back to simple

I didn't think this post would exist ten years ago... really. I was the girl with the name brand clothes, stylist appointments every six weeks and make up in my purse for hourly touch ups. Manicures, legs waxed (you may or may not be horrified to know I do not shave my legs now) and hairsprayed hair, done just right. Yep, that was me. I might even share a picture if you promise not to laugh. But you really would have to promise. I mean, c'mon, it was the 80's...

But back to simplicity...

It really means so many different things to all of us and there is no right or wrong way to define it. Some folks feel that living simply means to go without their Starbucks in lieu of coffee at home. Others like to declutter their home, passing on clothes one no longer loves, downsizing homes, biking instead of driving, getting rid of debt, etc...All of these are valid ways to simplify and offer freedoms from being attached to a system that may no longer work for everyone (consumerism).

When I first started down this road ten years ago, I lived a most conventional lifestyle. I possibly might have lived like you do. I shopped at full priced stores, I had credit card debt, a mortgage, a car payment, utility bills, school loans, etc... We ate out a couple times a week, made an hour commute to work and planned to put the kids in daycare to make the possibility of work viable (so that we could pay for the mortgage, bills, car payment, etc...). It was a cycle and one I wasn't quite enjoying.

Enter in a meditation course, a divorce, selling all of our assets, a move to the country, a homemade house complete with a spring to haul water from and store food in, a sawdust toilet, no electricity and no indoor plumbing. It was freeing. (see my first blog post, "This isn't how I was raised" at https://www.blueeggfarmstore.com/single-post/2015/5/25/This-isnt-how-I-was-raised for more details).

It is a lifestyle I have not quite gotten away from. I have bought a new farm to build on and I find myself sitting by the woodstove in the morning, coffee in hand, wondering how long I may want to live without most comforts. How long will I want to haul water and heat it on the stove for baths and dishes. How long will I want to chop wood to heat our home? How long? I imagine, until I don't want to anymore.

In ways and over time, I have stepped away from complete simplicity. We now have electricity and a house that feels and looks spacious. We still live without water and we heat with wood, although at some point we will have a warm concrete floor to walk on and a well on our property. We will have a garden next year and can our food. We make our own bread, crackers and bagels, but have stepped away from raising our own animals for food. We have a successful body care business (thanks to you) that follows the simplicity of infusing plants off of our land to use in healing your skin. Life is good.

But I still haven't bought that new razor yet.