A little introduction to our homesteading life!

From the time I was a young girl I always knew I wanted to have a big family. When anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would tell them a Mother and a Teacher. As of today, you could say that I have accomplished my goal! I am a mother to eight beautiful children, and I am their teacher, their nurse, their friend...oh the list goes on and on. When people see me now they always shake their heads and say you know there are ways to prevent that..it just burns my bottom to hear that from anyone. I always wanted a big family and that is what I have been blessed with! Now a days people fear things that are out of the ordinary, a family now a days consists of 1-4 children! So when we go to the local Wal-Mart to go shoe shopping or pick up a few clothing items we watch people count our children as we pass. To us we find it quite amusing, especially when they ask if they are all ours, how we manage or did I have them all myself :)
I honestly don't understand why people would ask how we manage, it's actually very simple. If you can raise two children you can raise eight!  It's all about routine, I myself am a charts and list person and well honestly my hubby is anti-charts but we have made it work. When it comes to food, well we could feed an army....oh wait that's what it feels like I do daily. Before moving to the country I depended on the local farmers market for produce and hit all the sales at the grocery store down the street.  Now that we raise our own animals for meat and grow our own vegetables it is a lot easier, although we do depend on our local farmers when we loose a crop here and there.  We freeze our meat and vegetables, make homemade bread and goodies and can our food. I buy our flour, rice, oats, and sugar in bulk and we purchase four to eight 4 litre bags of milk a week.
Currently we rent our homestead so we run hydro, which I would love to get rid of but before I do I must learn how to store meat without a freezer or in our case five freezers and two fridges.  Also I am without a cold cellar which I am hoping to have one day but until that day comes I store items in a fridge! 
On a fixed income we are able to feed and clothe our family, take care of our animals and live happily. Sure it's a lot of work and there are days when we would love to sleep in but homesteading for us and our children is relaxing and rewarding!