Looking back!

Thirteen years ago the discussion about keeping pigs started, and over the years it inevitably became a standing joke. We still discuss raising pigs but it remains hypothetical. Little did we know how that first discussion and internet search would change our lives. Early in our search of the interwebs we became distracted by an article called Easter Chicks Gone Bad: The Unexpected Menace By Sheri Dixon. We so liked the style and humour that we continued to read articles and joined the forum then hosting her articles. We became friends with the lady in question as well as a few others on the forum which certainly enriched our lives, but more importantly, it helped us focus on defining our own goals. How did we envision self-sufficiency, how did we want to define it and make it relevant to us? We knew that at our age we needed to be realistic about the return on any investment as well as the amount of energy required to sustain our dream into old age. Time passed, we found ourselves reaching some goals, tossing some aside but our friendship with Sheri's family never wavered, nor did our desire to grow as much of what we eat as possible. My desire to have pigs turned into owning sheep, which later became our passion for goats. One garden became four. We committed to planting a new tree every year as well as fruit bushes. The dream has become a  journey, a reality that has grown, diverted, but has continually enriched our lives.

I started this blog to keep track of some of our failures and achievements, as a place to keep friends informed, but we soon learned that Facebook was a much easier medium for daily updates and photos, keeping this blog more for posts we just didn't want to lose. The name was easy, we always commented to each other "Not bad for two old broads" as we sailed over one more hurdle, and we were quite happy to own it and be proud of our achievements. Having taken life by the horns before we had no doubt that we could build a lifestyle for ourselves that was healthy, fulfilling and rewarding. We weren't so concerned about other people finding us odd or not understanding. To our surprise, our Facebook page has grown beyond anything we ever expected. We thought perhaps that family and neighbours might be interested and that we might raise a couple of hundred likes from the curious. Last summer to our utter amazement we reached 666 likes, a milestone for obvious reasons! Yet today we are at 970 and many of you follow regularly. This side of our journey has been unexpected, humbling, and rewarding. We take the time to read each and every one of the comments and replies. Some of you, especially more local folks, we have met in person, we have made new friends, some of whom we have never met in person and our lives have been enriched because of you. As the numbers grow, we look at the names of new people to whom we have no visible connection and realise that the lessons we pass on are of interest to you and the connection is the lifestyle that we have fought so hard to build.

This summer we will probably top the 1000 likes on our Facebook page. For us, it seems like a good time to look back at all we have achieved since we read that first article by Sheri Dixon. We are aware that much of it came from knowing some of you and learning from your experiences, from having some of you fire our imagination and from the friendships that have continued to encourage us. We appreciate those of you who have become our regular customers. From the bottom of our hearts we thank all of you for your support!

When you clicked 'like' on our page, to us it really was a big deal.