Sunday 29 July 2012

Taking Care of the Home

I got a great compliment the other day. When I mentioned to my dad that I'd made another three jars of raspberry jam, he commented "Well, you're becoming a real homesteader now, making your own food." It made me feel quite proud.

But being a homesteader (to me) isn't just about having a garden and processing what comes out of it. It's reminiscent of pioneer times, when men worked from dawn to dusk in the fields and women worked in the home to make sure everything was ship-shape and the children were raised right. Yes, a part of that was making sure there was food on the table, but the larger part of it was taking care of all the details. Laundry had to be washed (but first the soap had to be made!). To have chicken for supper a chicken had to be raised, killed, plucked, and cooked. A simple breakfast of eggs meant going to gather them from the hen-house. Milk the cow twice a day. Sew the clothes, shear sheep, card and spin all the wool. The list goes on and on. Back then there was no "vegging in front of the TV" - there was always work to be done and a lazy person was frowned upon. Even their hobbies were constructive - knitting, sewing, carving, all produced useful items.

So the point of all this is to make you think: instead of sitting here in front of the computer, what could you be doing that is constructive and useful?

Like my mom always says, "Man may work from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done!"

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