This week’s post comes to you from my sister, Lisa, who is one of our homesteading inspirations. Between raising seven kids, milking cows, and working on her freelance writing career, she blogs about homesteading at Maggie’s Milk. I was thrilled when she agreed to write a guest post for us, and asked her to share some of her favorite things about living in the country.
The Best Part of Country Life
I’m definitely a country bumpkin. I grew up on this ranch, moved away for a few years, and came back home to raise the family.
Country living has many benefits:
Wide opened spaces.
Privacy.
Room to raise livestock and attempt to grow food.
We can be loud. (With 7 kids, let me assure you that we just ARE!)
It’s beautiful!
I love living here.
But these awesome reasons are NOT the best part of country life.
So what is?
Living in the boondocks forces us to be more innovative.
Seriously. The closest grocery store is 14 miles away. It takes almost an hour to get to the nearest Costco, or Target.
Gas is expensive, and time is limited. We can’t just run to the store every time we need something.
So we get creative. We learn to make do, or do without.
Broken gate?
Don’t want to drive (or spend money) to get a new one. Grab some bailing twine and a section of fence panel, and repair the old.
Run out of cinnamon for a recipe? Dump in some apple pie spice instead.
Situations like these pop up all the time, no matter where you live.
You have two choices: spend money by driving to the store to buy something, or figure out an alternative.
But out here, the driving is more involved. It takes a lot of time. I almost always decide that particular need isn’t worth it.
Creativity blossoms in the country.
Or, as the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention.
The country life shows you exactly what you don’t know. There’s always something to learn on a homestead.
I love that living out here motivates me to learn new things.
- I never would have learned to milk a cow if I lived in town.
- Or used my own fresh milk to make cheese.
- I never would have learned to drive a tractor.
- I wouldn’t have experienced eaten liver, jowl, and tongue from a cow I saw being born, raised, and watched get processed.
- I wouldn’t know all that I am capable of.
As Mindy and Drew said, life is just different out here. We keep time with a different clock.
That difference naturally encourages innovation.
And that?
That’s what I love most about life in the country.
What’s your favorite part of where you live?
Lisa Tanner is a writer for hire with a background in education. She has a Master’s Degree in Elementary Reading & Literacy. She taught in the public schools of Washington prior to becoming a fulltime homeschooling mom and writer. Lisa lives on a farm with her husband, their seven children, two milk cows, and other animals. She blogs about homesteading, homeschooling, and homemaking over at Maggie’s Milk.