Time ISN'T money. It is life!

I hope this post will at least make some sense to someone out there. I was trying to explain this concept that I've been wrestling with since I began life on the farm a few weeks ago to Stuart and he gave me the *blank stare* back.Apparently, I wasn't explaining myself very well. Perfect writing material, though. Let's just hope I don't leave you as confused as I left him.The idea that I've been wrestling with is the idea, as we've all heard, time is money.Eh, yes and no.To some, this may ring very true. For the full-time employee making $20 an hour, it may be very easy to stick a price tag on things in terms of monetary value.For example, a $5 loaf of bread may very easily translate to 15 minutes of time spent working. Simple math.This mentality works very well for some - they work, make money, and then pay others to do the tasks at hand (and quite often, for less money than it would cost them to do said tasks themselves).The idea that someone then would then want to raise a dairy cow, which involves building fence, feeding twice per day, watering, caring for, breeding, milking, and processing the milk seems obsurd.After all, why wouldn't you just spend $5 to drive down to the store and pick up a gallon? It's convenient, after all. It's available year round, too.And this continually begs an even bigger question - why do anything yourself at all? Why create with your hands? Why cook from scratch? Or draw? Or knit? Or garden? Or clean? After all, these are all tasks that can easily be outsourced or replaced with ease. There are factories to knit our scarves, factories to bake our biscuits, large commercial farms to grow our produce, and mass produced prints to hang on our walls.Why create when the "time" spent creating is so great? And valuable?Over the last few weeks, I've spent countless hours cleaning chicken coops, harvesting weeds, feeding hay, fencing pasture, hauling compost, planting seeds, and tending to crops. None of which is "necessary" by today's factory-minded-culture. I could, in fact, purchase zucchini for .69 cents a pound from the local Safeway right now, if I wish.And for some, maybe they'd rather trade their time spent at work for the money to purchase such items. And there ain't nothin' wrong with that.But my souls begs for something different.It yearns to hear the call of the hungry chickens in the morning and to feel the soil beneath my toes. It longs to see the entire process of growing food from seed to harvest. It thrives off time spent in intimate relation with God's created world.Why else would I contemplate raising pastured hogs and chickens? Or to do any of these homestead endeavors, really? To sink all that time and effort and energy into a product that's available (for cheap!) at the nearest supermarket (well, of course, that doesn't calculate for the incredible nutritional and ethical difference that exists between pastured animals and factory-farmed animals, but I hope you see the point I'm trying to make)?If we live our life by the time is money idea, we fail to relate and create in an extraordinary way.The knit scarf made in Cambodia will never satisfy in the way that a home knit, gifted scarf will satisfy. A tomato from the store will never satisfy in the way that a home grown tomato, babied from it's very beginning, will satisfy.I think this is because of the fact that God, too, is an artist... a creator... a gardener... a Shepard. And the Bible tells us that man and woman were created in His image. Therefore, it stands to reason, that we too long to create.Of course, everything we create is simply a 'recreation' of what God has already created, but none-the-less, it's written in our souls to seek such artistic pleasure. I wouldn't do 90% of the tasks I do if I didn't believe this.But I believe that such good, such foundational joy, such creative satisfaction can be found in:...kneading bread......harvesting blueberries by hand......brushing the dairy cow......cooking dinner for the family......washing cloth diapers (ya, I said it, what)......utilizing home remedies......painting......drawing......knitting......reading......photographing......gardening......preserving......and yes, even cleaning....I have to fight the mentality that all the hours in my day are labeled with a price tag. If I spend an hour in the pasture with Kula, I can't think of the $20 that was 'lost' in that wasted time.I've got to savor and enjoy the fact that lessons are being learned, animals are being utilized, soil is being worked, little ones souls are being shaped, husbands are being cared for, and God is being glorified.And for our family, there just isn't a better way we could imagine spending these beautiful hours.