What if I told you that there is a path to your purposeful journey?

This is something that is just not talked about in the normal homesteading circle, but when you look at homesteading you see loads of how to videos and blogs, right. How to grow a garden or how to raise meat chickens and so on. I know because that is a large amount of content you will find even here at Red Ridge Farm. I also know that when you are struggling to get started this can send you into a whirlwind of second guessing.

What skill do I learn first?

How to make bread?

or

How to grow my own garden?

The options are endless and can lead to you putting a halt to your growing journey or winging it without a plan for success. But I think it is time for a change. It is time for something new and direct to the point. And that is a path. And not just any path but one that puts you and your family’s needs first!

Today in the below episode and blog, I want to take you down this path to show you that you don't need to wait to get started no matter where you live and if you have been growing for a while a path that can bring you clarity so that you will know what skill you need to learn next! Let’s get growing!

Main Points

• What is a Purposeful Life

• Walk Your through a step by step path to purpose that all can start

• How this plan can even met you right where you are on your Journey

Related Link: Your Purposeful Growing Journey

This Week’s Growing with God Verse:

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it's a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. - Ephesians 2: 8-9 NLT

I have been struggling over the past couple of months figuring out how I can bring you content that is always relevant to you no matter where you are on a purposeful journey. Because my mission here is to bring you information that can guide you in growing a garden, a homestead, a healthy family, and closer to Our Lord.

And I finally decided to do something that has been done in other parts of your life and give you a plan, or better yet a path. When you look up getting an education for business or even agriculture colleges have a specific path that you can follow so that you can learn all you need to be successful. But what about the homesteading or purposeful journey, I have yet to find something. What about you? The skills you need for your growing journey are just not taught in school any more. So you have to resort to looking everywhere on the web even here at Red Ridge Farm to find the knowledge you need. I want to take a moment to thank you for stopping by the blog, I hope this post can help you.

Back to the path, You need something better. You need a path that can take you through the stages of a purposeful life. Because the other thing I found when struggling to figure out how to meet you where you are is that you probably don’t know where you are. And that you would actually love to learn more about where you are so that you can start growing and moving down your path to purpose.

So I sat down and looked at my purposeful journey and at others as well and I came up with a unique path that is first and foremost based on the permaculture principle of location. When designing your homestead you always plan in a circle radiating from the very center, your home and move outwards. And I think this will work for our growing journey too. Because the first place you should start no matter where you live or where you are on your journey is with You!

Now I developed a web page on my website that will walk you through each of these steps in more detail. You can even find a few action steps that you can take for each stage. But today I want to focus on defining for you what each step is, how you know you are in this step, and how you know you are ready to move to the next step in the Purposeful Growing Journey!

Just Grow

You will have a unique path to purpose. But let me ask you a question.

Do you even know what your Ideal Homestead or Journey looks like?

How do you and your family see your purposeful life going? What dreams or goals do you have or better yet what your family’s growing vision is?

You are unique. Your home and family are unique. So the very first step is to define you! Get all of your thoughts, plans, and even concerns out on paper.

.

You are in the Just Grow Stage when you:

• You are deciding if the growing or purposeful life is for you and your family

• You are finding your purpose no matter if you are just starting or have been growing for years

• You want to start growing but are not sure where to begin

• You have not defined your why

• You crave clarity on your path

You are ready for the Purposeful Kitchen stage when:

• You have a clear why for you and your family

• You have three measurable goals

• You have a clear understanding of your first step

Purposeful Kitchen

The next stage is the next circle out from you and that is the very heart of your home, the Kitchen. What is so amazing about this stage is that you can start growing in this stage at any time because you already have a kitchen and the skill you develop here will help you provide your family with the very essentials of life, food. You don’t need a garden or a homestead to start growing here because this stage is all about learning the skills you will need so that when you do have a garden or homestead, you are ready. The skill in our kitchen is the foundation that the whole purposeful life is built on and caring for our family’s needs should always come first.

Growing in this stage simply starts with what you are already doing, eating healthy food, cooking for your family, and purchasing the best food.

You are in the Purposeful Kitchen stage when:

• You want to give this growing journey a try and want to start growing now

• You don’t eat or shop with the seasons

• You want to learn how to create a meal plan for your family

• You want to learn how to preserve produce

• You want to learn to cook from scratch

You are ready for the Purposeful Homemaker stage when:

• You have created a purposeful pantry

• You have learned to make a meal plan

• You have a few from scratch recipes under your belt

• You have started to practice a least one preserving method

Remember, if you have found your stage and can’t wait to finish reading, jump over to my Purposeful Growing Journey webpage to get your actions steps!

Purposeful Homemaker

Back to your purposeful growing journey stages. The next stage is the Purposeful Homemaker stage. As growers, it is easy to jump over this stage because we just want to start growing our food and get outdoors. But you have to remember the home is where you create an environment of purpose.

A question I get asked a lot, is “How do you get it all done? How do you grow your own food and still have time for worship? Or How do you work all day in the garden and still have joy when you are cooking dinner?

Well, the answer is that I work hard to be a homemaker first. Many times society looks at this role as a waste of time, but caring for our family doesn’t just stop at the dinner table. It continues into the whole home, from making sure everyone has clean clothes to having clean dishes to serve our delicious homegrown food on. Homemaking is where you as a mother and leader in your home create an environment of safety for your family and yourself. Yes, our family needs nutrient dense food but their next essential need is shelter and safety. And this gives your family strength and courage to face the world because they know they have a place of peace at home. You will then still have joy after working outdoors and in other parts of your growing journey because you know the needs of your family are being met.

Stop devaluing your role as homemaker because raising and caring for the next generation is the great gift God has given you.

You know you are in the Purposeful Homemaker stage when:

• You want to bring purpose beyond your kitchen and into your everyday life

• You are asking how do I get everything done

  • Clean my home

  • Grow everyday

  • Cook from Scratch

  • Preserve my own Food

You are ready for the Purposeful Garden stage when:

• You define Homemaker Attitude

• You define your homemaking purposeful habits

• You are ready to place Progress over Perfection

• You start developing a workable Homemaker Schedule

Purposeful Garden

Now it is finally time to get outdoors because your systems are in place so your family’s needs are being met and have built the foundation of a purposeful life.

In the Purposeful Garden stage you are going to begin doing just that growing a garden or if you have been growing for years you are going to be developing a system to help you get everything in your garden done not just growing food. Growing a garden is all about taking care of your soil. Your soil is a living and full of microorganisms that break down nutrients for your plants. You may call yourself a gardener but what you truly are is a steward of the soil.

I know when I first started growing a garden my days were full of weeding and watering and not much else and my garden after about 5 years stopped producing because I thought I was not skilled enough to fertilize or care for my soil. I, in a way, thought that I needed to be a soil expert before I even ventured down that road. But that is not true, you do not need to know everything, you just need to be able to read and understand your soil, and a few practices to help feed it every year.

Speaking of practices in the garden, you also need to develop a garden plan that goes beyond planting the seed to one that includes everything that needs done. A simple drawing is not going to remind you to fertilize, harvest, weed, water, transplant, and so on. You are going to need something more. I personally make a plan modeled after a market gardener.

You are in the Purposeful Garden stage when:

• You desire to not only eat healthy but to grow your own produce

• You want to provide homegrown produce for your family

• You are unsure how you are going to add even more to your already full plate

You are ready to move the Purposeful Homestead stage when:

• You become the expert your soil needs

• You create a garden plan that will bring peace of mind and abundance

• You learn to make a plan for your harvest and beyond

• You have taken the steps to grow and build a garden designed and located for abundance

Purposeful Homestead

Time for animals to join the mix or if you already have animals now it is time to develop a homestead of abundance using permaculture. Having a homestead is one thing but your true goal should be to create a homestead that is sustainable, full circle, and essentially feeds itself. Permaculture has about 15 principles that help you use God’s connections in nature to create abundance. One example is that when you add animals you will have two unique byproducts, protein or product the animals produce and it poop! You will probably be consuming the product but the poop and litter can be developed into compost to feed your garden.

You are in the Purposeful Homestead stage when:

• You want to add animals

• You want to develop a homestead built on Permaculture

• You are ready to purchase land or develop beyond a garden

You are ready to move to the Purposeful Life stage when:

• You are ready to scale what you are growing

• You are considering sell some of your extra products

Purposeful Life

This could be looked at as the final stage but I don’t think it is because it is more of combining all of the other stages and creating more. So like in your garden you will start adding perennials, like strawberries and blueberries or you want to start an orchard. With the homestead instead of just growing purchased animals for meat you decide to grow your own or start a mini dairy.

This stage is where you are going to expand the skill you learned in the other stage and fill out every part of your life with purpose. And maybe you have asked the question, “Could I make money from my garden or my homestead”. This stage is full of abundance and more!

You are in the Purposeful Life stage when:

• You are ready to scale what you are already doing

• You want to make purpose your lifestyle

• You are ready to learn more skills so that you can create independence

I hope this episode/post has helped you find that you can start right where you are. You don’t need everything if you have a kitchen you can start growing. And if you are already on your growing journey but you are struggling with where to grow next I have given you the clarity to keep moving forward.

And if you are ready to start moving forward on your purposeful growing path, jump over to the action steps, and start learning how to develop your own unique path.

Don’t let the world hold you back,

Pray, Just Plant