I have had the fun (and hard work!) of setting up and working a few homesteads since I fell in love with this lifestyle, but this one, by far is my favorite! Why? Because I’m doing it with the love of my life, husband and best-friend, Earl. This man works so hard, not because he has caught the homesteading bug, as I have, but because he loves me. I’ll take that reasoning any day.
I started homesteading in a tiny suburban yard, all by myself after a particularly rough time in my life with a few quail (never again!), and maybe a dozen garden beds, a few fruit trees and an herb garden. I was hooked from day one! Of course I quickly outgrew that property and set up yet another, much larger homestead on another property of just over an acre.
I loved that property but moved out of state, thinking I wanted to live near the beach, and met Earl. He did live at the beach, steps away from it, in fact, in Emerald Isle, NC. We tried to grow there, but other than some lettuce and bokchoy, under cover, nothing would live because of the heavy salt content.
So… we set up a homestead on his family’s five acres nearby and Earl discovered, while he didn’t love to grow, he was a natural at the building projects.
The homestead was a success but we knew we wanted our homestead on our own property, where we LIVE. Although our bunnies and chickens are livestock, they are also family. We were looking for a piece of land both on water but also with the ability to grow things on. (River, rather than beach front)
Property after property and home after home fell through over the course of a year. We lost a lot of money and sleep!
But, we did keep hope that God was watching out for us and continued to thank Him for divinely closed doors.
Divinely closed doors, they did reveal themselves to be!
We got word from my son and daughter-in-law that they were expecting again!
My husband saw the look on my son’s face, of joy, yes, but also of concern. They weren’t sure who would keep the baby while they were at work or how they’d afford that care if they could find someone they trusted enough to do it.
When Earl suggested maybe we could move (back, for me) to Virginia, I cried with joy.
So, here we are, living in SW VA again, in the beautiful town of Moneta, near Smith Mountain Lake. Earl says this place brings him joy in a similar way to the beach. In Emerald Isle we listen to the ocean and decompress, here it’s crickets and cows.
We were able to move all the garden beds to our new home (now on 3 acres!). Recently Earl traveled back to dig up 16 fruit trees and replant them here. What a job . . . what a man! To our surprise, most of the tress seem to have made it, under his care.
Earl and I are excited to share our journey, and read about yours. We started this site to share our victories and mistakes and to learn from each other. We hope you’ll hang out with us.
Next week I’ll share the origin of our homestead’s name. Hope to see you then!
