The setting sun casts the landscape in silhouettes as I walk back to the farmhouse from the barn.  All my chores are done for the day. As I walk on the sidewalk my sons insisted they pour just for me, a peaceful calm gently washes over me. It happens most evenings as I walk that path back to my home.  It took me a while to figure out what it was.  It’s the simple life.  It’s homesteading.  It’s being content with life “as is”.

I usually have put in a long day of hard work on the homestead and doesn’t matter if it’s negative 10 degrees or hot enough to cook an egg on that sidewalk. I am walking it often to care for my flocks and herd (and everything else that needs me).

I strode back to our home knowing that all my charges have been bedded down, fed and watered and they have had the best care I can give them. 

The evening song of the guineas fill the barn as I go up the last step and shut the door. I still call out “Night Homer!” even though my good dog was killed recently by a texting motorist.  It’s just the right thing to say as I leave my flocks tucked up on their roosts. I write often about the “how tos” of homesteading but what we are all really after is a full rich life. A life that we are actively experiencing rather than just witnessing vicariously through technology. 

Come stand by me as the dusk fades into night and there is only the howl of a distant coyote or the wind singing through the pine trees.  No need to rush. Just come stand still, breathe in the fresh clean air and hold it in your lungs a moment.  Just be.  That’s an essential part of homesteading, urban or country, it’s all the same.  You don’t even need a farm or homestead to live the simple life.  You can also be very busy and still stay on a path of less complications. 

If you were to stay with me for a season, you might not understand what I’m talking about at first.  You might find our slower pace boring and frustrating.  But I have to believe that if you give a simpler lifestyle a chance, you may begin to understand why so many are turning to its principles for lasting happiness.

I find contentment has always been a key to enjoying a less hectic life.  If you can learn to enjoy life with less – less stuff, less fuss, less drama, less revenge, less climbing to the top of the heap only to find its lonely there, less me more others, less struggle, more faith – you will find a peace that passes all understanding.  It’s like the simple joy of closing the coop door and walking back into the warm house where your sweetheart is waiting, not complicated but more than enough.

I am not implying that the only path to true happiness is to quit your job in the city and come live out in God’s country.   I am saying that the simple life is a mindset not a location.  You can practice it anywhere. 

The older I get the more meaning I find in living intentionally.  For me it’s not wealth in material possessions. They are fine, if they don’t own your soul, have fun.  I buy quality that lasts but as I prepare to move to our new homestead, I am reducing everything down to the simplest equation possible.  I would encourage you today to start thinking about one thing you could change to make your life easier or simpler.  Only you know the answer.  Discontentment makes us poor, while contentment makes us rich!

Contentment does not come from wealth—
It’s not something you can buy:
Contentment comes to give you peace
When you depend on God’s supply   Branon

Please think about it.  Life is too short to not find happiness.  Sincerely,  Anne May