Dream Life

Over the past several years, I have developed this strange desire to have lots of kids (working on that one), homeschool them (tried it for 6 years), and live in the country. Living in the country is still something I really want to do. We moved to a small town last summer and are living in town in a rental house.

The thing is, I don’t want to just LIVE in the country, I want this whole country experience. http://largefamilylogistics.net/ and www.youredoingwhat.blogspot.com are two blogs that are very inspiring, although very overwhelming at the same time.

See, I would love to have hens that lay eggs, so I can go out each morning and get fresh eggs. Ditto milk, although I don’t want to do the milking. I also want lots of fruit trees so we can just walk out to the field and pick juicy fruit in the summer. I would like to raise organic chickens (for us to eat/sell) and raise organic beef (for us to eat/sell). I would also love to have beehives so we can have fresh honey. We had beehives when I was a kid and I loved to chew on the honeycomb. I do remember my dad having over 50 bee stings after getting the honey out. The bees were not too happy about his interference. I want a garden, so I can have my own little harvest. Growing up, we had a large garden. In fact, one summer Mom got overly ambitious and made a HUGE garden. It got a bit out of control and was nicknamed “Vietnam” because it grew so big and unruly. We had a plum tree that was between our house and my grandparents’ house. I remember just walking over and picking a warm, ripe plum to eat. Yum!

I really want to grow Christmas trees on my little farm. I know. That one is a stretch. I’m wondering how well Christmas trees grow in central Texas.

AND, I dream of being Suzy Homemaker, complete with my homemade quilts, up-to-date scrapbooks, and numerous cross stitch projects I have completed hanging on our walls. The dream goes on to include nutrition. No artificial colors or flavors, no preservatives, limit sugar, everything (almost everything) made from scratch. Yes, I want to grind our wheat and bake our bread.

Here’s the catch: I am not a natural hard worker. See the dilemma? My dream life comes complete with HARD WORK and EXHAUSTION. And, now that my kids are in school, I am going to have to modify the dream a bit. I am happy that we homeschooled for a while and I am happy that they are now in school. They love school and so do I. But I still want all the other things mentioned above. I tend to strive for perfection, then fall off the wagon somewhere around the hard work stage.

I have been brainstorming and trying to come up with a plan to get me to this dream life. But I think having a hubby who grew up on a city block, with no animal experience, is going to limit the dream. Who is going to take care of the cows? The chickens? Oh, and I do want 2 horses, just for fun. I love horses. They smell so good. I'll let you know if/when I come up with a modified plan.

I hope everyone has enjoyed reading about my dream life. In 20 years, my kids will look back on this post and laugh. :)