Chapter 1: The Dream, Is It Still Alive?

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The Dream: Is It Still Alive?

“The Dream,” 5 Acres & A Dream The Book (p. 3)

If you were to ask me what has changed on our homestead since I wrote 5 Acres & A Dream The Book, I would tell you, “a lot.” At a glance, everything looks quite different. The house is now blue and features a bay window overlooking a large open front porch. At the end of the driveway stands the goat barn, exactly where our old coal barn used to be but newer and fresher, with my hand-painted barn quilt gracing the hayloft doors. Behind it, the original chicken coop and goat shed has been expanded into a workshop for Dan and sports a new metal roof. Next to that is the chicken coop Dan built several years ago and the enlarged chicken yard. The two old oaks that I loved finally died and became firewood. In their place, three solar panels now stand at attention.

The biggest changes, however, are not what you see when you look around. The biggest changes are in how we are learning to view ourselves and our relationship with our homestead. There is a long litany of “failed” experiments to go along with that change, each resulting in a flurry of new research, not to mention soul-searching. Yes, there have been times we’ve questioned what we’re doing here and whether it’s worth it. More than once we have discussed walking away, but that discussion doesn’t last long. Besides the obvious question of, “what else would we do?” there is an inner conviction that this is how we are supposed to live.

  Above: The house when we first arrived in 2009.

The more we interact with the natural world around us—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—the more we understand ourselves to be a part of it. Our life’s work is to conduct ourselves in such a way that our five acres of earth can be its best self. And that begs the question of how. How do we function as part of our homestead ecosystem?

That idea is counter-cultural to modern thinking. Modern thinking tends to view humans as an environmental problem. It’s true, humans are extremely destructive creatures, but if humankind is truly “The Problem,” then someone or something got it wrong. Either God was wrong in creating us in the first place, or evolution was wrong by selecting us to become the dominant species. What is true, is that there is an extreme disconnect between modern culture and the natural world. Urbanization and technology are leading people away from nature. That influences how they see it, how they think about it, and what they want to do with it.

Unfortunately, today’s high esteem for technological advancement and gadgetry is a blind spot in the modern point of view. Problems are recognized, but causes are ignored. Research is based on reductionist science rather than the whole, and the recommended solution is always to throw more technology at the problem. But haven’t they noticed things are only getting worse?

“The Dream,” 5 Acres & A Dream The Book (pp. 3-4)

The longer we homestead the more this is true, and the world’s way continues to become less attractive. Consumerism is certainly less appealing, in part because we prefer what we can grow and produce ourselves. But also, because of the increasingly poor quality of commercial goods being produced nowadays. Food from the grocery store has no substance; no real flavor. Construction materials are becoming smaller, flimsier, and contain more flaws. The metal used in tools and equipment is either lighter gauge or replaced with plastic, which eventually cracks and breaks. When faced with the choice between buying such offerings or doing something else, we increasingly have chosen to do something else.

Sometimes that something else is doing without. We’ve learned that we can truly live with less. It’s not that we’re settled for less, it’s that we realize we can be content with less. The old saying “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” is good advice. The interesting thing is that when we don’t continually rely on buying solutions to problems, the brain somehow switches into its creative mode. By casting about for alternatives, new ideas present themselves. I’d say we’ve accomplished more with fewer financial resources than we thought possible. And we’re happier for it! Because of that, I can say with certainty we are indeed living our dream.

© Sept 2020 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com