I was recently asked, ‘Shaye… why do you do it? Why do you slave over the stove… over the garden bed… over the animal poop… over the piles of dirty dishes? Why, why, why?'
Great question, ye who shall not be named.
(Don't worry. It wasn't Voldemort that asked me.)
Anyway, I thought for about 1.29 seconds and then POP – I had the answer. The food. The FOOD. THE FOOD!
Good Lord. The food.
I fear that I've unintentionally become a food snob. For the past year and a half, we've been breaking our backs on the farm to build garden beds, build fencing for our meat animals, lugging around buckets of water, picking up organic grain from the local feed store, breaking frozen waters, bedding stalls with hay, watching midnight animal romps to ensure successful breedings, hauling wheelbarrows full of wood chips and manure, bucking hay, organizing feeding systems, getting out of bed way too early, chasing pigs down the driveway, butchering chickens, preserving foods, fermenting even more foods, and even tending to our beehives.
Why?
I believe we've answered that Voldemort.
THE FOOD.
Homegrown Food Tastes Better.
When we sat down at the cluttered dinner table a few nights ago, I stood back for a second, released a deep sigh, and looked at the spread set before us.
The soup was a Paprika Pork Soup – the chicken stock used had been simmered for 24 hours with root vegetables from our winter stores and the carcass from one of our homegrown meat birds. The carrots, onions, and potatoes were from our larder – grown just 10 yards from the kitchen door. The pork was homemade sausage that had been made that day from our very own pigs that we butchered earlier this fall. The deep red, simmer soup was spiced with salt, pepper, paprika, dried coriander, dried cumin, and chili powder.
The spiced soup was served alongside biscuits. Flour, homemade butter, salt, baking soda, and raw milk.
Lastly, we broke open a pomegranate and sliced up a crisp apple that we had harvested from a local orchard a few weeks back.
90% of the meal had been raised… grown… harvested… preserved right here on The Elliott Homestead, the meaning 10% was reserved for a few specialty products (like the pomegranate) and dried goods (that are easy and efficient to ship).
Please don't take my enthusiasm as arrogance. It wasn't that. I don't do this for some romantic self-glorifying means. Rather, I was able to take a step back and simple sigh. WOW.
We DID IT.
We DID what we had set out to achieve years ago.
We became producers.
I'm still happy to be a consumer for those dried goods that have been traded and shipped across miles for thousands and thousands of years – spices, coffee, chocolate, tea, salt, etc. I have no problems with stocking our kitchen with these goods and I'm very thankful that we can do so. That being said, this year, we were able to produce almost all of our produce, meat, eggs, and dairy products. Right here on just a couple of acres.
To see all that hard work pay off in such a delicious way – well, there are no words. Rewarding is an understatement. It's life-changing.
Because we're able to sit down at the table with fresh eggs, gathered the day before from our own free range hens, that have been fried in our own butter, served alongside a slice of our very own home cured bacon, a tall glass of fresh raw milk from our family cow, and a variety of vegetable or fruit from the garden… well, it's easy to get spoiled.
Kings couldn't dream of eating this well!
And that's why we do it. I LOVE this lifestyle. I love the smell of Sally when I tuck my head into her flank to milk her. I love wiping the dirt away from a radish and biting into it's crisp flesh. I love listening to a sizzling chicken roasting in the oven. I love gathering the eggs with the rascals and shoving them into my pockets. I love that my kids can wander around the farm, exploring the soil, the grasses, the gardens, and the lives of the animals. I love that they can say “Mom, I miss Chester and Wallace” as they nibble on pieces of bacon made from their bellies. Because it gives us connection. It gives us responsibility.
We've been conditioned to think of super-market food as “food” and in one way, yes, it is just that. A cabbage is a cabbage. A gallon of milk is a gallon of milk.
But cabbage harvested fresh from the garden? Locally? In season? That's a whole ‘nother creature entirely.
And milk that's less that 12 hours old? Fu-get-about-it.
THE FLAVOR, people. The flavor is the greatest difference. And after six months of eating almost exclusively from our farm (besides the occasional Costco trip), dare I say, we've are really on the right track.
Spring eggs are not same as Fall eggs and garlic harvested in the early Spring is much different than garlic harvested in the late Summer.
There is a cycle to this. There are flows. There are seasons.
God has orchestrated the most incredibly symphony in nature. And that's a sympathy I want to listen to.
Life Breath Present
Your post makes me want our dream Homestead NOW! I love that I can get healthy, tasty foods from a local farm or close to local. But I’m almost envious of the difference you speak of. Yet, your gratitude and pride in your accomplishments is palpable even through the screen!
Congratulations and well done! š
Dave
This is the perfect response. I’ve always told people, it’s all about the food. Better food, better eating, leads to better living all around. Being able to leave the total consumerist lifestyle and become a producer isn’t easy but it is oh so worth the effort. And if you forget that, we are reminded every time we sit at the table for a home cooked meal like you talk about here.
Great post!
Dave
Angi
I absolutely love this! This is EXACTLY what we are working toward. We finally have the land, and are starting to build fences and clear trees. In the spring, we will be adding meat chickens and pigs! I can’t wait until we can produce 90% of our food right on these 10 acres!
alyson
So inspiring! And that chicken dish looks so dang good!!
Mel
Amen!
Debbie
Beautiful photography!!! Most of us would be healthier and happier if we lived more as you and your family do.
Ashley Browning
Amen, sister. But we do eat like Kings! It’s the most delectable food ever tasted on Earth. Cheers to you all!
Sarah
Agree 100% when you can sit down at the table and have a connection to the food it fuels you to continue putting in the time and energy for this lifestyle.
Mimi
I must admit that I check your website almost every day and get really excited when there’s a new post. I love learning about your lifestyle (as I hope to live in a similar fashion some day, hopefully sooner than later). You’re an excellent writer (and your recipes are the bomb). I asked my in laws for From Scratch for Christmas!
Linda @ Green Living For The Lazy And Spoiled
This last summer we had a fabulous crop of tomatoes. The taste was amazing. So now I can’t bring myself to buy a tomato for salad. It just would be such a disappointment. We don’t have meat animals but we will have chickens for eggs in the spring.
Angi
I love this, and I totally agree! This is why we are pouring our heart and soul into this new “forever home” that we moved into 3 months ago. I am so happy and excited to begin growing and raising even MORE of our own food on this ground.
Angie
I’m so jealous of you! I’d love to have the lifestyle that you do, but abad stroke left that impossible. Still, there are little things that I can do, so I guess I should be happy with that!
Kelsey
I love your blog! My family and I are moving soon and we are so excited to get started with our little mini farm. I really love being able to come and read what you have to say about how wonderful it all is. Thanks for the inspiration!
Kelsey
Karen DiNuoscio
Shaye, i love how your passion ( for a lifestyle that i truly believe God intended for us to live) Just shines through your blog and your soul, yes, I know it comes from your soul. No denying that. You are a light that I believe god is using everywhere. I’ve just begun a homestesding journey but trust that it will grow beyond what i think i am capable of myself. Thank you for trusting the instincts that has embarked you on your beautiful journey. You bless many…….and amen ;
Karen
Lill Mari
Love your way of living and your choice of how to live your LIVESā„ļø Many blessings from Norway
April
So true! I love going through the meal and counting what we produced/made ourselves. We have almost an acre and we’re growing into it. We’ve got the gardens in, the orchard is young but this year should be our first year of eating from it. The grapes and hardy kiwi are still growing. My chickens haven’t laid an egg since spring. I think they hate me. I miss having our own eggs. I go between keeping them in the 12×18 ft yard I built them and letting them free-range in our yard. Trouble is, we don’t have a fence, and we have neighbors whose dogs roam and come after them. There are also skunks and other predators. Plus, they poop all over my deck, porch, driveway, everywhere. It gets old playing hopscotch over their droppings. They have also started straying into the neighbors’ yards. Anyway, in the future I would love to do meat chickens, a mini jersey for milk and some pigs. We just really don’t have the land for allowing them to graze, which makes it cost prohibitive to have those animals.
kelli
We just began building up our five-acre farm here in florida and you’re right! Everything is different!! Blessings to you as you unselfishly share the “how-to’s” for the rookies out there. My favorite, ultimate favorite, is the milk and dairy products from our mini-jersey, “molly moo”. I couldn’t agree more sista’! …and experiencing the lord’s cycles in nature aren’t something you can just share. You have to experience them and fall in love with them. There’s no turning back!!