Enjoy the process

Filling up the woodshed I was struck by a throwaway sentence in Good Farmers, a book about traditional farming practices in Central America and Mexico. The author noted that traditional farmers usually lack heavy equipment and funds to pay for lots of hired help, so they have to take a process-oriented approach to big tasks rather than being project-oriented. For example, if they have a steep hillside that they'd like to terrace and create farmable ground, traditional farmers are more likely to put in a spare afternoon here and there building the terrace bit by bit rather than renting a bulldozer to get 'r done.

Homesteading is slowly teaching me to slip out of my project-oriented mindset and enjoy the journey. For example, the wood we bought was delivered to our parking area, half a mile from our house. At first, I was considering just taking a day and making golf cart trip after golf cart trip to bring the wood back to its shed. But instead I've been taking in a load of wood whenever I need to drive the golf cart out to the cars anyway. A week later, our shed is already a third of the way full!

Check out our homemade chicken waterer.

Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed.

Add a comment

Stuck in a cubicle? Fund your journey back to the land