When our kids were little we lived up in northern Montana at the edge of a tiny Amish community near the Canadian border. We were only there for a year but it was the best year of our lives!

Each Sunday we’d watch the caravan of black carriages go by on their way to church and afterwards all the men and boys in the area would get together and play tackle football, including my husband. Even though we were “English” outsiders, they still included us in many things. We went to the Amish auction they held in the summer and ate delicious, homemade donuts every Saturday.

Their kids were so cute and their horses were so BIG. The women churned butter and the men plowed the fields with vintage equipment. It was like time traveling.

Living there changed me. Once we left and went to the “big city”, I yearned for a return to that life. The simplicity of it tugged at my soul and never let go. I immediately began collecting antiques of all kinds, just to bring that energy back into my world.

In the last few years I’ve become more “Amish” than ever. I know to a lot of folks it sounds like a less-than-simple way to live. Growing your own food, raising and butchering livestock and making all your meals from scratch every day is a lot of work, I can’t argue with that. Yet it is so rewarding and it doesn’t always feel like work.

Not to me, at least! Of course I have modern day appliances to help do the work for me. The only tools I have from the 1800’s are used as decor in my home and yard.

I do have a collection of their modern day counterparts, just in case things go south for us here like they did in Texas recently, and I know I *could* live without my Instant Pot and my Vitamix blender, but I hope I never have to! I’m just thankful that I have a choice. I admire the Amish, but I wouldn’t want to be like them. I much prefer a nice combination of both worlds.

I wasn’t given much of a choice thanks to my wonky immune system but others choose the homesteading lifestyle because it’s so rewarding. And while it may seem much more convenient to just run to the store or the drive-thru or have UberEats deliver your takeout, there’s just something so very satisfying about harvesting your own ingredients for a nice hearty meal!