I've often felt like I am a living anachronism. Out of place in time. That I should have lived some time ago, when life was simpler. You worked hard for what you had, and still had little. Yet those few things you did have were cherished beyond today's worldly comprehension. My whole life I have been drawn to skills of the past such as sewing, gardening, and animal husbandry. I remember as a little girl, tagging along to my mother's garden club meetings, and hours spent with her and my grandmothers teaching me how to sew and knit and crochet. These used to be skills that every little girl learned as she grew up. I raised quite a menagerie of critters too, from hamsters and ferrets, to chinchillas and lizards!
Today, most I my time is spent spinning, knitting, and sewing. We have lived down here near Pittsburgh for two years now and have accomplished quite a lot. We raise our own chickens for meat and eggs, have two alpacas, 5 angora rabbits and a big enough garden to provide some of our own produce. This is small in comparison to most farms, but this one has BIG dreams. We still rent you see. We have been fortunate though, to be located far enough north of the city as to seriously live in farm country. The house we rent sits on a working diary farm. But still it's not our own. Don't get me wrong, we feel blessed for what we have, but are so desperately hoping that we will find our own property soon enough so that our our farm can grow. We've reached our capacity where we're at without getting ourselves evicted. But our alpacas have to be boarded on another farm and there are sheep, pigs, and other livestock calling to us. More like bellowing. I have such a desire to become more of a farmer that it aches. I sit at work dreaming about furry creatures, spinning wool, canning vegetables, and yes, mucking out stalls. While most other girls are reading magazines about fashion and gossip, this girl scours the pages of her Grit and Mother Earth News trying to devise new schemes for building a cold frame, raising meat rabbits, and composting. I collect buckets, mason jars, chicken wire, and books on homesteading. I visit other homesteader's blogs trying to glean from their experiences and long for the experience to hold day old piglets in my arms. Barn boots are not just the latest fashion statement, they are a necessity.
I realize that for most this may sound unusual. Especially in this day and age. But this is who I am. In a day and age of uncertainty, of rumors of economic collapse and instability, this girl wants to be prepared for anything. And even if these things weren't a possibility, I would still want to be doing exactly what I'm doing. Farming. Gaining skills from a lost generation. And one day, perhaps helping others to learn these skills as well. There are joys to be found in these simpler ways, and I intend to find discover them!
