Plus, you know, you were actually raising a bunch o' kids during that time. :) (And yes, of course, people have long raised passels of kids in conjunction with a farming/homesteading life, but for me? In that season on life? I couldn't even keep a plant alive -- and stopped trying -- b/c whatever energy & nurturing I had was all going to my family)
Ha, true! For me I think it was always a Kids + 1 kind of thing. I could do the kids AND...a busy schedule outside the home or I could do the kids AND...a lot of projects inside the home. But I absolutely could not do kids + 2.
Another thing your comment made me think of, Jenny - while it's true people have raised bunches of kids while farming/homesteading, there's just so much in today's world that would draw people away from home and make it really hard to do, especially in conjunction with any kind of outside employment. Plus, the bar has been raised, raised, and raised again when it comes to what parents are expected to provide each child in terms of resources, individual attention, education...so it's not really comparable. So even though my energy levels may not be what they were when I was 30, I have way more available time to devote to this stuff now that I don't have a bunch of young kids to whom I was expected to give the lion's share of my resources and attention.
Goats! How delightful! Where in SW Michigan? (I’m in Kalamazoo.)
Her farm is just outside of Paw Paw - I'm in the St. Joe area!
Plus, you know, you were actually raising a bunch o' kids during that time. :) (And yes, of course, people have long raised passels of kids in conjunction with a farming/homesteading life, but for me? In that season on life? I couldn't even keep a plant alive -- and stopped trying -- b/c whatever energy & nurturing I had was all going to my family)
Ha, true! For me I think it was always a Kids + 1 kind of thing. I could do the kids AND...a busy schedule outside the home or I could do the kids AND...a lot of projects inside the home. But I absolutely could not do kids + 2.
Another thing your comment made me think of, Jenny - while it's true people have raised bunches of kids while farming/homesteading, there's just so much in today's world that would draw people away from home and make it really hard to do, especially in conjunction with any kind of outside employment. Plus, the bar has been raised, raised, and raised again when it comes to what parents are expected to provide each child in terms of resources, individual attention, education...so it's not really comparable. So even though my energy levels may not be what they were when I was 30, I have way more available time to devote to this stuff now that I don't have a bunch of young kids to whom I was expected to give the lion's share of my resources and attention.