Happenings: In Transition and Translation

It’s been a minute since we’ve posted about our homestead adventure. Sometimes things take a turn and you’re back to wondering what exactly is the definition of homesteading and why does it matter? The place the world is in right now is a great reminder of why it matters and what it is becomes experiential in definition. For us, homesteading has been about reconnecting with our resources and our full ecologies — where does our food and health come from? How do we access the natural world and how do we work in partnership? Self-reliance, self-sufficiency is not an endeavor of the sole rugged patriarchal lone wolf fantasy; instead it translates into a personal response-ability to care in the world (for humans, non humans, the earth itself).

And everyone comes to it in their own way — some are lucky enough to own their land/house/homestead and some must dance that mortgage line dance, some are healthy enough to be grossly sufficient and some have to do what they can when they can, some have big families to help, some have small enough families to maintain easily, some are able to make money from excess goods they provide and some provide just enough for their needs (and further some are only able to provide supplement to their abilities and needs), it’s a hard life. We came to it knowing that but also knowing that sometimes hard is better, better for our longevity, better for the planet, better for our quality of life, etc. And we don’t believe in failure; we believe in learning and experience so some years when the gardens were good, we thrived, and when they weren’t as good, we focused on celebrating our CSA with a local farm. Our ideals are not tarnished by our ‘successes and failures’ but adapted to our needs.

We also believe in listening to our bodies, our communities, our land, and the energies surrounding all of these things. When I got Lyme co-infections (apparently on top of previous undetected Lyme, Epstein-Barr, which all induced 2 bouts of Shingles, one on my face/ear which has resulted in continuous nerve problems and loss of some function in both) setting back much of my ability to homestead, and the baker got injured overdoing it (resulting in minor surgery on top of foot problems and lifelong dental issues), we had to learn to listen. So, we started over — focusing on the things we could do, turning out to be translating all of our experience and impetus to homestead into supporting others to do so.

We are trying to listen to what the energies are telling us; that it may be time to reassess and change things up, to adapt in different ways.

We firmly believe in having a direct say in what we put into our bodies and food sovereignty and safety are the biggest issues in the world. We will continue to support and educate ourselves on clean and best practices when it comes to food and medicine, and source our needs accordingly. We believe that not only should our food and medicines be free of contaminants and grown responsibly, but the people who do it should also be cared for and supported. We have loved our homesteading adventure. It is something we would love to continue and will find our way in other ways (likely smaller ways). We have been lucky to have had this opportunity.

With that said, we are leaving this lovely homestead. It is time for us to downsize our life, in care of ourselves and our community in the way that we can actively care for both. Our beautiful 14 acres of woods and gardens will be put on the market for an accessible price very soon. If you think you want to relocate to the rich and resourceful mid-Maine area, there is a lot to connect with here — please contact us and we’ll give you the low down. We will be posting the property soon on Maine farm/homestead listings. We’ll detail a post soon with a full description of our changes and the great features.

Thank you for going along on this journey with us. We’ve had so many good times here, and so many friends visit and share this bounty. We are truly grateful.