I’m Paulette, and I live on a farm. OK, not really a farm, but almost 6 acres of nothing but trees with a giant wooden house plopped in the middle (it’s not really ‘giant’, just really, really tall). We’ll call it a farm, because I always wanted to live on a farm.
My favorite childhood memories are spending the weekend on my father’s parents’ cotton farm…hanging out in my grandmother’s kitchen with a little dish towel apron on, helping make scratch biscuits or baking chocolate pies. Or visiting my mother’s parents and feeding the chickens, then watching with fascination on occasion as my grandmother would wring a hen’s neck and cook her for dinner (that’s lunch in the South ya’ll). I always knew I wanted to grow up and live on a farm, never a doubt. My husband, who grew up in the country, shared this dream.
So, we decided to embark on a huge adventure last year and build a farmhouse. It was truly a labor of love. We did a lot of the work ourselves; making this little house into the home we’d both been dreaming of for years. Two months ago we finished the house and finally moved to the country with our two dogs Ozzie and Guga. We’re beginning to settle in, looking so forward to building a beautiful, simple, self-sufficient life with our own hands (and a few farm implements). This, while counting down the years to retirement from very challenging careers that we also love.
I love to cook fresh, wholesome, natural food, and bake from scratch. I want to have a huge vegetable garden, and preserve our food. I want to grow and dry my herbs. I want to learn to knit and quilt. I want for us to be self-sufficient in these uncertain times, which takes a lot of planning and hard work. I want for us to build a home that will always be a sanctuary for us in this crazy world.
Although I don’t like leaving the ‘giant wooden house’ on Monday mornings and driving into our little city to work, I do love my job. I’m a technical lead for a team of software programmers supporting NASA. It’s very exciting work, very exciting times. How does it all work together? How will I juggle all the plates? How will I balance taking care of my family, gardening, canning, knitting, making soap, raising a few farm animals, maybe…eventually, and lead a team to develop software to support man going back to the moon? Ah…therein lies the challenge all homemakers who have other jobs face – how to find balance and do all the things you want to, or have to, do.
I still have a lot to learn about how to be successful in this. Although I have found a few things along the way that make the balancing act a little easier, I many times find myself getting off track and struggling to make it work. I’m really excited about this new blog adventure; sharing my successes and learning how other homemakers who work handle these challenges. I hope you will stop by often and share your stories.
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