Last week I received a message from a television producer, asking if I’d be interested in possibly being featured in a new television show about homesteading. While I’m not really interested in being on television, this got my wheels turning. I’d really like to share our story with you, and just how much I’ve changed over the past few years, soon. I don’t think anything about our life is extraordinary or special, and certainly not television worthy, but if I can encourage a person seeking simplicity, I’d love to do so!

First of all, what exactly is a simple life? This definition will be different for everyone. While I think my family lives a relatively simple life, others absolutely live simpler. For me, I really want to get back to the basics as much as possible. I want to be mainly self sustainable. I want to avoid debt. I want to enjoy the basic things in life. My faith. My family. The land. Good food.

Over the past few years, I’ve gotten a vision that extends beyond myself. I want my children to experience these things, too. I want them to have skills that were lost to my husband and I in case they need them one day. This is the legacy I want to leave for them.

While I don’t want to live in fear, I want to be realistic about the future. We had come to a place where other than schooling, we pretty much outsourced everything.  I want my children, and their children, and their children, to know and understand how to take care of themselves.

So with this vision in mind, we started planning. We are still in the baby stages of our plans. To be honest, a lot of our plans are still changing and evolving. We are now finally in a place where we can start to implement these things.

I’ve become quite the homebody, which is the opposite of how I used to live.

I want my children to remember me at home with them, teaching them lessons or working in the garden. I hope they grow to understand that simple and inexpensive things usually bring about the most joy.

That being said, I’ve learned that not much about starting a homestead is inexpensive! I know that really, buying everything we need at a grocery store is probably less expensive than what we’ve set our mind on doing. But the lessons we hope to teach our children are more important to us than a price tag.

And so, I hope to share our story here before long. I hope you’ll join me.