Those kind of years are SO HARD. Two years ago, I wrote
The reality of homesteading has dissolved my "prepper"/homesteading fantasies. Life had thrown SO MANY curveballs, and there was just no way to juggle them all. And, it really showed me that when life gets chaotic, we don't magically gain super powers to overcome all obstacles. Instead, we just fumble around trying to not drop the important balls too hard. I mean, it's so crazy we're dropping balls left and right, even the important ones, but we just have to hope we don't do irreversible damage!
Even now, with things calmer and a relatively good growing season here (enough rain to keep the garden from dying, not too hot, typical weather for my area), I still didn't grow as much food as I thought. We got lots of berries and peas and potatoes. But our tomatoes got blight. The beans barely sprouted. I got like 5 ears of corn from our 10x10 patch of corn/beans/squash (and no beans in there actually grew). You'd think by year 7 of being here, I'd be growing more. Sure, we're finally getting enough apples to preserve, and I've figured out how to grow potatoes, and the kids aren't needing me every 2 seconds all day long. But, I'm still not growing enough food for 1 person, let alone 4! I went out to get some veggies to go along with our potatoes for our dinner, and came back with 6 small green beans, 5 tiny strawberries, and a 6 cherry tomatoes. That's not a picture worthy harvest AT ALL!
I don't have any easy answers. I'd like to say life will get better, but sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes life is just stinky. I just kept plowing ahead like the stubborn mule that I am, and tried to laugh and sing as much as I could through the insanity. Sometimes, I think that about all we can do except pray and cry.
Five acres, two little ones, one awesome husband, 12 ducks (give or take), and a bunch of fruit trees and garden beds. In her spare time, Nicole likes to knit, paint, draw, teach kids, make fairies & dragons, philosophize, and read fantasy. She doesn't HAVE spare time, but does like to fantasize about it! 
Pollinator Scavenger Hunt
