Big dreams have small beginnings. We hatched our first baby chick this week. Did you hear that? We hatched a baby chick! It almost feels like reaching a new level of self sufficiency. A few days after it was born I had one of those “pinch me” moments. I wanted pinch myself to make sure I knew that this was real life. Here I am in this house, cooking some eggs, that were laid by our hens, to go with our sourdough bread that was in the form of wheat berries a few days ago. My kids are in the other room holding baby chicks that were hatched yesterday. Meanwhile we are preparing for kidding, and I have 4 sheep and a goat due to have babies any day now. After the goat has her kids, I will be milking her. Guys, *I* milk a goat. Like everyday.
This is My Life
It’s just so surreal that THIS IS MY LIFE. Six years ago being on a farm was just wishful thinking. I was tasting our first eggs from chickens raised in our backyard. From there we raised our own meat rabbits and had a booming small garden, but we were very limited on space. I kept dreaming of more space to raise ALL of our own meat, and have a garden with every vegetable that I would ever want to cook with. I couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to live on farm where we can raise as many chickens as I wanted.
This week we sent off 6 lambs to the butcher that were born and raised here, on our farm. They came to about 190 lbs of packaged meat, which filled our freezer for the year. It might sound weird, but it has been a dream of ours for a long time to raise all of our own meat, and we did it!
Small beginnings are just like the little chick hatching out of her egg. A new chick is so small and fragile, but such great prospects it has. If it can hold tight, we nurture it, then it can grow up and fulfill it’s purpose. Every dream starts out just like a chick, small and fragile. You feed that dream by thinking about it, visualize it, pray about it, plan it, and work towards it. One day when you look back you will see that you made your dream a reality. Nurturing dreams is just like raising chicks. You feed them, clean out their bedding, keep them warm, and they grow up to be sturdy hens that will give back and lay eggs for years to come.
Always Have Small Beginnings
My dream doesn’t stop here. No way! I love where I am right now, and it is exactly what I pictured when I first had this farm life dream. That means it’s time to dream even bigger! With a big garden in the works this year, more chicks in the incubator, lamb meat in my freezer, and delicious goat milk will be here soon. I picture LOTS of tasty farm to table recipes. There will be fruit picked off of the trees (and those baby trees have lots of room for growth!). Our new house that we plan to build on our property is not in the works yet, but I think about it every day. I stand on the ground where we plan to build, and pretend I’m looking out my kitchen window. There is always a future to think and prepare for, always have small beginnings.
My 5 year old daughter said, “Once we have a garden we will be farmers, right dad?” He quickly replied,”No, we ARE farmers.” We are farmers, and we are homesteaders. This is real life, and once upon a time it was just small beginnings. A simple dream that sounded too lavish to be true, and it is now my everyday life. I am grateful everyday for the work, provisions, and support we have to be where we are right now.
What is your small beginning?
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This post made me smile. 🙂 I’ve dreamed of homesteading for years and now, here we are. We bought our property 7 months ago! I’ve been dreaming and planting all winter and everything in me wants the snow to melt NOW so I can get to building the chicken run and pruning fruit trees and planting seeds. I love reading about others who are ahead of me in this journey. You are like a lighthouse showing me the way. Great post!
The first year is so fun, all the possibilities. Thank you for your encouragement!
Great post! I am in the same boat (a couple years behind you) where we had this dream to start homesteading and move to the country for years while we were still living in the city. One step at a time we began to make that dream a reality. Now we live on about an acre, have a decent-sized garden and get our eggs from our yard (we share a big yard with neighbours who own 6 hens and a rooster;). I have so many dreams of one day buying our own property where we will build or renovate our dream farmhouse, get our own chickens, raise our own meat rabbits and goats and grow enough fruits and veggies to kastvus the year. We’re not there yet, but we are on the right path and we have made lots happen so far all with our own two hands (we’ll, four hands between myself and my husband;). I have a chalkboard hanging in my kitchen with a quote I scrolled on it that reads “All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.” As homesteaders and gardeners, we know well how something big and amazing can grow from the tiniest of seeds. This is true in all areas of our lives. We reap what we sow, and I truly feel that anyone making any steps, no matter how small, toward living a homestead lifestyle, will be rewarded in ways they can never imagine when they are just starting out. Love your blog!
Yes! So much yes! As long as we are continually moving in the right direction and have our eye on the goal, we can accomplish more than we think.
I love that quote you have in your kitchen, what a great reminder. 🙂