Six people in a small house. Lots of laughter and noise, hard work and creative play. Messy bookshelves, dirty dishes and laundry abound. Wake-up-and-feed-the-animals time, reading-books-by-the-fire time, enjoying-our-food time, dance-in-the-kitchen time. This is our crazy life.
The way we choose to live continues to feel... bit by bit... more *unusual* as time goes on. Our desires keep moving us more towards simple living, and away from our modern, consumer and convenience-driven society. The short version: we live differently. We stick close to home a lot, get our exercise from hard work and completing projects.
We have grow lights in the basement for the Springtime seed starts, my kitchen is home to all sorts of living things, fermented and otherwise: (sourdough starter, kefir grains, kombucha scoby). We raise our own meat in our suburban backyard, try to grow as many veggies as possible in our garden, heat our house with wood and educate our girls from home.
Living on a contractor's small business income - we are also, most often on a tight budget.
Supporting six people has been a big challenge at times. It has taught my husband and I though, that the best things in life don't depend upon financial "independence". We are finding freedom in trusting our Provider for each day's needs, and being grateful for what we've already been given. In looking at what we DO have, instead of what we DON'T - we've become excited about the way it changes our perspective, and the creativity that it inspires.
Living on less doesn't have to be a burden. We feel that living in a simple, thrifty way - really is living the good life!
Hope that you enjoy sharing in our journey!
-Sarah
IN THE NEWS:
Click for a local news story about the Sailer's food journey
WHERE OUR HEART IS:
We partner with Second Mile Haiti to bring hope and healing to malnourished kids in Haiti. An incredible organization started by Sarah's cousin Amy and her partner Jenn, they are empowering mothers to learn job skills, gardening & health care knowledge to avoid the devastating results of poverty & illness. Sarah traveled there in April, 2013 to help with the gardens on the land.
We see our mini-homestead as a place to learn and test new sustainable ideas that we can bring to Haiti. Our family plans to travel there together as soon as the funds are raised. Click here to read more about our plans!
