I’m treating you to an extra post this week because next week there will be some actual homesteading activities to report (I know you’ve been waiting with baited breath), but in the meantime I have a few things to get off my chest. I want to talk about food and emotions – two things that often go together, and one often triggers the other.
Let’s get emotions out of the way first. I don’t know whether the adrenaline has ceased pumping after the busy time of moving or if my current emotional state is due to going through a major life event, but I’ve felt a bit down this week at times.
As you know, I'm a Brit abroad and it is sometimes hard to live so far away from your family and friends. Obviously, when times are hard or challenging you yearn for family, friends and familiarity but also when things are good, I miss the opportunity to share it with them. There’s been a few moments when I’ve been going about my daily activities and I see something beautiful, or I achieved something for the first time, that I wish I could share it with my family & friends in the UK. Now I need you to understand that I am extremely grateful for my friends here in Canada and have been astounded by the level of support we have received, this is just about being reminded of people left behind. The desire to hand my sister Shelley a glass of cider or tell Denise about a new granola bar recipe. To share a laugh with Katie and Julie, or to pop in to Rowena’s for a cuppa while the kids play. I also lost my Mother 2 years ago and I know she would have loved the idea of us embarking on this venture.
Anyway, I have to admit that a combination of all of this provoked a bout of tears yesterday in front of Ian. I’m not normally a cryer, thankfully because when I do cry, it’s bad. I can limit it to a few tears if no one asks me if I’m ok. As soon as someone wants me to talk, I lose it. My face involuntarily contorts, turns red and then the tears explode and I lose the ability to talk, breath, gain control. The last time I had such a crying bout was approximately 4 years ago in the middle of London; a very public display! We had just left the Canadian Embassy after a horrid experience at the visa office and I burst into tears. Ian, bless him, tried to console me (or hide my hideous crying face from the general public) by pulling me in for a cuddle. Unfortunately, he had a waterproof jacket on and so my tears and snot were basically rubbed back into my face and hair. My muffled protests were mistaken for sobs which caused Ian to hold me tighter and not release me from drowning in my own bodily fluid. This memory is a brilliant motivator to keep it together now when those moments of sadness pass over me.
Moving on to food. I was telling a random stranger about our lifestyle transition and the motivations when the lady asked me what I meant by ‘food security’. I started spouting some generic dribble but was struck about the lack of personal honesty of the words coming from my mouth.
I read something in The Backyard Homestead Guide to RaisingFarm Animals recently that talked about the issue of food security. It says:
“The term means different things to different people. One definition involves having a reliable source of basic foods and not having to worry about going hungry. Another requires the food to be sufficient quantity and quality to meet your dietary needs and satisfy your food preferences. Still other definitions specify that the food be nutritious, safe, and healthful. And some definitions incorporate the concepts of local self-sufficiency and environmental sustainability”.
The woman who questioned made me reflect on what it means to me personally. All of the above definitions resonate with me but what does it mean on a practical level of running a homestead and providing food security to my family? So I set about putting together some rules for a homestead that would enable my own personal definition of food security.
- Animals raised for food production or meat will be allowed to roam free, and live in conditions as close to their natural environment as possible, whilst protecting them from the natural predators in the area.
- The animals will get the best available diet, free of animal by-products. Think grass-fed cows and flax added to the chicken’s diets, which will in turn enhance our diets.
- Wherever possible, the animals will be slaughtered on site (not be me you understand, I’d like to think I could do it, but I can’t). This reduces stress to the animal and reduces mercury released into the meat.
- No unnatural fertilizers will be used for growing veg. Last year we used mushroom compost which was very successful. I do not want to put chemicals on the soil that grows our food, nor do I want these chemicals filtering down into the ground water…we live on a well and have to drink that water. No matter how effective the natural filtration system, this is a something I want to avoid.
- We are not going to get our farm registered organic, because the buyer ends up paying, right? However, we will set out a list of ethical growing practices, such as using natural predators and pollinators instead of insecticides, etc.
- We will only use the water for food and animals, not for lawns.
- Our homestead will aim to produce minimal food waste.
- Finally, and most importantly to my personal values…I will never, no matter how hard things get, resort to making fruit wine, EVER!
