question for those that want to live a self-sufficient life | Page 2 | General Homesteading Discussion | Forums

Those pictures are powerful; I got some dust in my eye when I was looking at them.

I'll give my wife a lot of credit; she has put up with a lot of change and hardship while being with me. When we met, we were both in our early 20's; I was fashionable, had a nice car, and she liked me to take her out to nice places and relax the night away with wine and music. We got married, had our oldest child almost exactly 9 months later (we had all the precautions in place but apparently you cannot stop God's plans), and I immediately decided I had better go back to college and do something with my life.

The next 4 years, I worked during the day, went to school at night, and amidst that, we bought a house that ended up being a major fixer-upper. I am fairly certain I can count the number of times we went out as a couple on one hand during that time. 3 years into our marriage and barely surviving financially, our son was born; I was working full time, still going to school full time at night, and we were doing major remodeling on our house on the weekends. I was still not making very much money, and my wife was forced to go back to work full time to keep food on the table and the lights on. It was tough on her to not be with the kids during the day; we'd get home from work, have a quick dinner as a family, and then the kids would fall asleep. She never had time with them and it was hard on her as a mother.

Fast forward to present day, and I am finally working a pretty good job, she was able to quit working in November of 2014 and be home with the kids finally (just in time for #3 coming this March), and suddenly I decide to sell the house I spent the last 5 years making perfect for her... so I can buy land and be quasi-self-sufficient.

My wife has rode along, suffered by being alone while I spent every night at school or out working on the house by halogen lamp, and has even gone along with the mini-farm idea. She is a city girl, her idea of fun is going out on the town, not working on a homestead; however, she is amazing. She helps with the ridiculous over-sized gardens I put in, cooks, cans, and freezes all the food I grow, and does it all because she knows I like it (even though it is anything but her idea of fun). I honestly don't know if she'd do it if I was gone, but our kids are already so into gardening and canning, my hope is they will keep up the tradition up when I am gone.