About 11 months ago, we made the move to where we are now. A quiet, small town with less than 1000 residents – most of which only residing here part time, almost as tourists for the Summer sun or Winter trails. We’re living smack dab in the middle of an unincorporated, zero stoplight town that is filled with more forest than developed land.
We don’t have a Wal-Mart, or any 24 hour store in the area. The closest hospital is forty-five minutes away and there is no garbage pick-up. The closest mall is an hour and a half away and the only fast food restaurant we have in a thirty mile radius is Subway. We still get a newspaper (three of them to be exact) delivered to in our mailbox with local town news that highlights students, nursing home residents, small town events like parades and chili dumps, and so many other quirky things that I didn’t know still existed until we moved.
We knew all of this when we moved here – it’s not like a hospital closed and we suddenly realized we couldn’t grocery shop after 9pm. But the reality of how small and slow-paced our beautiful new town was didn’t hit us until we were in it. Fully immersed, tough cookies “if you need a cold medicine after hours or have a craving for McDonald’s french fries but don’t want to drive forty-five minutes” kind of in it, you know?
The transition wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t ridiculously hard either. Mainly because we moved up here with the intention to slow down and become more self-sufficient. We already had that want and drive as our purpose, so while it may not have been the smoothest of transitions – it wasn’t actually that difficult.
And this move made our wish to create a homestead even stronger.
We didn’t move to a farm with acres upon acres of land, but we did move to a place that has plenty of room for us to create a small, perfect-for-us homestead. We have land with plenty of room to grow fruits and vegetables, and even a root cellar to store them in. We have a shop filled with plenty of room to continue to make our own products and expand upon that dream. And we have a home big enough to truly embrace homemaking with woodworking, craft making, food preservation, and so much more.
Maybe some day we’ll raise goats or chickens. Or have greener energy fueling our home and business. Or maybe we’ll even outgrow our current home and land so we’ll need to move to a place that has more to offer.
But for now, this is exactly where we need to be.
Becoming more self-sufficient and creating a homestead that fits our needs at this exact moment. Homesteading is about returning to your roots and giving your hands a bit more of a workout than using a mouse or iPhone. Cooking from scratch, planting a big garden, preserving our own food, learning herbal remedies – this is what I’m planning to embrace this year.
I’m excited to really expand on this journey into homesteading and connect with those that are working towards the same goal, whether you’re just growing plants on your balcony in your small apartment or living on a farm with livestock and crops galore.