03/13/2025
Hey Berry buddies. Buckle up those hearts because this is about to be a long one, and my heart is heavy.
See, I am guilty of comparisons.
I follow a lot of homesteads, local and far. Most quite large. Anywhere between a few dozen chickens to a few hundred. Big, beautiful, huge gardens, acres long and wide. Absolutely stunning. Wildly successful. They’re posting newsletters and daily updates and 5 videos a day and have a blog or three. While success comes in many forms, and we are all always growing, I’m here to tell you.
That. Ain’t. Us.
That will never be us.
We won’t ever have hundreds of chickens. Or pigs. Or cattle. Or goats.
We won’t ever have Acres upon acres of gardens or 10 green houses. We don’t even have a blog (unless this counts?🤣)
And here Is why:
Has a small business, specifically the Shineberry, been a lifelong dream of mine?
Yes.
Do I want it to succeed? Of course! Success comes in so many different forms.
But everything I grow, do, raise, produce, make, can, butcher, I was already doing for my own family. Straight down to foraging for the foods and medicinals that I don’t grow, on the same lands that some of my own ancestors walked.
Wanna hear an even crazier concept?
Our animals are our PETS.
Each one has a name. A birthday. A hatch date. A gotcha day. Each one celebrated just as much as the last. From the chickens, to the rescued pigs, to the dogs, and the foster cats and random strays that get dropped here.
I couldn’t imagine being so big that our animals don’t have names, but only tags with corresponding numbers on a spread sheet.
That is NOT a dig at farmers, or larger homesteaders. It’s just not a life for us.
This is what made me think of this.
You see recently, we lost a hen.
She’s been with us four years. Her name is Oreo.
Today, 11 year old daughter Hayden, and I buried her among the roots of the trees so she could continue to give life into the homestead she lived on, now that her earthly life was done.
We dug around the roots, as gently as possible. Maneuvered her under and between them, and covered her up.
We cried together, prayed over our Oreo, over our families, and friends, and lives.
We thanked her for all she gave us and is still continuing to give this earth.
I wasn’t planning on this to be a “this Is what you get when you purchase from us” post, but I guess that Is what it has turned out to be.
I’m not in it for the money, I don’t view a single person or business as a competitor, ever. I do this to teach my kids. To keep the lifestyle that I was raised on alive in a world that wants to see it die.
it just so happened that I could combine my lifestyle into my lifelong dream business.
Friends, Berry buddies, you’re not just getting the hard work of our hands and bodies. You’re getting the hard work of our hearts and souls.
Especially, Hayden’s. She puts so much love into each of these Hens. Tomorrow, she grows with the spring. But today, we are just hurting.
Thank you always, for your continued support. ❤️
