I have always had this farm girl kind of spirit for years I just thought it was from reading Little House on the Prairie recently though after talking to family members I realize that Pioneering Spirit is in my genes so I finally thought…”this makes so much sense” according to my Dad my Great Grandmother Gladys and my Great Great Aunt Manie were farmers in Indiana back in the late 50’s and early 60’s. In addition to that briefly took on the task of running a small time chicken operation. Of course my Grandmother Norma lived on a farm in Pennsylvania as well and I also had some relatives up in Lucinda, Pennsylvania that were farmers too.
Do you know how it feels when you have this strong affinity for chickens and people are like you live in Suburbia? and your kitchen and dining room table are always covered with canning jars and lids and you have pots of pickles fermenting and food drying out on the deck and people kind of wonder if you are mad. Well now I know I didn’t cause any of this and that makes me feel better because I am not going to change. There is nothing better than traveling to the mountains with a thermos of coffee in hand and the Viking in my life has his homemade beef jerky and I am eating dried pears, apples, and peaches. It just causes one to sigh and think “Life is good!”. Or that feeling when you bite into a fresh hard-boiled egg from your coop where you control the quality of food and water and you know where your food comes from nothing quite beats that feeling in my opinion of course you are hearing from a farm girl at heart.
I love fresh sheets on our bed from the clothesline and towels that have hung out to dry – you don’t need air fresheners full of chemicals when you open your windows and place your items on the clothesline. We need to get back to the simple things now I realize that might just cramp some of the candle company’s style but as soon as I get my hands on some fresh bees-wax next Spring I won’t go back to commercial candles that will be another area we will be self-sufficient in.
What about you? What inspired you to become a farm girl or guy? What draws you to simple living? I would love to hear from all of you!
This blog post is part of the Dandelion House Farm Girl Friday Blog Hop!
Great post! I totally agree… we tossed our dryer about a year ago and we haven’t missed it a bit… I guess the step before your candles will be to get some bees…!
Lea thanks so much! I forgot to mention in this post that we are first year bee keepers so we should have some honey and beeswax next Spring I can’t wait!
You are going to love your own beeswax candles. They smell so nice when they burn. Which reminds me. I need more wicks!
I really can’t wait….very impatient 🙂
I tried to find posts on the beef jerky and dried fruit; doesn’t seem to be any past posts. Is your hubby’s recipe something you can share? and how to dry fruit? How do you store your dried fruit? I’ve lived simply for over 30 yrs and have only just had an interest in dehydrating. I’m wondering if one of those vaccuum sealers is useful. I’ve canned a great deal for my family…we have 6 kids all grown now, and I’m positive that feeding them home grown beef, chicken, pork and our own veggies has given them a ‘trump card’ health wise. Seems so many youngsters now have allergies, resperatory problems and more; more than ever before….
Any way I do enjoy getting your posts and look forward to more ideas to use now that we are empty nesters.
Shelley I do have my husband’s beef jerky recipe here somewhere up on my recipe shelf. I tell you what I will get it posted in the next week or so can you wait that long? I do have one post on drying figs and well its very much the same for other fruit. Actually drying fruit is one of my favorite things to do here on my Lil’ Suburban Homestead. Do you know what my very favorite is…..dried pears? Which is kind of funny because apples are my favorite to eat whole but dried pears are sooooo delicious! If you can get your hands on some do try to dry them. I will post about drying apples after I go on my apple picking expedition. I love hearing from you Shelley you always give me great ideas! I agree that the closer we feed our children to the earth the healthier they will be… See ya’ soon!
Thanks for getting back to me and of course I can wait! Whenever you have the time. We won’t be slaughtering beef for another few weeks anyway.
I will have to try dried pears. My son was going to share his pear crop with me this year. Hopefully we can meet in a timely manner so I can claim some of it. He lives 4 hrs south of us. How do you store your dried fruit for long storage? Again, I don’t need to know right away; I’ll continue to follow your posts and glean what I can. 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Farmgirl! I love your story! I think this farmgirl’n thing is just un our genes!!! My father was a farmer and my mother,grandmother and grea tgrandmother all made as much by hand as they could. I just grew up with can- do women around me and that’s the way I am too! Simple is always best and if we can-do it ourselves… that’s even better!!!
So nice to meet you and have you enter this weeks Farmgirl Friday Hop!
Hope to see you again!
Deb
Deb I was so excited to find your blog! I plan to come back every Friday…..I have enjoyed reading your posts and joining your community! Very inspirational!
Aww. Thank you for your kind words! I love what you’re doing here in your Suburban Homestead too! See you soon!
Deb
I can sure relate to “farm girl at heart”, it may well be in the genes or collective memory or something! My family roots are on the land also. As I get older I value that legacy more and more. Just found your blog, am really enjoying reading your posts.
Thanks so much Maggie! I have slowly developed an interest in family roots these past couple of years as well. Glad you stopped in!
I know exactly what you mean about the canning jars and lids and fermenting foods everywhere and people looking at you like you are crazy. You should see people’s faces when they ask what my plans are for my time off next weekend and I tell them I’m going to NC for a class on chicken keeping. 20 months and counting until I can move to our country house and get my chickens!
Grace what exciting news! Keep me posted on your move…..