My son is a barefoot child—wild and free. He most likely inherited it from me, his mother. When that springtime weather hits, I’m in the garden barefoot. Of course, I’m not walking all over gravel and through the woods like he is, but I absolutely love gardening barefoot. There’s just something extraordinarily human about it—feeling connected to the earth, the soil, the anticipation of new life springing out of it.
The reality, however, is that barefoot gardening—just as with gardening with your hands in the dirt—is not only therapeutic, but extremely beneficial to your health.
The Benefits of Barefoot Gardening
It’s A Natural Thing
According to Patrick McKeon, a professor in Ithaca College’s School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, barefoot activities can greatly improve balance and posture and prevent common injuries like shin splints, plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, bursitis, and tendonitis in the Achilles tendon.
When we walk barefoot, the smaller muscles in our feet talk to the large muscles in our legs, therefore creating a deeper, more strengthened core. But when that feedback is disrupted by shoes or boots, we lose the advantage of building our body core. The simplest way to reintroduce the feedback provided by the small muscles of the foot is shed footwear when possible. And what better way to begin than by gardening!
Barefoot Gardening Reduces Stress, Muscle Pain, and Tension
Our feet are one of the greatest gateways into our bodies. There are thousands of pores on the bottom of our feet, which is why many things like essential oils and herbal remedies are often applied to the feet for quicker absorption.
Dirt has beneficial nutrients and antioxidants within it. And as proven time and time again, antioxidants can ride the body of inflammation and help reduce toxins, therefore reducing stress, muscle pain, and tension that’s within your body.
Some of the very same minerals that are found in the earth are also found in your body. Our bodies and our soil are made up of the same exact minerals. Pulling ourselves closer to the soil, and therefore allowing those rich minerals to penetrate into our pores, helps replenish mineral deficiencies and promote overall good health.
Source: Fix.com Blog Ultimately, the moral of this story is, go garden in the dirt! Your health will benefit greatly from barefoot gardening, and you might even enjoy it!
Homestead Gardening
Learn more about growing a homestead garden that will keep your belly full and your body & mind healthy!
I was sitting with my grandmother a few weeks back, and because of the simple fact that we own small livestock, she is always asking how the chickens are…any new rabbit babies…how about the bear, is he back? I always chuckle, because it seems to be the first thing she brings up when I walk through the door. She’ll proceed to tell me about raising quail, chickens, her mama whacking chickens over the head and sticking them in the pot for dinner. She’ll tell me about her daddy getting attacked by a bob-cat when he went to close the animals up one night. Or how they lived simply—though, it was normal for them back then. It wasn’t called “simple living” or anything like that. However, she was a homesteader and will often refer to her home where she grew up as “the ol’ homestead”.
Homestead:a house, especially a farmhouse, and outbuildings.
That is the very first definition of “homestead” in the Webster’s dictionary. The next definition is a law. The definition after that is a tax exempt property. And the next definition after that is a cluster of villages where a family resides in community.
Did it mention animals? Did it mention tractors? Did it mention how many times a day you had to bake bread or make a home cooked meal? Did it mention how you should or shouldn’t do something? Did it mention whether or not you’re really doing what you say you’re doing?
I don’t think so. At least, I didn’t read that part. In fact, the definition of “homesteader” is simply “someone who owns/holds a homestead”.
I didn’t read the part where it said if you don’t have a milk cow, three goats, one hundred chickens, and over 10 acres of land, that you can’t use the word “homestead” or call yourself a “homesteader”. Apparently I missed that part…and so did my ancestors.
My grandparents are in their ’80s, and they’ve always had old souls. Whenever I hear my grandma talk about “the ol’ homestead”, I never hear mention of a cow. My grandfather was raised on a cattle farm, and still raises them to this day. Two drastically different properties, yet, they were both homesteading souls. I never heard her mention of how much or how little they did—with the exception of those “I had to walk to school in 20 ft of snow” stories. Why? Because they just did it. They didn’t have an audience. They didn’t have Google ads to bring in money off YouTube videos. They didn’t have Facebook to brag about how hard they worked that day or how much they are doing on their homestead. They didn’t have cell phones or TV’s or anything like that. They actually lived a simple life because that’s just what they did. Many times, never having a choice.
In today’s modern society and homesteading community, we often like to define labels and titles. When in reality, the people who grew up submerged in the environment of farming and homesteading, they don’t really give a rats you know what about titles and labels. They are what they are, and what they’ve always been. When you question them, they kind of give you a blank stare and just move along. There’s no time to fight about useless titles. But rest assure, they will laugh at you later. It’s all harmless, but honestly, people who live it just don’t understand all the hype.
I recently read a post by A Farmish Kind of Life, and it truly hit home and inspired me to remember my roots. It’s something I talk about often, and the only people who ever agree with me or can sympathize with me are the people who actually live this life on a regular basis and grew up around it.
I saw this same post on another friend’s Facebook page, with a comment beneath it that said,
“I think people that don’t grow up in this environment are the ones that think about the hardships and the work…where those who have been around it our whole lives just view it as our normal life with no defining title attached.”
There is so much truth in that little sentence. I would even take it a step farther and say that we do understand the hard work, most certainly, but we simply don’t glorify it. Actually, I understand the hard work, and I didn’t even really do it as a child. I watched, I participated when I was needed in the Summer months, or that time when my Uncle taught me how to drive a tractor when he collected hay bales before a Summer storm. I knew the value of this lifestyle long before doing it myself, because I had the greatest mentors of all time—at least, my lifetime.
It’s life. It’s normal. It’s everyday living for so many people who don’t even have a self-appointed title for themselves. Don’t be entangled in the mindset of what the definition of a “homesteader” or “off-grider” or “prepper” or “southerner” or “crunchy” person may be to others. It doesn’t matter. Really. If no one has said this to you, let it be me who says it straight to your heart. It doesn’t matter what other people think of you. It doesn’t matter what other people think of what you do. It doesn’t matter whether they think you do too much on your “homestead”, or too little. Are they with you everyday of your life? No? Then it doesn’t matter. That’s not how this works…that’s not how any of this works.
When did we become so concerned with how people who sit behind a computer screen view us?
There is no “I know more than you” mentality with those who have been doing this their entire lives. Ever. Not once. In fact, most of the time, the people who’ve been doing this or have been around it their whole lives, they want to educate you in humility. They do it because they know the importance of it. They do it because it’s something they know that can be shared with anyone. They do it because this is their life, and if someone can learn from it, then they will share their experiences. They don’t try and persuade you into believing something just because they do, or in living the way they live. They know the value of community, friendship, and living a truly simple life. And even then, it’s not called a “simple life” for them…it’s simply called “living”.
I have been told I’m not a “homesteader”, because I don’t have a 3 acre garden, own a field full of large livestock, or even because I don’t show every single aspect of living here. I have been condemned for posting an artistic photo of three little carrots I pulled up out of the ground too soon—because, goodness me, I should be growing more than that (and yet, I was just weeding them out). Do you hear how silly that is? Do you hear how stupid that sounds? And if that makes me some kind of impostor, then so be it. But can I be honest for a second?
I don’t care…. I don’t walk into my local farm store and say, “Oh hey, yeah, I’m a homesteader.” Um, duh. That’s probably why you’re at the farm store. Do you know how ridiculous they’d look at me? I don’t care about the title. To be honest, I’m not a homesteader first and foremost. I’m a wife, a mom, a homemaker…who just so happens to wrangle chickens, too. So if the “title” throws you off…remove it from the header. Just get to know me—our lives, our loves, our passions, our simplicity. If the “homestead” part causes you so much strife because it doesn’t fit into your box of a definition that’s contrary to American literature, then please, just act like it’s not there. It doesn’t define me as a person, I promise. I will continue taking artistic photos of my food. What can I say, I like playing with it. I enjoy the beauty of deep earthy colors coming up from the soil.
I will continue to grow what I can grow and buy what I can’t grow. Because that’s what I’ve always done. Each year I grow a little more as I build and grow on our property.
I will continue to support my community and neighbors buy bartering and purchasing, educating and learning.
I am a homesteader. I am my own definition of one. Because the reality is that there is no proper definition. Certainly, within reason, you know the basics.
But whether you have less than me, or more than me, if you are a homesteader…then that’s what you are.
Maybe you live in a small house like us and you are trying to find places to grow and build. Or maybe you’re like friends of ours who manage over 600+ acres of farmland. Whatever you have, enjoy it. Enjoy the hell out of it. The mere fact that you live your life to the standard of no one else will cause those who are more concerned with titles than actually living this life to move along…right after they try and prove you wrong…of course…because that’s their number one goal anyway.
Love the simple life you live. No, no, better yet, just love this life. Whether it’s “simple”, “crunchy”, “minimalistic”, “homesteady”, or “preppy”. Love it. Because that’s all it is, folks…..life.
…. and I’ll be darned if someone is going to tell me I can’t live it the way I see fit for myself and my family. They didn’t allow it on “the ol’ homestead”, and goodness, I’m not allowing the entitlement of our society to tell me what the definition of my life is either.
I am a planner by nature, but implementing my plans is a completely different story. As the new year comes closer, one of my top goals is to be more organized in the new year. After all, I’m planning a the Homesteaders of America conference in October—I better be prepared and well planned! Taking on such a huge task, however, has shown me how much more I need to be organized on my homestead. And being organized is simply not my strong point in life.
When my husband asks me “how much did we harvest this year” or “how much money did we spend on the chickens”, I literally look at him with a blank stare all while thinking did you really think I kept up with that?! I’m horrible. I could throw a number off my head, but I’d probably be hundreds of dollars off….in both directions. I can tell you the initial start up cost of our homestead, and that’s about it. The yearly stuff? I’m just wingin’ it!
You can see my dilemma. My first issue is telling myself I simply don’t have the time to keep track. But the reality is that if I want a successful homestead that isn’t a money pit, I need to keep track of all of our expenses, what we’ve bought and sold, how many eggs we’ve collected in one year versus chicken feed, how many rabbits we processed, and more. Convincing myself that it only takes 3 extra minutes out of my entire day has proven to be daunting.
So this year I stumbled across some pretty spectacular printables through Reformation Acres, another fellow homesteader. You can find the printables by clicking here. These things are going to be a life saver for me. Not only that, but it eased me into creating a Homestead Management binder—say what!? Mama is really getting organized now! I bought a cheap binder from the dollar store, no need to get fancy. Or you can find them on Amazon.
Within the binder, I can house all of my homesteading and gardening information in one place. I have the printables, and then I have my calendar planner, garden planner, almanac (because I can never find it when I need it), incubation schedule/chart, and so much more.
The printables themselves include a seed starting excel spreadsheet that you can personalize on your computer and then print out for your binder. I did do this last year, and it was a real life saver. I was a much more efficient gardener when my seeds were started indoors on time, and I planted and rotated crops properly.
I’m also taking seed inventory from last year’s harvests and whatever I had left over from previous years. I quickly found that I have an entire seed inventory page of only tomatoes. Yeah, I think we’re good on tomatoes this year! The issue is that, because I didn’t take a seed inventory each year, I found that I would simply buy the same seeds over and over again. Now I’m stuck with 20 packages of tomato seeds. I think I’ll share some with friends! It also caused me to see which seed packages will soon be out of date, or are already out of date.
Each year my husband and I have the argument of our chickens being more “free loading” than the year before. He loves the chickens all year, until they stop laying, and then he says “get rid of them all!” I always chuckle, because he doesn’t mean it, he’s just bitter about not having his golden yolked eggs each day. Because of this, my new year organization binder will also house a handy dandy egg tally chart. This will be fun for our son, who has recently taken over most of the homestead chores on a daily basis. He can collect the eggs, open the binder, and mark down how many eggs we received that day. At the end of the year we can tally them up. We can also look back the following year to see the patterns of our chickens. What did we feed them to get more egg production in the winter? When did they go into a molt? Was their molt hard or mild?
There are other great options in the binder as well, like dairy production, pantry inventory, freezer inventory, and year end cost analysis. It will also allow me to keep track of our rabbitry—breeding, raising, and butchering.
Besides the binder, we are enjoying a simplified homestead. But we have great plans to expand the garden this year, and expand our chickens as well. We’ll also be expanding our quail flock, which requires us to build more habitats. It will be interesting to keep track of cost analysis at the end of the year. How much money did we really spend on simple living?
So, the plan is, to keep up with the plan. We’ll see how this pans out. But I am feeling pretty darn good about 2017 being my year of organization. And it starts with our homestead! I know that there will be much satisfaction when I can look in my binder next December and say, “wow, we canned 25 quarts of applesauce this year”, or to look back and learn from our mistakes, learn from our animals, and learn from the weather and our garden. Not only that, but it projects us into growth and knowledge for the year afterwards as well.
This homesteading journey is more than just a daily task to accomplish. It is slowly teaching us how to maintain life and to learn skillsets that our generations have long forgotten. I would like to believe that simple living is still somewhere embedded in our DNA, it just needs a little water and fertilizer in which to grow. Even if that means I have to create a homestead management binder just to keep up with it all.
Wishing you a beautiful and prosperous New Year—from our homestead, to yours!
