What Happens When I Fail at Homesteading?

We’ve been on this homesteading journey for a few years now. And let me just say, I have failed more times than I can count. In fact, I’ve just stopped counting for the sake of my sanity. It’s moments like these when I tell myself that the good Lord forgets all of my failures, so I should too.

During my first few years here, I failed a lot. I failed at eating healthy (I still do). I failed at keeping chickens healthy. I failed at homemaking. I failed at being a good mom. And I massively failed at gardening. Thank goodness for grace.

What happens when people fail? What happens when I fail? It’s probably one of the major reasons why people don’t start living a healthier lifestyle or start their own farm journey. Failure…it’s a scary thing.

I use to be convinced that failure was a bad thing. But man, was I wrong. Failure is, indeed, simply the act of trying something and not accomplishing it in the way you had hoped. Typically, that means you did something wrong. Other times, it simply means you weren’t within the proper situation in order for your “try” to have effect.

For example, when I planted my first garden in an area that was basically just rock, I couldn’t expect it to do well. At all. Not unless I built the soil up. But I didn’t do that. I hoed myself some rows (about killing myself while doing it), plopped some plants in the ground, and then I was upset when it didn’t produce much.

Funny how that works.

I blamed myself. Called myself a horrible gardener.

I could’ve thrown my hat in the ring right then and there. I came, I saw, I didn’t conquer.

But I didn’t quit either.

I did something that most people don’t think about…

I saw failure as being something positive, I learned from my mistakes, and the following year I did better.

And guess what….

I laugh when people ask me how to have a successful garden. Hunny, I’m still learning. But the one thing I tell everyone is to be prepared to fail miserably the first 3 years of your gardening experience. Well, for normal everyday people who don’t have the touch of Midas.

But I also tell them to use those experiences, to notice nature all around them, and to listen to what their garden is trying to tell them.

Take your everyday miserable failures and turn them into learning experiences. It doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means you have to work a little harder for it.

And then, right then and there in that moment, a little success will pop it’s little head up and say, “here I am!”

And you might cry a little bit. You’ll definitely squeal with delight. And then you’ll scare yourself to death and remind yourself that this is just the beginning…that in order to keep anything alive and well, it takes just as much work as it did to get to this point.

It’s the same with any homesteading endeavor….

milk cows

chickens

meat rabbits

herbalism

…the list goes on and on and on. We fail at it all. We all fail at some point.

You are not the only one failing. You are not the only one succeeding. You’re just the only one making the decision as to what step you’ll take next.

You can choose to quit.

You can choose to do it differently.

You can choose to mope.

Or you can choose to learn.

Homesteading is hard work, but I assure you, it is good work.

Nothing good ever comes easy. And if it does, be suspicious.

In the homesteading world we often say anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and you’ll learn this along the way. But it doesn’t always have to be that way.

In Galatians 6:9 it says;

And so, sweet friend, I tell you this…

Because in the end, if you continue to push through and forward, the harvest that you’ll reap…my goodness….it will make it all worth it.

My garden? Well, it’s amazing this year. But it took a lot of hard work to get it to that point…

So take a break. Take a breath. Take a trip.

But never, ever, give up.

Success isn’t built on success—it’s built on the foundation of failure.

Failure is inevitable. Giving up is an option

.