The Atavistic Croft

On an adventure to rediscover raising animals in a way that honours their wisdom and nourishes the land.

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@theHollerWitch Such a sweet face!

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@FinanceGenie2 Yes, and not just with food either. I like the idea of a foodshed, and have just discovered people are doing fibresheds as well - where all your fabric and yarns for your clothes and other textile needs are locally sourced.

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

My husband came home with some delicious treats! He picked up bacon and sausage from a family farm with shared values.

I love buying directly from the producer! One thing I have learned is that doing everything and being completely self-sufficient is overwhelming and can quickly lead to burn out. I still want to know what goes into the food I bring home as well as what I am supporting with each purchase I make. This is why I think it is so important to make connections with others who produce wholesome, natural products and share common values.

I endorse the push for self- sufficiency, but find myself moving to the community-building movement. I have decided to focus on dairy production, and to avoid compete burnout I am happy to support those who choose to raise clean and healthy meat, and other products. I picked up garlic directly from a farmer last week and will be picking up potatoes from another farmer this week.

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@theHollerWitch They are total love sponges!

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

Well, the plot we moved on had only been used as grazing land for cattle for many years. We set our trailer down on a little plot and cleared away the cow patties in this space.

Soon we realised that this land was not as uninhabited as we once supposed. On the contrary, there is a thriving wood rat community - nay - communities - plural - a metropolis with endless suburbs. It is like when driving through the east coast or areas of southern Québec, where you don’t know when one town ends and another begins - where you wonder when you will be in the countryside, only to discover that all the cute houses along the road ARE farms in the countryside.

That is what this land is, but for wood rats.

Now, I am not a fan of rodents, but I also know that wood rats are highly valuable to the ecosystem. Working WITH the land and wildlife, rather than against it is how I hope to always operate.

I will never use poisons. We tried live traps and then relocation - but that is futile.

Enter, the new puppy. We have expanded the family, adding a wee little dachshund. His job will simply be to maintain a rodent free home.

So far, he has shown he has a very good nose!

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@RasmussenT56381 I lost a lot of blood both pregnancies, but bounced back so quickly the second time (while on carnivore diet), and had a long difficult recovery the first pregnancy (when I baked fresh bread and other sourdough treats every day).

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

So happy I kept my little hand-crank manual washer!

I could complain, and wish for a fancy washer and dryer, BUT then I would be neglecting all my blessings - like a nice arm workout every time I wash clothes!

It is easy to become dependent on conveniences, but do they actually improve your quality of life?

It certainly takes more time and energy to keep it simple and do things manually. So much so that you need to give something else up. The gift is in the freedom one finds when giving up all the other clutter of life that may have seemed necessary, but truly is nothing more than time and energy consuming clutter.

Okay, yes, in the case of a washing machine it certainly saves time - and full disclosure is that I will be going back to having one when we build our home. That said, I am grateful to know that I don’t NEED one. I am thankful that I can hand wash without any downtrodden feeling of resentment.

This is not the first time in my life that I have washed clothes by hand. The first time, I lived in a little village in south eastern Poland and I was single and it was easy. The last time was in Texas in the RV, and although I had a boy who was always getting dirty and a little girl still in cloth diapers, I also had the Texas sun to dry the clothes. This time round, I can’t hang my clothes outside to dry, but do look forward to setting them out in front of the wood stove (right now, we just have the propane heater - but it works well enough).

I feel blessed to have been given opportunities to know that doing things manually is not the burden we have been conditioned to believe it is. Putting this work in ALSO helps me appreciate times when I do have a fancy washing machine - something many today take for granted.

I also make my own detergent, because I like to make sure my children grow optimally without their hormones messed with AND I don’t want to pump the earth with the PFAS found in commercial detergents.

Freedom isn’t free and all conveniences come with a cost.

❤️

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@FinanceGenie2 Our plan is to get a female Jack Russel in the future. I have always wanted one! I am partial to the wire haired, but struggle to find one.

We actually had wanted to get a wire haired dachshund as well, but this little sweet heart came into our lives, and he is pretty awesome.

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

Starting the day in the early morning darkness with a tea party is such a treat!

There was a time I had to rush through breakfast and drive to work, a slave to the clock. Now, I get relaxing mornings with my favourite little people, soaking up all the precious moments as they grow.

I am so very grateful for this life!

Wishing y’all a wonderful day!

☕️ ♥️ 🫖

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@FinanceGenie2 @WailingBear @SamaHoole They are quite the little parkour athletes! I love watching mine climb, jump, and play.

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

I love that! My whole body feels ill and I feel nauseous when I am near modern wind farms. I don’t even want to get into the resources and energy it takes to manufacture those ugly things.

I love the idea of a wooden wind mill (not using balsa wood). I wonder if I could talk my husband into making one. Even the old metal ones we used to see on the prairies would be nice.

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

Definitely need to add wind power - not the awful ugly and disruptive turbines we see today - but something less offensive to this natural land.

More than that though, we need to reduce our consumption. This has been the biggest struggle for us - downsizing everything. We had gotten to a point where we had too much and it ended up cluttering our life rather than being a convenience.

So, we have gone through the task of clearing out what we don’t need by downsizing items. Now we are working on downsizing consumption. That is no small feat for a couple kids, born in the 80s.

Top of the list right now is a wood-burning stove! The furnace fan sucks up more power than anything else. The bonus is that I can cook my broths and make my coffee on a wood stove while heating our little home.

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@ifarmfresh1 A print from each animal just makes it more of a custom job!

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@RasmussenT56381 So precious! Congratulations!

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@RealTalk8386 💖

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@AliciaAmarilyn @carpatho_rusyn Ah, keep fasting. Tomorrow you will be hyper focused and buzzing with energy. That may be the time you come back with a feast!

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@RealTalk8386 Blooms in November! What a lovely pop of colour!

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

And, no, we don’t have a saw mill, but our neighbours do!

I have also learned the hard way that complete self-sufficiency is overwhelming and not really how we work as humans. Rather, making meaningful connections within your community and supporting other local producers is the way to go.

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

They LOVE it! They come with me to walk the goats and have marveled over their new playground - a fallen log across the dry creek bed is an “epic balance beam”; a bunt stump is a “perfect outdoor kitchen”, and they have found several “hidden fairy villages”.

You are right though. We really don’t need much. A warm and dry place to sleep, clean water, and plenty of food to fill the belly are all we need. I have decided that mountains of toys are for animals in captivity.

[The Atavistic Croft @AtavisticCroft]

@theHollerWitch German girls love their German dogs haha. I used to have a Deutsch Kurzhaar, then a Deutsch Drahthaar. We got a Lab last year, I guess I needed at least one German dog again.