Dreams do come true, Dreams do come true, Dreams do come true! (I am trying to encourage myself) I haven't blogged in a while. Partly due to life running full boar ahead, partly due to my health. It seems I am not super mom and can not continually go at the speed of light. My immune system is shot and currently as I am sitting here trying to catch up I am in the throes of pain while passing a kidney stone. It seems as if I have had a kidney infection for weeks and i was thinking it was my IBS. I went on antibiotics just two days ago and i assume that the infection and swelling has gone down enough for my sweet little kidney to shoot out one if its pieces of shrapnel. If you have ever passed a "stone" you understand what I am saying. This will be my 7th! My kidneys have been clear for two years... But as tests showed my acid level is at a level that requires me to STOP eating acidic foods and embrace the more alkaline morsels. The acid level actually causes kidney disease and leaches calcium from my bones to cause the stones.
Dreams do come true, Dreams do come true, Dreams do come true! We have still been looking for our dream home.. We spoke with our financial planner last week and are looking towards and planning my husbands early retirement in 23 months. We have made the plan to leave California and are isolating our search more towards the east coast.
We want an area that is not being plagued by drought which so many states are, we want a home where we are free to drink our raw goats milk, raise our chickens, sell their eggs and basically set up an income building homestead. Dreams do come true, Dreams do come true, Dreams do come true! My focus today is that my dreams will come true, that the desires of my heart that were purposely placed by God will be realized.
So I will be encouraged, in my struggle to get healthy, in my journey to prepare my family to move across this nation and to search out every blessing God has for me! You be encouraged too and realize that you too can experience all the joy imaginable, that you can be in the middle of the same chaos as I find myself in with 5 kids, and love love love life!
Have you thought about Washington. There are so many different micro climates here that you can pretty much take your pick. Eastern Washington is more dry and deserty but there is a lot of agriculture there. Apples, grapes, stone fruit, wheat, etc. Western Washington is cooler but has mild winters so you can garden almost year round. Even Western Washington has its own micro climates. For instance I live on Whidbey Island 40 minutes from Seattle but we get less rain and warmer temps. Sequim on the peninsula gets even less rain so is a haven for Lavender farms and retirees. A few miles down the road from there you have the Olympic rain forest. As far as raw milk you can drink your own but if selling it is what you want to do you have to jump through the hoops or sell it as "pet" milk. I get raw goat milk from my breeder. (I no longer have goats but will again someday.) We have also just passed a "cottage industry" law that is in its infancy. It allows you to make and sell certain products made in your family kitchen using farmers markets or selling from your farm. It limits you to $15,000
ReplyDeletea year however and the products have to be stuff that is less likely to spoil. You can do stuff like baked goods and jams, eggs and other things that I can't remember right now. Google cottage industry law Washington state if you are interested. Good luck wherever you go.
There is no perfect homestead for the weather changes, bugs that never were a problem before are now, and livestock have a way of introducing new challlenges each year. Is it worth it, yes. But it will also be the hardest thing you will ever do. Okay, maybe the second hardest for I thought home-schooling for 15 years while trying to be fairly self-sufficient to be the hardest but I wouldn't of changed a thing. Good luck in your adventures and thank you for joining me in my adventures at easylivngthehardway.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI too had a kidney stone two years ago, in my kidney, wonderful doctors at Urology Associates on Herndon, in Fresno. Doctor told me afterwards to drink a glass of lemonade every day for prevention. Not Country Time or Crystal Light but real lemonade. So far so good.
ReplyDeleteI missed this post, but I'm not surprised. I've been really MIA for the most part as far as blogging goes, because as has been stated, homesteading is the hardest thing you'll ever do. It is also incredibly rewarding!
ReplyDeleteAll our 2012 kids (the first ever here)were born healthy and are growing well. Two have been sold and the other four retained in our herd. It was a huge learning curve, and a TON of hard work, but oh, so much fun!
I hope you find what you're looking for soon. Please give us an update on your condition now. I'll be praying for your healing as I await another post from you! :) {Hugs from a sister in Christ}