“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
In the garden with Sir Figthy Bitey
We were on this madcap track before we knew there was a word for it. A new neighbor (we met delivering cookies to) asked if we were homesteading. We literally answered, “Maybe… What is that?” 🤣 Turns out there is a word for it.
Homesteading is loosely defined as a lifestyle of self sufficiency. We also fancy ourselves, modern traditionalists in a variety of ways.
On our rustic, but magical 2.5 acre property inside the limits of our 7,500 population city, we have a spring-fed creek and have built 11 raised-bed gardens, watered by a well. In spite of the unrelenting heat they are producing an abundance of hearty greens. I cook garden fresh meals regularly, and my mom often gives us homemade bread and ice cream 😋.
We also raised six chickens, two of which pulled a fast one and turned out to be roosters. The friendliest is named Dolly Parton, and all four hens are producing wonderful free-range eggs.
We also keep bees, and have two outdoor cats that like to oversee our gardening. We rescued Sir Fighty Bitey at just four weeks old from a highway intersection! He now purrs like a motor and has the temperament of a puppy. Additionally, we have a sweet-natured and goofy old boxer called Beans, plus three fish. (We had to relocate the family of black squirrels that were sampling our garden.)
From the beginning, my husband and I made the atypical decision to keep our life together off social media (more on this later) but we are eager to share our developing knowledge about building (gardens, auto-watering, solar wells, chicken coops, and homemaking, etc). We are also highly involved in our community. We like to do things in person! I enjoy the old fashioned wholesome feeling of knowing most people in town.
In my new world, married, relocated to Lampasas, Texas I have managed to complete several paintings, wrap an illustration project, and set up our “casita” as my private art studio. (See progress pictures here on my Patreon.)
As you can imagine, it has been a tremendous amount of work with many challenges and set backs. We still have oceans of work and future dreams ahead of us, but then again, isn’t that a wonderful adventure?
