Can We Achieve the Homesteading Life?

Kit Carson -  http://www.kitcarsonhotel.com/

Laura Secord -  www3.telus.net/st_simons/

Louis Riel -    http://www.louisrielday.com/

Growing up in the city, I longed for the days of Laura, Caddie, Laura Secord and others.  Buffalo Bill, Sir Isaac Brock, Kit Carson, Daniel Boone, Colonel Custer, Louis Riel, Tecumseh, Sitting Bull. 
Indian or white, Canadian or American, male or female - it didn't matter.  It didn't matter which side of the 2 wars (1776 and 1812) they were on, either, although I think I might have cared at that time.   All that mattered was that they lived 'back then'.  Back when there were no motors running, you ate your own food, you wore what you sewed, the fastest thing around was a horse then a train.  Appreciation,
manners and gratitude existedand a handshake meant something.  Your hard work, honesty and integrity would stand you in good stead. 

It wasn't about the battle or the danger for me.  I hate battle, war, guns.  They kind of seem like the opposite of the peace and tranquility that most of us are looking for.  It was about the solitude and quiet that existed to a greater extent.  It was about the fact that any energy expended did not return empty-handed.  You got back what you gave.  Families had to spend time together, both working and playing.  Toys were made of the simplest things and played with endlessly then repaired and re-repaired until they could be salvaged no more.  Effort was given because effort mattered. 

I know that it was not all wonderment and roses, though.  People froze, starved, drowned, died of diseases that we can stop now.  I wonder how many woman died of childbirth complications and how many babies?  While visiting a friend's grave last year, I noticed a tombstone with the names of a couple who had died at an elderly age.  On the stone also were the names of their children, all of whom died either at birth or shortly thereafter, all around the turn of the century.  The parents then lived a good many years with no children.  How did they ever manage to go on?  How??

http://www.celiahayes.wordpress.com/

http://www.walkingprescott.blogspot.com/

All most of us want is a tiny slice of the quieter side of the homesteading life.  A home in the country, a garden and a few animals to 'keep idle hands busy', fill our cupboards and our pantries and 'keep the wolf from the door'.  Hand-made crafts (sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, rug-hooking, the list is endless!) to allow our creative side to blossom and possibly bring in some extra cash (thinking of Caroline Ingalls here and her 'egg-money').  Even in this crazy, hectic, loud, self-obsessed world, I think that we can still achieve this to some degree.