More than 25 years ago, we started with raw, undeveloped land and established a cabin homestead with plenty of very hard work. We finally moved in full-time 20 years ago. We heat our cabin with a Jotul wood stove and grow some of our vegetables.
At the time, we started to develop our property we were both healthy and far more agile. Now that I’m in my mid 70s, all that hard work has done its damage on joints and muscles. We are still able to do the hard physical work but it is done at a much slower pace.
One of the physical attributes I sorely miss is the flexibility and agility that I had before. The natural progression of aging has made homesteading more difficult but far from impossible.
Aging Joints
I had started to work when I was 12 years old as a newspaper boy and carrying those heavy newspapers in a sack several blocks to my customers was my initial indoctrination into heavy work.
When I stop to consider all I have put my body through over the years, I realize that only being impaired by having to slow down is actually quite remarkable. By going slower, the job still gets accomplished — it just takes longer, and I now pay closer attention to working smarter. Homesteading on a mountain side at high elevation is about as hard as it gets, and particular care is needed to avoid tripping over rocks or falling since I am never on flat, uncluttered ground.
My focus goes from performing the task at hand to doing it more safely.
Homesteading in Senior Years
Homesteading when you are almost 75 years old is hard and takes a toll on your body, but I wouldn’t change a thing. In my mind, I’m still 40 years old, but at the end of the day after cutting/splitting firewood, shoveling snow, or just working around our property, my joints and body tell me I’m clearly not 40 years old anymore and neither is my body.
Joints take a lot of punishment in working a mountain homestead like ours, but we are enjoying the benefits of all our hard work in spite of the persistent pain and soreness. To all those prospective readers who may just be getting the glimmer of a thought of doing the same, I would encourage you to go for it. I do not have one single regret, plus the journey is amazing and completely fulfilling.
Gardening Challenges
Photo by Pixabay/couselling
Perhaps the easiest task I perform is gardening, which is in itself a unique challenge at this elevation since we have voles, moles, chipmunks, ground squirrels, and other critters that want to eat much of what we plant. Through the use of enclosed garden boxes, we do manage to provide some vegetables on our table.
Growing anything in the mountains is a constant challenge. This year, I started seed potatoes in a potato bin and before I could fully protect the potatoes, a chipmunk found his way into the circular container and consumed my sprouting potatoes. Leaving them unprotected one day was all it took for the varmints to destroy them.
I have heard that rhubarb is poisonous to animals and, sure enough, a ground squirrel was eating my rhubarb as soon as it emerged. I found him lying dead a few feet from his ill-gotten passion.
Firewood is Especially Hard but Possible
Perhaps our biggest task each year is the cutting 9-12 cords of firewood. Initially it was all cut and split by hand, but in recent years, Carol has convinced me to use a log splitter, which is a time saver and far easier than splitting it all by hand.
Getting our firewood in for next winter is much harder than it used to be, since we have gotten older so we take frequent breaks and work slower. We have also designed a more efficient method of doing the task: I will cut a little at a time to store behind the woodshed for the winter following winter. Next spring, I will make sure all the firewood is cut to length and then split it and resupply the woodshed.
By working that far ahead, we only have to process what is right at hand and hence be ready for the following winter. We usually cut the firewood in place and carry it to a trail where it is loaded onto our tractor and unloaded conveniently right behind the woodshed until it is needed.
Would I Change Anything?
I wouldn’t change a thing to keep up this lifestyle — physical limitations or not. I am very fortunate to have a wife/partner who is willing to help, and together, we manage to get the jobs done — albeit a little slower than we used to.
Constantly seeking to be self-sustaining is tough regardless of age or physical ability, but as in many things in life, it is the hard, never-ending work that actually serves to keep us more fit and able to continue to do it.
Mother Earth News Provides Inspiration
I have been an avid reader of MOTHER EARTH NEWS since its very first edition all those years ago. With all the reader contributions and articles over the years, I attribute much of our current lifestyle to the magazine and its contributors by providing encouragement. It has given me the inspiration to work toward our current lifestyle and provided techniques to actually make this a reality.
It has been a long journey to get to our present status, but it started when I purchased the first copy of MOTHER EARTH NEWS. I was fully hooked and decided then that a more self-sustaining lifestyle was what I wanted for myself and, step by step over the years, we slowly moved toward that type of life. I do not have any regrets in doing so.
The real satisfaction has been slowly working toward homesteading and self-sufficiency and not instant gratification. When we are no longer able to maintain our lifestyle, the person who purchases our homestead will have the instant gratification but will not have the pleasure of taking the homestead from raw land to what we have presently.
Seniors like myself are coping today on many levels of homesteading and life is good for us, even if a little more difficult. In today’s world with all the turmoil surrounding us, I think MOTHER EARTH NEWS is more relevant than ever, because it allows the reader to temporarily escape the numerous daily conflicts and be inspired to a far more pleasant and healthy lifestyle. I am so grateful to be allowed to contribute my very small part to a really great magazine.
For more on Bruce and Carol McElmurray and their lifestyle go toBruce and Carol’s Cabin. Read all of Bruce’s MOTHER EARTH NEWS postshere.
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