“Turn Your Waiting Room into a Classroom!” – Jess, from Roots and Refuge Farm
In a recent post I shared my passion for whole foods, cooking from scratch, and just good nourishing foods. Beyond that, if you’re new here I will just tell you, that I truly believe food is our medicine and that our bodies can heal themselves, if you give them the proper nutrients and wellness they need to thrive.
With that there is a natural progression when you start cooking from scratch that leads to self-sufficiency, sustainability and sourcing the best ingredients. Which over the years has led to the dream of one day having a homestead with land and growing most (because we just can’t do it all) of our own food from raising our own meats to large scale gardens, and getting back to a simple, more natural way of life.
Jess from Roots and Refuge always advises, “to turn your waiting room into a classroom,” and that is what we are going to do. As obvious as it is to say, all of us are just where we are, everything is temporary, and you have to just start somewhere. Sometimes in this time of social media it is very easy to compare yourself to others and feel discouraged because you aren’t there yet, but every single one of the people you are comparing yourself to had to start exactly where they were and take the next step.
I often find myself becoming discouraged, comparing myself to this “perfect” idea on the internet. It is really easy to continue scrolling, comparing yourself and ultimately results in me feeling sorry for myself because my path hasn’t been as straight forward. But we are each on our own path and even though right now the Wildcraft Cottage is in an apartment, someday there will be the dream homestead with land, gardens and animals, but now I can either get caught up in the fact that I’m not there yet or I can make the most of it and “turn my waiting room into a classroom” as Jess suggests.
This is such a huge dream, there is a lot involved and it takes a lot of different skills that most of us were not brought up learning like our ancestors did in the past. When the time comes when I finally have the perfect land and the dream house, it would be incredibly overwhelming to try to learn to manage that land and all the animals while also learning all of the skills it takes to run a homestead at the same time. This process is what I want to share with you, taking one action at a time, taking action over perfection, learning the skills it takes to run a homestead. Everything from testing the recipes my family prefers to butchering meat, preserving the bounty of the seasons, home management and so much more.
So the first step I wanted to take in this journey was to start my bulk food supply! But if you are anything like me, I am very much an all or nothing person. I want to dive in but if I did that in this case I would be setting myself up for failure. Instead I need to slowly work my way up and take it one action at a time so instead of placing a huge order I decided to go against my nature and take it a little slower. I got just a few things to set me up and the few things I really need right now so that I could see what the process of ordering from Azure is like, just so I feel more comfortable and confident moving forward.
Some people often associate self-sufficiency as coming from a place of fear, but for me it really comes from the idea that food is our medicine, knowing our food system is broken, and that we need to get back to good nourishing food for our health, wellness and just because it tastes better. I hope this encourages you and that you can see that anyone can do it, you just have to start where you are and take the next step. I believe and hope this is valuable information for anyone who is dreaming of a homestead, but aren’t sure how to start or they just want to see the journey of trying to figure it out.
Remember, the secret is to enjoy the ordinary and create your own reality.
Cheers!
