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Homesteading is an adventure in itself. Motherhood is another adventure. Put both together and you will have a grand adventure. That grand adventure, however, can easily turn into overwhelm if you’re not careful.
So how do you keep your homestead going, as you prepare to welcome your newest bundle of joy? With my last child I finally figured it out and I started in my second trimester getting ready.
First plan ahead. There is no such thing as planning too far ahead. After you give birth plan to give yourself 6 weeks of rest. Not joking. It seems excessive, but it will take that long for your body to fully heal from pregnancy and birth.
In that time, you, your family, and your critters will have to eat. Preparing ahead looks a lot like making freezer meals for you and your family. Make sure you have 2 months of feed stored for the animals. Make a list of quick meals you can make that everyone likes, so you don’t have to think. These are both steps you can be working on in your second trimester when you have the energy.
Start implementing systems to make your chores easier. Do you know how much feed is gone through in a day or week? Can you switch to self-feeders? Do you have enough water space to last 24 hours? Are you feeding twice a day? Can you switch to once a day? Do you have to water every day or is there a way to implement timers? Make the changes early so you can adapt if needed and your animals are ready.
In the third trimester, start thinking and asking who you can have to help you postpartum. Write down in detail what you do for chores. For me my daily chores were split between 3 people. My husband let the birds out and locked them in at night. Another friend did all the animal chores. Another friend took care of what was left of the garden.
Do you have other kids to take care of? Find someone to help you for the first week for sure. I was blessed to have my mom come stay with us for a week to help after each kid was born. After that, she still came back (we live 20 minutes apart) once a week to play with the other kids. My mother-in-law watched the kids for a day. When the last baby was born, it was harvest time, so there was lots of tractor and combine rides for the older two as well so I could rest and heal.
Did it seem excessive? Yes, but I will tell you it was my best postpartum yet for healing. And by that time, I had a large garden, chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, horses, dogs, cats, and maybe a bottle calf. I was also running multiple business at the time. I scheduled things out so there was minimal I had to do for a good month.
Adding a baby to the homestead doesn’t have to make everything crazy. With the right planning your homestead can keep going, while you take your time to rest as well.
As I've grown in my journey as an entrepreneur, mom, gardener, and livestock owner, I struggled to find a planner that met my needs and kept me organized. So, I MADE MY OWN. You can look at it on the link below and buy it on amazon below.
Don't want the whole calendar part? I got you! I pulled the gardening and animal care pages out and put them in a book all their own.
Wanting a community to lean into? Join the FREE Helping Your Family Homestead for Food group! This community is for the Mommas, looking to stay home and raise their kids, but unsure how to keep everyone fed and make ends meet. I share tips from my journey from the office to half the income and feeding my family from home, while maintaining good nourishing food. Tips include gardening, bulk buying, caning/preserving, livestock, homesteading, and home remedies. Your family is precious, and this group is to help you gain the knowledge and tools to keep your family well and not reliant on outside professionals. Remedies and tips are easy and simple for the busy momma, time is precious after all, including pregnancy, birth, young kids, and illness. Trust your Momma gut again! This community offers the resources + community you need to help get started on your journey and prepare for whatever future you envision.
Starting to garden doesn't have to be hard! I gathered all the tips I've learned over my gardening learning curve and made them into a simple course to jump start your gardening your life.
Supporting Your Family Naturally from the Inside Out community!! This community is for Mommas, looking to Support Your Family from Nature for Wellness. Tips range from nutrition, herbals, detoxing, natural cleaning, and essential oils. Basically, all the things I’ve learned slowly over the past 5+ years of my journey. We have moved off Facebook, to better serve our community and be able to discuss openly options for providing for your family in the best way possible.
Join the FREE Community
Join the FREE Community
I've had 3 very different pregnancies. After the first traumatic birth, I learned better and how to care for my body naturally and prevent common pregnancy and birth problems before they arise. This quick course will get you the tools you need to have a naturally healthy pregnancy, labor, and delivery. My first pregnancy I had a normal western medicine all the things pregnancy. My second? I flipped to completely natural, no medicine. Bonus: Preventing Preeclampsia Without the Aspirin & Healing from Birth Trauma
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