It’s wild to look back on where we started so many years ago, with meager dreams, how those dreams grew, and how far we’ve come.
When we started this homestead lifestyle, we lived on a 2 acre chunk of woods that was lovely, but not ideal for what we wanted to do. We opened up the canopy to make room for a garden (not the initial plan, but what indeed happened) on the South side of our home. The soil was a shade of orangish-yellow. And dead. Before we began amending it, we were lucky to see 2 weeds growing in the heavy clay soil. This amending process is where my love and fascination for soil came from, but that is a story for another time!
Our tiny plot grew a bit of fresh food and easily held our dozen or so laying hens and a couple of goats. We felt like we were really making a difference, all the while still trying to find that perfect farm. We wanted to be able to grow about 75% of our family’s food ourselves. That was the dream! Slowly our dreams grew.
As we taught ourselves so many things we realized we could be helping so many people if we could just share. I started blogging as a way to keep track of what we might be able to share and of our journey along the way, which, eventually turned into Vlogging.
So the dream grew; grow about 75% of our food AND help others learn from what we were doing. Before we knew we were going to be able to buy a small piece of Matt’s Great Aunt and Uncle’s farm, we had added so much. A teaching homestead that offers classes of all sorts, a family- friendly Bed and Breakfast with a couple of small cabins instead of a big house, selling from our farm (eggs, veggies and fruits, syrup, whatever we produced!), and a space for events, like weddings.
A few days ago I was reading back on old blog posts. So much change has happened. One post stuck with me- ‘On my Heart this week’, wrote June 30, 2015. Much like this post, there was reminiscing and a reminder that prayer is powerful. If you’d like to read it, you can find it HERE.
I think I needed to remember that even though we still have so far to get to those dreams, we have come a long way from where we began.
It reminds me of something I heard Jessica Sowards say, many times, don’t be afraid to ask for the big things. I am so thankful for our journey. It hasn’t been easy, but it has been worth it. Looking back, I can see all the answered prayers. I can see where God has placed His precious, mighty hands. So I will keep on keeping on….
Who knows? Maybe in another 10 or so years I will look back on this post, reminiscing of all that has happened and giving Glory once again.
Have a Blessed weeks friends- Alicia
