We’re getting closer to being all caught up to the present with these pictures. If you didn’t see part 1 and part 2, you might want to take a look at those before you read on. We’ve been sharing our journey over the past year (or so) through pictures, recounting some of the glory moments, challenges, and lessons learned along the way. We still have a long way to go . . . even if we’re just stepping stones for our children it has all been worth it, hard, incredibly hard, but worth it. We’re going back to the old paths, were the good way is.
Challenge: Trying to combine conventional building methods with healthy, off-grid living priorities, has been next to impossible. The possibilities have been endless even after years of learning, planning, and dreaming. It will truly be a glory moment when we finally get to move into our “cabin”.
Challenge, Lesson Learned, and Glory Moment: This is Buster, our Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog. When we first got him, we thought he was “broken” because he wouldn’t guard our goats, he just wanted to guard our children. In time we realized that having him guard our children was the best thing we could have hoped for in a dog.
Lesson Learned: Goats just aren’t our thing! The solar electric fence kept them where we wanted them, but took hours to set up in the areas where we wanted them . . . the kids were fun to watch and I learned the all important skill of milking, but we no longer have the goats. We wait for a cow.
Now Buster can just relax and do what he loves.
Glory Moments: The movable coop is working great. The eggs are coming in and they never get old . . . everyone loves to gather the eggs . . . and eat them!
Lesson Learned: Geese destroy young orchards! They should only be allowed in mature orchards . . . and never around your house. But they sure are beautiful.
Glory Moment: We are loving the Autumn Olives and they are all over our property . . . a delicious wild edible.
Challenge: Getting this 700 lb. cook stove in place took quite an effort. The cultured stove work around it is quite tedious to say the least. I just hope I can learn to cook on it without too many burned meals.
Glory Moment: Getting a smile from Joseph is always pure joy (now he has cute little teeth to add to the joy) . . . happy first birthday to our little “buddy” this week!
We have just a few more pictures left to share . . . and we still won’t give up. No matter how hard it may seem to transition from a modern way of life into the old paths of agrarian living, we know without a doubt that it is what we are suppose to be doing and for our children’s sake, it will be worth it.
Blessings,
Carrie
1000's of roots 
Pingback: A Year In Pictures . . . part 4 | 1000's of roots
Pingback: A Year In Pictures . . . part 2 | 1000's of roots