When Life Slows Down… and Still Gets Done on the Homestead

Last Friday, the job ended with storms raging all over Missouri. I was pet sitting and so the transition was oddly not jarring.  I think because I started the pet sit while finishing that last week of work, I still felt like I was working. I was not back at the homestead and so my brain didn’t panic. I keep expecting at least a moment of panic. Old habits die hard after all.

As I left my pet sit, I headed home, but needed to make a few stops along the way.  Mom’s house was first. A short visit with her was wonderful, and she had plants for me! Missouri Primrose, rosemary and tomato starts she had picked from the University of Central Missouri’s greenhouse sale. Then I headed to our church parking lot to pick up my monthly order from Azure Standard. If you are not familiar with Azure Standard, you should be. I love this company.  My order this month included toilet paper, supplements, nuts, seeds, flour, canned tomatoes (because I finally ran out of my home canned stash from last year’s harvest), bulk spices, and more. 

My car was starting to get full, but I had one more stop to make. The chickens at the homestead needed feed and treats. I had attended the Mid-Mo Homestead Expo and met a local Missouri farmer that was selling their chicken feed at our local feed store. I am ashamed to admit that before the Expo I had only bought chicken feed at the big box store. When things like this happen, I always remind myself: Know better, do better.

So to the local store I went.  I walked in and was greeted in a friendly open way by the woman behind the counter. I explained to her about the Expo and she knew exactly which farmer I had met and even better which bag of feed had brought me into her shop. I added treats and oyster shells to my order which was loaded in my car for me by a young man working there. I’d never had that before at the big box store, and since both the shells and the feed were in 50lbs bags, I was grateful. 

She also invited me to pay with cash. I confessed I didn’t have any, but would plan to bring it next time. She asked me if I had checks. I did! I went out to the car to get them. Now I don’t know if it was because I was willing to go that extra step for her or not, but that’s when she asked me if I was a gardener. I told her I was in my learning garden year two. She smiled and asked if I would like some onions. I said oh yes, please and thank you. She proceeded to hand me a bag with hundreds of red and white onion sets. I asked her if she had something to put them in and that’s when she made it clear that I was expected to take the entire two bags of onion sets. When I tried to refuse, she said give them to friends and neighbors because I have these and she showed me her stash. She said they need to go in the ground soon or will be wasted. I thought of Brenna’s Bundles, said thank you and grabbed up my treasures. 

Time to finally get home. I unpacked everything because Matthew was supervising a job for our foundation business, Mighty Mo Foundation Repair. As I wrapped up the day, I thought tomorrow is likely when panic will show up.

I slept soundly, woke up, and started morning chores; let the chickens out, started mixing a loaf of sourdough bread, made coffee. When Matthew and Jacob (Matthew’s youngest son) were up and moving, we decided it was time to become onion planting fools. We googled and made a plan and planted over 250 of the onion sets, a good mix of both red and white. I posted on Facebook because I still had hundreds more. I gave some to the neighbor and a few people from our Facebook group showed up to get some as well. Jacob and I were inspired to also plant the Missouri Primrose plants my mom had given me. 

As I sat down to eat dinner, I realized I did not panic, I did not strive through the day either. We accomplished a lot, enjoyed fresh bread and great conversations. It was exactly how I hoped my homesteading life would be. Balanced. Connected. Growing. This is what it looks like when life slows down… and still gets done. And honestly, it only works because of community. I know every day will not be this smooth, but I am taking my wins and counting my blessings.