A little bit of reminiscing tonight as I think about some of the reasons I own land and homestead. Why don't you share your homesteading philosophy with me. What's your Stewardship Story? How do you share the blessing of being a homesteader? How are you having fun with it?
IT'S A BLESSING
The first thing I realize about being able to be a steward of "my land" is that it's not really "my land". I'm totally blessed to have the opportunity. Yes, I work it, I pay for it. I rent it from the government... I mean "pay taxes". I realize that truly as with ANYTHING in this life and beyond, I'm a steward. I'm a steward of my land. I'm a steward of my relationships. I'm a steward of my children... I'm raising them but I don't "own" them in any sense. In reality I'm a steward of my relationship with my wife. I truly believe that what I have been given is a blessing and it all belongs to my Heavenly Father anyway. As the old hymn goes "This is my Father's world...".
As I think about the different houses/land I've been steward of I look back and realize that other people now live in those places. The very first house we bought, where I began my first foray into homesteading was on a 50' x 150' lot. When we bought the house the whole back yard was gravel. We had a neighbor bring his bobcat over and push the gravel back (leaving mud, much to my newly wed wife's dismay) and I began seeding, planting trees, strawberries and grape vines, brought in a mini barn and let the grass grow - well until we got the notice from the city to cut it because we breaking the city ordinance :) .
When we moved from that house we helped the young couple buy it (owner financed it for a few years) because the guy we bought it from helped us. We left it in a lot better shape than we found it. It's my goal wherever I live. That was over twenty years ago.
With the advent of google maps, my wife and I were looking at the house and notice my grape vines were still there and looked amazing, and so was one of the apple trees. The peaches probably died off. You can see the raised parking area in the rear... all that gravel was down in the yard when I started.
So we left a blessing. We were thankful for our time there, it helped shape us. It helped us to realize that we didn't ever want neighbors that close again too! LOL!
SHARING THE BLESSING
When we sold that house we had a stint living in a church apartment while serving as the associate pastor. We stayed a couple years there and then we moved to our 12.5 acre farm. One of the blessings from there (along with raising a bunch of good garden produce, pork, chicken, maple syrup and other farm foods we blessed others with, was that we were able to have youth group camp-outs and all-nighters.
One of the first all-nighter involved a boys and girls all-nighter. The guys camped out the girls had a girls night in the house, after everyone had a late-night capture the flag game and bon-fire. Our stewardship wasn't all wrapped up in the serious business of homesteading only! We believe that blessing allowed us to share some fun that some of these kids would never experience any other way!
We lived next to the "Coon Club" thus the hanging coon above!
This was our map that we handed out to everyone! We had a great time and the homestead was used to God's glory and the benefit of kids who had never experienced anything like that. This was just the first time. I remember the time we did a chicken butchering as a youth activity... I'm not sure how that would go over with some people now days.
Of course some of the best ways that we were stewards were not over harvesting or clear cutting trees, by amending soil and composting and by planting new food plots and trees.
I could go on but I'm interested in your thoughts on stewardship.
So please answer these TWO QUESTIONS:
- How are you being stewards?
- How are you having fun on the homestead?
GROW WHERE YOU ARE
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I really enjoyed reading your stewardship story! I can relate to your first house because as we moved around growing up, my parents always bought fixer uppers and left them in FAR better shape than they bought them!
What you mentioned about being stewards of our kids and their childhood really resonated because it's the driving force that turned us down the path of moving further out into the country to do the homesteading life. We want them to both 1. have chores and responsibilities and learn practical skills and how to be self sufficient and 2. just simply have pure clean fun running around the property being free! So, we have to be good stewards of our property (and our belongings on it) in order to model good stewardship for the kiddos.
So far we manage to have all kinds of fun playing with pets and riding the four wheelers and wading in the creek. In summer it'll be picnics and catching fireflies :) It's simple fun and we love it.
What a great, thoughtful comment! Thanks! I appreciate it so much. It's always nice to know someone actually READS what you write!
I figure that MOST homesteaders probably see themselves as stewards and caretakers of what is in their care right now.
I love the saying that Planting a tree is one of the greatest acts of hope in hopeless times.
I brought both of my kids up on farms or lifestyle blocks - My son has gone on to farming as a career but my daughter is a through and through town girl lol We spent a lot of years rearing calves, lambs, goats, chickens and turkeys. We went eeling in the creek and had loads of fun on atv's etc. We built a house to live in while staying in caravans (which was fun), fenced and fertilised, planted and generally tried to make it a better place to live. I wouldn't trade my life for any other kind. :D
Sounds awesome! Is a "lifestyle block" like what we'd call the suburbs?
No a lifestyle block is what you call homesteading - like wen you move out of the city to the country for a better 'lifestyle'
We lived on large farms like 1000acre plus until we could afford to buy 30acres of flatish bare land of our own to build a house on :)
Yes, we are stewards of our blessings. We are not property owners, we don't really "own" anything. Once you don't pay the tax man, the government can take away what you have.
Leaving the place better for the next person is definitely what we do. I cannot imagine why anyone would trash their place?
How are you being stewards?
When we bought our place, there were trash everywhere. With little ones,
we are slowly cleaning the property. Trimming trees, cleaning the trash, planting trees, putting a garden in, raising chickens, stopping the erosion on some bad places.
How are you having fun on the homestead?
It's family fun day when we all go outside to work on the garden, making trails or raking leaves. Or we just let the children play with dirt, hang on vines and pick up pretty stones. We all walk on the trail, the children enjoy it when we go with flashlights or lamp.
Great comment @lovenfreedom! I don't understand why people trash their place either, but they do. My personal experience is that it happens more often (and this is a worldwide observation) in conjunction with poverty. I've got some thoughts around that to explore in a post. If/when I write it, I'll link back here.
My kids are now 13 - 19. They used to enjoy working on the garden, making trails or raking leaves. They still do all those things although I'm not sure I'd use the word "enjoy" in conjunction with it anymore. :) LOL!
Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
I'm with you. We have always tried to leave someplace better than we found it. We've moved 8 times in 13 years of marriage for the air force. So even if we had to rent, that meant making it look the very best we could. Now that we have the big farm, there is never a dull moment and always something to work on to improve. BUT, I think it gives us joy to improve the farm. Now we have children who work with us and being together stewarding is the ultimate way to instill that in them. Great post:)
Yes! Absolutely! I'm glad you've been blessed with the big farm!
Thank you! Me too! :)