It is every year about this time I start to question exactly why we choose to live the way that we do. I am utterly exhausted, and there has been something in a basket that needed to be preserved for what seems like months.
Though I’m always ready for the end of canning season, I wouldn’t change our lifestyle. The “gold” at the end of the rainbow is being able to go into my canning room and see all the natural, healthy food for my family, not to mention all the money we save in groceries throughout the year.
This year has been no different, but I am finally able to put away the home preserving equipment. With the exception of the bucket of sweet potatoes waiting to be canned in my basement and the 5-gallon bucket of honey waiting to be bottled, the garden is finished, what is left on the trees will serve the deer and chickens well, and the honey has been harvested.
I must also send a special shout out to all the mothers who do this every year; you are my heroes! Who knew that working a homestead with a toddler could be so difficult, and here I thought doing it all pregnant was going to be the challenge. My little man is a typical boy and into everything! I have to extend a special thank you to my mother for providing lots of grandma/baby time so that I could get it all done.
Though homesteading and living a self-sufficient lifestyle is at times trying, the benefits far outweigh the expense. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!