The realities of working full time, while trying to set up a homestead.

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It’s been a minute, so I thought this post was important to share just why I have been MIA.

It’s HARD! I am not even going to try and sugar coat it. We both work full time in mentally draining jobs. Even though I am home most days by 4pm, you would think this would be plenty of time to get jobs done. In the beginning I thought so too! That was until I started work again. Teaching, is a full-on job. Most people will never truly understand the exhaustion that comes with the job. You are constantly on high alert, making hundreds of decisions a

day. So, the thought of going home still having to decide what to make for dinner and then do ‘homestead’ chores, just seems too much. When I look at the list of things to be built, I start feeling overwhelmed.

Taking time to admire the sunset

Am I quitting either of these? NO WAY. Do I love both? It’s a love hate relationship at the moment. I want to set up a functioning homestead with chickens, bees, possibly ducks, a kitchen garden along with a fruit orchard, but seeing as we are starting from scratch, the energy levels from our full-time jobs’ saps any excitement and joy out of it. The 7000sqm of grass that requires constant mowing, doesn’t help either.

Beehive Inspection
When grass cutting was still exciting

I don’t want to quit my teaching gig, as I do enjoy it and it’s an important, undervalued, underpaid job, but that’s a story for another day. I do also need the money, as we are paying off a mortgage to live this dream. So not working is out of the question. That’s the part I struggle with at the moment. We need money to live the dream, but the job makes the dream less attainable and enjoyable at the moment. It’s a first word problem, I know. We are very fortunate to be able to work, pay off a house and sizeable land, and to have money left over to start our dream lifestyle. So many people just want one of these things.

 

Queensland, while beautiful, is HOT,HOT, HOT! You have a very small window of opportunity to be out in the garden before the heat, humidity and UV gets to be too much. This goes for the beach side of life too. I guess I wish I was in the position to be able to split my time 50/50 between work and homestead. It’s my struggle and one I need to figure out. It is my birthday on the 25th , so I guess its about that time of year when I tend to reflect on what I have

done and where to next. I know what life I want and the life I want to live, now to figure out how to get there….

 

If you have some ideas, I am all ears!

Happy adulting

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