A common problem with living a homestead or prepared life is the huge list of tasks and chores always needing your attention.
We spend day after day with our head down in the mix. Raising animals, growing a garden, and other homestead tasks. And this work ties us to our land. It feels like we can never leave or everything will fall apart.
We are experiencing this right now. As we finish the move and start mapping out of homestead, one of the things that has been on our mind is how do we get away from the daily work.
We know at some point in the future we will be taking a trip to Texas. This journey will require our homestead to survive on its own for a little while. Yes, we will have people who come and watch over things, but the more things we have needing attention makes it that much harder for someone else to handle.
This is where automation has the ability to step in a solve a lot of problems. Timers on sprinklers allow the garden to be watered. Automatic doors can let animals out in the morning. Food and water systems that provide feed without daily input.
As humans we only have so much time each day. And I know I for one tend to underestimate how long a project will take. That quick job turns into hours. Then I sit down in the evening and wonder where my day went.
In the Star Trek Next Generation episode, Relics, Scotty is talking with La Forge about a task he is working on. La Forge is insistent on meeting a deadline he gave Cpt Piccard, and Scotty is asking him how long it would really take. The end result of the conversation was a sage piece of advice: You lose your reputation as a miracle worker when you don’t plan enough time and then add some buffer for each project.
Our ability to be a ‘miracle worker’ grows when we use automation to free time. Suddenly we can do many times more when we don’t have to run out first thing in the morning to feed the animals.
Have you planned for leaving your homestead?