Ceaberry's Haberdashery and Homesteading: Work-stead Wednesday

Homesteading. Stop and think what that conjures to mind. If you think its all sunrises and sunsets with peaceful animals milling about and everything in order and looking that right amount dusty, then you've not worked on a homestead long enough. We are all human, we have our good days and our really bad days. Days where we wonder why on earth are we getting up at 6.30am to open a coop door in -14F for a bunch of chickens that are on an egg laying strike. Add to that repetitive stress injuries, because let's face it homesteading is one repetitive task after another. Let's throw in some kids and predators (you know, because they belong in the same category) and we just have pandemonium. It is sometimes controlled but a lot of the time it is way beyond our control it is almost overwhelming.

Now that I have completely shattered your thoughts of a life on a homestead and farm. Let me say that albeit the life on the homestead is hard it is very rewarding. It is why you trudge out in the snow, -14F weather, after being up every 2 HOURS with one sick kid or another, to hastily put in warm water to defrost it and scoop lovingly corn and crumbles in the feeders, only to open the coop to NO eggs for the 5th day in a row. You look at the chickens, silently cursing but there is a smile on your face. Why? Because chickens are therapy animals in their own goofiness and tenacity for life. As you stand around for a second and the wind is biting at your face, you feel a soft thud on your muck boot. You look down to a chicken tapping your boot. That's why I homestead. I am not a commercial farmer, I am not a huge operation with loads of quotas and spreadsheets. I am a homesteader with chickens with names and tasks done mostly by hand.

I live on a "work-stead." So each Wednesday I will be bringing you some of the work that goes into making my homestead run and what it takes to be a single mom and homesteader. I have my kids 5 days one week and 3 the next. But that does not mean I have all this free time in the other days. Chickens must be fed EVERY day, the wood stove must be maintained EVERY 4 hours around the clock, and the household chores that backed up from having the kids around must be done.