The Allure of Modern Homesteading: Why Do So Many Yearn for the Past?

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Alarm clock rings, feet hit the floor and the rush of the day begins.  I start with a shower, get dressed, and pack a lunch for myself.  Then it's back upstairs to wake up the children, pulling them out of their weary slumber, battling their tired little bodies to get dressed amidst their tears, yelling as the clock hands continue to move faster than I can, that we need to hurry.  

Into the car we go.  Quick kisses and goodbyes and rush off to work.  Rush kids through content, rush to library class, rush out to the bus.  Pack up my belongings and work to bring home, then back to the car to pick up the children.  Plop them in front of the TV so I can hurry to prepare dinner, then quickly eat.  Soon it's bedtime and the day is gone.

This was my life.  This was how every single day went.  It's a typical day in the life of a working mom, something that so many can relate to.  But for me, it was heartbreaking.  Though I loved my job teaching in a brick and mortar; I loved working with children and creating meaningful learning opportunities to ignite a spark, I would dread each day.  It wasn't the students- I loved them deeply.  It was the rushing.  It was being away from my own children daily as they were raised by someone else.  It was the feeling of the sand slipping through the hourglass so fast I barely realized it was flowing at all.

It was in these moments I realized the weight of this modern life fatigue.

Everything in our modern world is about bigger, better, faster, stronger.  How can we make more money?  How can I buy this thing?  We work to fill our pockets so that we can buy things that we don't really need only to buy bigger houses to fill with the things we continue to buy.  We become slaves to our homes, to our things, and like a ravenous monster, the greed within us always wants more, demanding to be fed.

The weight of this can be overwhelming.  As we look to the past for answers, it's the homesteading era that has a magical romance about it, drawing us into the allure of simpler times.  What would it be like if we lived then?  How would our lives be different if we let go of the world, and turned back to the traditions of the past?

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
1 Timothy 6: 7-8

As people continue to grow tired and weary of the world we are living in now, the draw of a simple life, one filled with the daily tasks of survival becomes a dream in the minds of the hopeless.  A life filled with physical labor that bears fruits of thanksgiving.  A life filled with daily chores that provide food for the home, clothing for the people, and connection to the Earth.  It is here that relationships are built, both within the family and with the land.  It is here that you're forced to slow down as the tasks of daily living take time to complete them.  It is here, in this labor-filled lifestyle that so many can find peace.

It is this life that I choose.  I've found a way to make it work for our family so that I can live the life I desire yet still provide for the inescapable demands of this modern-day world.  We work on the land that provides our food.  We play in the forests, listening to the magic and following the tracks of the others who have passed there before.  We slow down to cook a from-scratch meal, and we sit together at the table for dinner.   We snuggle together at night, ready for the joy of the day tomorrow and professing our true thanksgiving for the day that we had to the Lord.  It is here that we find our peace and our purpose.  It is this everyday, simple life in which we find hope and strength for tomorrow.

“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness -- just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.”
― Laura Ingalls Wilder, Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Wisdom and Virtues

So if you feel that calling, don't ignore it.  We are biologically designed to live with nature.  Embrace who you are and where you're at.  Make the life you want with what you have.  Sacrifice for what's important. Live your life, the only life you have, in the way that you find meaning and purpose.  You won't regret becoming who you were meant to be.

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