Homestead Overwhelm

We are now six months into our homesteading journey and the stress of working a full-time job and managing children, a home, land, and livestock has proven to be completely overwhelming. Prior to purchasing our 10-acre homestead, I had spent months creating a simplified life to try and relieve some of my never-ending anxiety. But with the excitement of owning a homestead, I couldn’t wait to start getting livestock and chickens and putting in gardens to grow all of our produce. I dream of one day becoming completely self-sufficient when it comes to food for my family.

Fast forward to today, a day when it’s freezing outside, dark and cloudy, and raining and I have to go outside at least twice daily to feed everyone, fill waters, collect eggs, and close everyone up at night. It doesn’t bother me to an extent that I no longer want to do it, but it does hit me in the face with the realization that no matter what the temperature, what the weather’s doing, or if I’m sick, too tired, too busy, etc., I will be out there twice a day, every day, potentially for the rest of my life.

Again, I want to reiterate that I do absolutely enjoy all of it most days, but not every day is going to be a good day. And really, animal chores are only a small part of the overall overwhelm. I’m able to get away with doing one deep clean in the barn and coops only once a week with all of them free ranging or out in the pasture and that is really the only super time-consuming task as far as the animals go.

An even more overwhelming homestead job, at least for me, is the gardening. Gardening is actually something I know NOTHING about other than you put seeds in the dirt and water them. While I love collecting everything that the gardens have produced, and my husband does the watering while I’m tending to the animals, there is so much more to gardening that I think most people don’t consider at the start or if they’re like me, had no idea that it was even a thing. Building raised beds, assembling greenhouses, controlling pests, making sure your soil is right, pulling weeds, trimming and pruning, starting seeds, making compost… The list goes on and it fills me with anxiety just thinking about it. How do people find gardening relaxing?!

The next stress inducing homesteading issues are the repairs and maintenance overall. More property and structures equal more responsibility. While the land itself is primarily tended to by the donkeys, sheep, and goats clearing out the pastures of weeds and brush, it seems like every time I turn around, there is another thing that needs tended to. Whether it’s repairing fence, fixing something in the house, welding something, or whatever else, it just seems like for every one thing that gets done adds two more things to the to do list.

I guess my overwhelm doesn’t necessarily come from the homesteading tasks that need done alone but trying to figure out how to get everything done every day whether it’s on the homestead, with the family, or with my job. It feels like there are not enough hours in the day, especially at this time of year when there’s less daylight hours.

I certainly didn’t come here to whine about how hard homesteading is or come off as being ungrateful. The rewards of homesteading far outweigh the hard work that goes into it. I am so grateful for everything I have, and I am also so grateful for my health and income that allows me to have and take care of these things. Being raised in the country, I knew what homesteading entailed, but the difference between then and now is that I now have a husband, three kids, and a career.

Now that the dust is starting to settle from moving here and we are getting into routines, I am going to start shifting my focuses from adding to the homestead to finding a better life balance as a homesteader. It will be yet another part of this never-ending journey of life, but my need for calm and less anxiety fills me with inspiration to move forward.

If you are a homesteader, parent, spouse, employee or business owner, and someone just has a lot on their plate and have found ways to find balance in your life and find time to relax, I would LOVE to know what you do!

Cheers to homesteading and a life of fulfillment!