Weekly Update: 9.27.25

Over the last couple years of our adventure, we have handled many difficult situations. We went without a washing machine for more than six months, doing all of our laundry by hand. We survived two summers without air conditioning, weathering temperatures well over 100 degrees some days. We wintered for two years in a wall tent, dealing with snow and even sub-zero temperatures. By far, though, the hardest thing we have dealt with on the homestead is living with each other.

I’ve written about our family dynamics before on this blog, but the way living with extended family stretches you bears repeating.

This week in particular required lots of bending of wills, as we have worked long hours together to deep clean the bunkhouse for company and finish sorting through our storage unit contents before the end of the month.

Living with so many adults means living with many settled differences. For example, we have different house cleaning styles and tastes. Some of us have kids while most of us don’t. Some of us prefer outdoor-only pets, while others want pets indoors. Some of us prefer small, low-maintenance dogs while others like large breeds that require lots of upkeep. This week, the pet preferences, parental differences, and varied cleaning styles made for more than a couple frustrated conversations.

To put it plainly, this single woman with one small, tidy little dog sometimes struggles with the kid messes and large scale dog shedding we can deal with in the bunkhouse. It is a test of patience that I don’t always pass.

And then, to add another layer of complexity to our week, we dealt with all the emotions of sorting through family heirlooms. We unpacked several items that my Memaw left us, filling her salt and pepper shakers to use along with the set we have from my paternal grandma. Using her sugar bowl this week gave me the feels every time I sweetened my tea, though we have it filled with stevia rather than sugar like she always did.

We also unpacked several of our own family treasures. An antique mission-style rocking chair we’ve had since the ‘90s now sits in our living room. A 1920s gas stove we’ve had for a similar length of time decorates a wall, covered in the Pioneer Woman cookbooks I’ve been collecting since my 20s. We filled my Memaw’s bookshelf with our homestead books, creating a lifestyle era intersection that is almost jarring. We filled our own shelf with other books we’ve had packed up for the last several years.

The memories of times and loved ones long gone tended to make us all rather raw, as the pressure of completing our project before the end of the month (and our storage contract runs out) hung over our heads. We also had to downsize, as we hadn’t known what our living and storage situation would be like when we packed up these boxes. We sorted through and got rid of more than half of our Christmas decorations. We downsized our book collection. Those decisions were also surprisingly emotional.

And yet, despite a fair amount of chaos cleaning and some personality clashes, we accomplished an amazing amount of work. We deep cleaned inside and outside of the bunkhouse. We finished sorting through everything we had from our storage unit (aside from Levi and Erin’s personal family belongings, which they will be sorting through next week). We took a van load of items to a thrift store. We completed a lot of yard work, weed trimming around the bunkhouse and spring. While we drive each other crazy sometimes, we all know we couldn’t have accomplished what we did without our whole team.

That’s the beauty and difficulty of communal life. When you are a part of a structure that needs each member to function as it should, you have to work through differences — even when that means just agreeing to disagree about some things. As members of the same family as well as Christians, we share bonds of blood and spirit that give us grace for each other, even when our differences are at their most stark. It is only love that can choose to lay preferences aside for the sake of someone else’s.

This weekend felt like a celebration of familial love, as our sister-in-law welcomed relatives for a long anticipated visit. Watching Erin and her kids get to bond with their own extended family warmed my heart, reminding me of the why of this adventure. Living in a way that respects creation is important, but the simple life is also about creating space for love and hospitality. In all the hustle and distraction of modernity, we can all too easily miss those things that matter most. This weekend provided the perfect opportunity to slow down and enjoy family.

While Erin entertained today, several of my own crew took a few hours off to enjoy some local fall festivity. We visited the Bois D’ Arc Primitive Skills Gathering
& Knap-In, as well as the Stockton Black Walnut Festival.

While we enjoyed our local events, I especially enjoyed driving around our corner of the Ozarks, enjoying the autumn sunshine.

At the end of our excursion, I loved coming home to our little bunkhouse, all decorated with pumpkins we grew in our garden. This year hasn’t been an easy one, but God has placed so many gifts around us every day. As fall begins to set in over these hills, I am committed to finding the good in each day. Even in difficult seasons, God always provides blessings — a good conversation, a quite morning with coffee and a book, going to church with my loved ones, spending an hour in nature. It’s these intrinsic goods that provide a foil for hard times, showing us God’s love every day.