garden right now, there’s a lot of weeds that you have to get through first. We have a fenced in garden with raised beds, the paths are my nemesis at this time of year, trying to keep them weed free. Cardboard has been my best friend this year and one day I will finish them and it won’t be such a fight. My favorite plants are the perennials, my blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, elderberries, grapes, asparagus, and rhubarb. My oldest son is the organizer and planter of the annuals, it might be a little different each year as we learn and see what we enjoy growing.

Preserving is not our strong suit. It’s an area where we hope to see much more growth in the coming years. I do OK at freezing things, but not so much at canning. I struggle with prioritizing the processing of the garden. The chickens and pigs get a good portion of the produce when we don’t get it processed in time.

Like a said I’m a “wannabe” homesteader. lol. Its a work in progress, and I’m getting a little better each year. Learning to do more, a little at a time. Mostly I’m trying to enjoy the journey and to be a good steward of what the Lord has given to us. Follow along and you can watch the journey as well.