What's simple about the simple life?
I read a lot of blogs
written by aspiring and actual homesteaders, and one theme that often
comes up is --- "This simple life isn't all that simple, is it?"
Of course, the bloggers
are right. The intricacies of growing your own food and trying to be
more self-sufficient can be daunting and exhausting. But I find that the
complicated lifestyle simplifies me.
I was thinking about this
over the weekend while enjoying our usual weekly Mark-mandated respite.
"I'm a pretty boring person," I thought as I loosed the goats in the
floodplain, then settled down with a book to watch them graze. Lamb Chop
curled up in the crook of my legs and I reached down to scratch that
itchy spot at the base of his horns. In that moment, all of us (boring
or not) were 100% happy.
After a couple of hours,
even Abigail was starting to waddle as she walked, and I figured it was
time to come home. Standing, I saw for the first time a huge patch of
yellow flags --- a wild water iris that I rarely see --- about thirty
feet away from my resting spot. Even though I'd walked directly toward
the flowers while heading out for our weekend browse, I hadn't noticed
the blooms until I rose at last, my head completely emptied by an
afternoon with a novel and three goats.
And that, to me, is the
purpose of the simple life. When my usually far-to-busy brain slows down
and completely empties, when I can't think of anything I want that's
not within reach of my fingertips, when the sight of a flower makes me
happy...that's the simple life.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I grew up in the country, on a small farm, and what you describe is a base point for me, and that is my good fortune, my wealth.
It is a transferable wealth. I lived in an apartment in downtown Toronto, and could sit at a table in a cafe, looking out the window at concrete, and hundreds of strangers passing by, and feel that very same feeling. I think that if we learn how "to go there" early in life, we can find our way back wherever we are, whatever lifestyle we lead. It is easier though, in an idyllic setting such as yours, and my present location as well.