Why we do it

When I tell someone that we have a little farm they response is always the same; "Really?  Where?"  It has become a game to guess their response to my answer.  I live in a small suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.  The conversation usually goes one of two ways.  Either, "Wow! That's really cool!" or "You have a farm in the city?"  To my co-workers they lovingly refer to my place as the "city farm" and usually tell me I'm "Livin' Amish in the hood."

We find that living this way has had many advantages.  We enjoy being able to grow and raise our own food.  Growing and raising our food, while saving us money, is only one reason we do it.  I personally find that eating food we have grown tastes much better and strange as it might sound it makes you feel better.  Not only the fact that it is as close to organic as you can get without getting certified but, it keeps you busy.

Most people come home from work and eat some supper and veg out on the couch, but not me.  My days are pretty regular; work, supper, farm chores, put kids to bed, go to bed.  My days are full.  One would think all that work would make for long boring days.  False!  I love working on my little farm.  I get to see the tangible fruits of my labor!  I look forward to collecting all the veggies and milk and eggs at the end of the day and admiring it all over a big glass of mint tea from my own mint plant and sweetened with stevia from my garden.

While eating and drinking the "fruits of our labor" is nice we use the farm to teach our kids and sometimes the occasional neighborhood kid about how we get food and how much work it takes to get it to the table.  Recently we butchered some Cornish Crossover chickens we had raised from chicks and were able to have some family friends over to "partake in the festivities."  They were surprized at how much work is required to get a live chicken butchered, plucked, cleaned, and quartered.  They told me they were excited to learn and enjoyed their "time on the farm."

These, and many others, are skills that are dying off in our modern world.  Kids and adults alike are ignorant of some of the simplest skills it takes to produce food.  We believe the ability to provide ones own food is a skill and lifestyle that will pay off not only for us but for those around us.