How We Homestead: Living Simply

Welcome to the second installment of our new five-week series, How We Homestead. Each Wednesday I write a post about a different homesteading topic to shed more light on where we are on our path to self-sufficiency and what homesteading looks like for us.

When we decided to make the move from the city to the country, we didn't realize it at first, but we instantly began to simplify our lives. In the city, we had a house that we absolutely adored, but it was very big. Much too big for what we needed, and it had old leaky windows, so our utility bill was sky high. Our new home is just a few years old and is much smaller and better suited to our needs. Since the structure is newer and shaded by trees, it is highly energy efficient and we spend about half in energy costs compared to what we spent at our old home in the city.

Living in the country, we are kind of forced to eat meals at home. The nearest restaurant is about 35 miles away, so there's no ordering takeout on a night that I don't feel like cooking. This is sort of a blessing in disguise, though, because it is much healthier to eat homemade meals prepared with whole foods rather than a diet heavy on processed ingredients made in a laboratory.

Where our lives are most simplified is what we do in our leisure time for fun. Tending to the garden is one of our favorite ways to spend a weekend and is also a great stress reliever. We love to take walks around our property every evening to note the changes in our flowers and veggies and take hikes in the woods together when we aren't busy with the garden.

We haven't been to a movie in ages; instead we watch chicken TV.

For us, simple pleasures is what life is all about. There's nothing like watching a mama hen with her new baby chick (something we witnessed for the very first time yesterday, more on that later!) or seeing the woods come back to life after a long, cold winter. Give me nature and I am one happy girl!



Four other awesome bloggers are participating in this series as well, so don't forget to check out their posts to read more about where they are in their homesteading journey. You can find them here -

Staci at Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Meg at Little Homestead
Daisy at Maple Hill 101
Amber at Making A Home

Thanks so much for reading and please do let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear from you! Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for the third installment in the series where I will be focusing on real foods and how we grow and incorporate them into our diet.

~Tammy