I love my homesteading activities here in central NM.
When I come home in the summer, my work is evident, there are fruit and nut
trees where once there was only bare and overgrazed ground. Grass is thicker and greener every year as I spread the donations from the goats and poultry. New pastures are being created so the "children' can roam and graze in a much more
sustainable and beneficial manner.
Hedgerows to break up our ever present wind and providing much for the homestead in food, herbs, medicines and
shelter for us, the critters and wildlife. I try very hard to include all life forms present and new to this environment as this also creates a healthier environment for all.
This year will be the first for
bees in a long time. The orchards are getting old
enough to provide fruit and nuts. For now I'll have to rent a hive, but look forward to keeping my own
bees after completing a
local permaculture bee course. That and the many herbs and flowers planted around the homestead will provide bees much of what they need before and long after the orchards bloom.
My neighbors stop and ask what I do with the tumbleweed one finds on the fences here. All things are used here. Even though I still have to buy
hay, I find the tumbleweed will fatten the wethers and provide the necessary fiber the milking does need for well being. The "straw" left from the goats eating the tumbleweed I use for abating problem erosion areas. I can thank
Brad Lancaster for the sponge idea on that one!
I dry the clothes on the line,
reuse water as many times as I can, find new uses for scavenged
wood and other items locally. Even the willows from this dry environment provide materials for basket weaving and poles for pole beans.
All this and much more in the planning stages or already in progress (30 + raised beds and counting, large
lasagna beds and new areas for growing more of what is needed here on this homestead-everything from young new trees and shrubs,
perennial crops to annual crops).
None of this do I have to do. I would not go to the lengths of growing our own meat or produce if I hadn't decided how important it is to eat from our own environment and at the same time benefiting our planet.
One day soon I will have the one step completed which will free me from the "dreaded" electric bill. I have sun and wind in sufficient quantity that buying power is increasingly not making sense.
And that's one thing about homesteading overall is that it MAKES SENSE!!!