You Don’t Need a Homestead to Live This Way | A Slower Life Starts Where You Are

Maggie (00:02.05)
Welcome to Women Folk Revival, where we are deeply rooted and wildly intentional. I'm Maggie.

Meara (00:09.11)
And I'm Mira. So last week we started something new at the beginning of our episode where we just kind of catch up for a few minutes and talk about what the past week has looked like for us and what we've been doing and what's been on our minds. And we really liked it. So we thought that we will keep doing this. So before we get into the bigger conversation, sometimes it's just nice to sit down and have a chat for a minute. So how was your week, Maggie?

Maggie (00:37.113)
was good. It's kind of a blur now, I feel. we my husband was out of town for work so it was just me and the kids. we ended up spending the night at my parents which ended up being a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed it. and then we got to come over to your new house and

Meara (00:39.938)
Yeah.

Maggie (01:02.551)
and see that and explore the yard. and that was a ton of fun. My kids have been asking to see your girls for so long. And they were so excited to finally finally be able to. So that was our week in a nutshell.

Meara (01:12.362)
I know.

Meara (01:17.206)
Yeah.

Nothing like your nothing like your hiking trip from the week before, huh? I feel like we swapped spots.

Maggie (01:26.689)
No. And I feel like I feel like my body is finally like starting to feel normal again. Except I'm out of shape. You know, and I kept thinking too, like, how did it get to this point? But I did have a few health issues.

Meara (01:34.656)
You're old. No.

Right.

Meara (01:45.987)
Yeah.

Maggie (01:47.139)
that kept me from, you know, really being active and then I just developed bad habits and didn't get back into being active. so yeah, I finally feel like my body is is getting back to kind of where it was. same's the the chicken bites. We my entire family is covered in chicken bites and they are horrible. Have you ever had chicken bites?

Meara (02:16.226)
Yeah, I used to roll down the hill at my mom's house all the time growing up. And I would come in just covered.

Maggie (02:20.856)
Well, we do that here, but we don't have issues with chickers. Not like I mean, we like we look like we have some kind of disease. They are everywhere. And then now we just have all these little scabs because they've been so outrageous and we just can't stop itching.

Meara (02:26.574)
Yeah.

Meara (02:31.586)
Gone to war.

Meara (02:43.448)
Well, I'm I'm glad your week was was simple and easy for you. And I'm so glad you guys got to come over. We were so excited to have you guys over and we had so much fun. My week has been like your week was the week before. So as you know, now we're moved into our home, our land, and we finished getting the rest of our packing up the rest of our stuff. We got a moving truck and we were packing it correction. I and my daughter was packing it up.

Maggie (02:50.446)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (02:56.258)
But nuts.

Maggie (03:10.958)
Ha ha.

Meara (03:11.202)
Because I feel like men just don't do that. so we finished packing up the house and then I couldn't open my garage to get the stuff out of my garage. So my husband had to take the wheel off of the thing to get the garage to open because I decided it would be a good idea to turn off the gas and electric a month in advance because we were in the process of moving. We were already here, not realizing he needed to get his motorcycle out of his garage and I had to still get everything out of my garage.

Maggie (03:27.502)
Ha ha ha.

Meara (03:35.447)
So we finally got it open, and then we hear the ambulance coming down the street, and I was like, huh, must be close. It was our neighbor. So I had to run over. I didn't have to. I needed to run over. And she's a nurse as well. They're older though, like in their 70s. So I went to check on her and tell her if you need anything, let us know. I don't care if it's how small it is. Just, you know, contact us. And she's like, we're gonna miss the girls running around and listening to them outside. Anyway, so fast forward.

Maggie (03:46.19)
Hmm.

Meara (04:00.71)
our week has been busy. I've been printing off labels for my House of Noor products and it hasn't been going well, trial and error, you know. My husband got his LLC, he finally got a certification for serve safe management, and we are like

Maggie (04:07.394)
Nice.

Maggie (04:15.806)
have we have we talked about this before? Does do our listeners know what you're talking about as far as the your husband's

Meara (04:19.384)
What's that?

Meara (04:23.796)
No, so my husb he's opening up a food business here in in Ohio and we're gonna start kinda small, but then my granddaughter's having a birthday party, so we're gonna try and start doing it there this weekend. So we're trying to do that, and then I have to do reevaluation to see if my clients still get services, so I might not be working as a nurse for him anymore after thirteen years. So that's coming up this week and I just pulled my elder two out of school and now I'm homeschooling officially this week. We're homeschooling everyone and that's kinda crazy. And then

My husband did end up in the hospital with chest pain because his new job is giving him lots of pressure and now we're trying to figure out if he's gonna wanna go back to his old Like it is just it is a circus in here. It's a good circus, but it's a circus. And I am just like

I cannot catch a break. And then my el my two adult children are going through it. So I've been trying to help my son, trying to find a place to live. And of course that takes money and time and effort. And and then my daughter, she's pregnant again and she's going through it as well and working full time with a one-year-old and a baby due in December, grandma for the second time.

Maggie (05:19.811)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (05:29.29)
It is just absolutely emotionally draining. And I'm just kinda like, so are we really slowing down here? Is this intentional living or is this fast paced intentional living? Can that happen?

Maggie (05:37.397)
It's you know, I feel as though

I feel as though there's always gonna be a a balance that has to be made. No matter how intentional you are with your life, no matter how much you slow things down, the world is still bustling by. And unless all of your friends and neighbors and acquaintances and and family members all do this intentional living and slow living together, you're not gonna quite have

a full immersive life in in that manner. You're always gonna have to return and you know to the crazy. But I I think it's those those breaks, those moments that we can give ourselves and as much of our lives as we can move into the world of of slow living is really what's gonna have a huge impact on us and and you know save us.

Meara (06:20.814)
Okay.

Meara (06:42.894)
I don't think there's people out there doing three businesses in one year and working a full time job and homeschooling three kids out of five. So I I'm just gonna have to find that balance. But

Maggie (06:46.104)
Mm.

Maggie (06:52.526)
Right, no. A lot a lot comes with it. A lot comes with it 'cause it's all new. You didn't grow up, you know, in a homeschool atmosphere. This is your first time homeschooling, so it's it's learning and researching and stumbling your way through it to begin with. homeschooling for us now has gotten much smoother and much better and I we still have moments where the kids are like, This is stupid, I don't want to do it.

Meara (07:10.658)
Right.

Meara (07:20.524)
Hand that the other day.

Maggie (07:21.79)
It's taking so long. Really? Is this really taking long? Because you'd be in a building right now sitting down and you would be for the next, you know, five, six hours, depending on, you know, what time we get started. Is is this really taking up too much of your time? It's not.

Meara (07:23.962)
D

Meara (07:29.645)
Yeah.

Several hours. Right.

Meara (07:38.563)
And it's not. And my five year old was like that the other day. We were we were in like this really good process of how we were getting things done with the letters because we're kinda stuck and I didn't want to move forward. And I had her writing in a notebook and I can tell it was kinda boring her and she just walked off. I'm like, Well where are you going? She's like, I'm done. I just I I can't do any more today and I'm like, Okay.

Enough said. And so then today I came up with a better way of doing it with crayons and circling the letters instead of just writing the letters down and making the sounds. And she's like, Can we do more? And then I'm like, I've had enough. I have to move on to somebody else. So

Maggie (08:12.754)
And and sometimes you'll have to do that. You'll have to change the way you do things. I never like to in the moment let them

I I've done it quite often, but I don't like doing it. Where they're just like I'm done for the day and you just let them be done. or you say, Or, you know, how can we do this differently in a moment? That's that's not all right. And my husband's really gotten on me with this. He was like he was like, Stop worrying about their feelings. He was like, They need to do it. They you know, they need to listen. He was like, This is for their benefit. Don't worry about their feelings now. Think about their feelings, you know, in the future, yes.

Meara (08:28.493)
Anyway.

Meara (08:41.294)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (08:47.47)
Mm-hmm. It's structure. It's forming structure, yeah.

Maggie (08:52.338)
So I we are like I am I am getting more on it where, you know, if they say something they shouldn't say or they say they don't wanna do school or they don't wanna listen, they have to do jumping jacks and it's an instant thing and if they refuse to do it then they have to do a bigger amount and we'll just keep going up. You know, sometimes they have the other day both the Jane and Ivan, our our seven and eight year old, they had to do three hundred jumping jacks because it ended up getting up to that point where they just

Meara (08:55.31)
Okay.

Meara (09:05.27)
Ha ha.

Meara (09:09.868)
No well.

Meara (09:20.78)
That's crazy.

Maggie (09:22.282)
listening. These kids are gonna be, you know, I mean they are they're in good shape. but yeah and it and it works. So in the moment, you know, they don't want to do this and they're complaining about it and say, okay, get up and do jumping jacks. And then I make them finish the day. And then after that I'm like, okay, how can I make this better for everybody for the following day? So you know

Meara (09:26.328)
Buff.

Meara (09:47.789)
Yeah.

Yeah, ours was just needed she needed a visual change and that's how I was with my learning disability. If I was stuck reading a book, the same book, I would get bored and not want to read it anymore. But if you like add all these things to it and change things up a bit, I think that it excites them more. But then she wanted to keep going today, so I had to end up stopping it for us. But I think that kind of leads into our discussion for today. If you don't need a homestead to live this way.

Maggie (10:15.896)
Right. Yeah. You you absolutely don't. You don't need five acres. You don't need chickens. You don't need a sourdough starter or a pantry full of mason jars. you just you know, and you don't need to move to the country to get more space. You just need to start participating in your own life, learning how to do things, doing things for yourself.

Meara (10:38.574)
Yeah.

Maggie (10:45.026)
That is and that is what this episode is all about. We share with you what you can do now, no matter where you are. And and we'll also tell you our our failures, especially me, because I was that person that believed that I I was just gonna wait until we got land to start doing everything. Because for whatever reason that's just what made sense in my head. but that is the wrong way to do it.

Okay.

Meara (11:16.438)
It is and I think that's the part that gets lost a lot of the time is we see the acreage and the chickens and the gardens and the mason jargons and all these things that we've become associated with with this kind of life and we start thinking that we need all of this before we can begin, but we don't.

We don't. I didn't have acreage until just a few months ago and having land was a dream of mine for years and I felt feel incredibly blessed that we're finally here. But when I look back, I realized I was already moving toward this kind of life long before we ever had the land. I was making dough bread, not not sourdough where I still can't figure it out, but I was making, you know, bread in our rented house and learning to make things from scratch and we had a yard and we still walked outside barefoot and that was the time where we were just

Maggie (11:33.27)
Hmm.

Meara (12:00.974)
Starting to learn how to slow down and pay attention to our home. And that was our becoming more intentional about the way we were living.

Maggie (12:11.704)
Yeah. I you know the

The most important thing that you can do is start acquiring the knowledge and the skills. You don't need you don't need a special setup to start making broths and stalks. You don't need a huge setup to start making bread, even you know, whether you do it from store-bought flour or you do it from your own grains, or you you know, you do have starter and you make your beautiful sourdoughs. You can do

Meara (12:29.326)
Yeah, you don't.

Meara (12:40.654)
Yeah.

Maggie (12:46.14)
That in an apartment in the city, you know, in the concrete jungle, you can do it there.

Meara (12:46.328)
Yeah.

You can.

I love it. And I really take back the idea that you need a homestead that you need a homestead to live this way because a homestead doesn't mean acreage. Like you said, you can create that same feeling in an apartment, in a rented house, or a townhome, right? So anywhere you are, it's your homestead. The place itself matters less than the way you choose to live inside of it. Yeah.

Maggie (13:07.906)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Maggie (13:16.578)
Yeah. And and another another point that I I would like to share here is that even when you have that so we have two acres, which isn't a ton of land, but it's it's most in what the general public has.

Meara (13:29.23)
It's a lot to me.

Maggie (13:32.631)
and we love the idea of it and we wanna, you know, get better and do more and eventually have animals, but then there are days when it just absolutely sucks. The other day I I came outside and my husband is like, never say homestead to me again. He was like, I never want to hear that word again. He was like, I might throw punch the next person who says homestead to me.

Meara (13:44.534)
Yeah.

Meara (13:58.927)
I would have whispered it, Homestead.

Maggie (14:03.502)
So there are, you know, there are gonna be so many days that are just horrendous. The more that you can learn now before you have all that stuff, before you have the acreage and the animals and people that just jump into it right away and they they get the animals right off the bat. my goodness, I I couldn't even imagine. I c I could imagine.

Meara (14:11.862)
Yeah.

Meara (14:29.858)
The craziness, yeah.

Maggie (14:29.962)
It's it's a lot. So start now and especially even in a small apartment, you can get an animal that relies on you for everything and start building those schedules and those routines and really get yourself into it. And no, cats and dogs don't really they do, but it's not the same because you know, especially if you have

Meara (14:41.102)
That's what we did.

Meara (14:45.688)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (14:50.264)
They rely on you.

Meara (14:54.188)
Yeah. Well, gotta feed every day.

Maggie (14:57.834)
Yeah, but they kinda go along with you and they're in your home and that sort of thing. Well our cats our cats aren't, but if we had dogs they'd be in the house. But that's what we you know grew up with was indoor pets when they're with you and you know, you monitor them and you feed them and it just becomes a part of your daily life. This isn't like going out in the middle of winter or a rainstorm and taking care of of animals outside. That's a whole different ball game. And sometimes you just don't even think about them if you're not

Meara (15:02.254)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (15:23.715)
Yeah.

Maggie (15:27.728)
if you're not used to it, you know.

Meara (15:28.61)
That is That is very true because we have a rabbit that we had the girls start taking care of in our rental home and they had the routine where they needed to go out and feed it and now they have their routine down. I'm gonna go feed the rabbit. It like second nature, like we always say. They just go outside, they grab the water bottle, go over, feed the animal, and a mole. We had two. One passed away because the company that we rented from decided to spray our land and killed one of our rabbits.

But yeah, that's that's exactly how we are as well. And while we were living in our rental home, just this last year, my husband and I were discussing the kind of setup we wanted for our chicken coop. And so he actually bought a blueprint. And we're gonna get started on building that coop so that we can prepare ourselves emotionally, mentally, and physically for when we get these chickens next spring. Because it's not something that you just, I'm gonna buy a puppy, I know what kind of puppy I want. Like you said, you know, and then the puppy's with you every day, like

Maggie (16:10.712)
Mm.

Meara (16:27.066)
This is a lot of work, but I'm sure over time it'll be like, this was nothing, but but we've never done it before, so it's a lot. And I've seen those things on on my Facebook post where I say to my husband, I don't know if I want chickens, because who's gonna be taking care of the prolapse chicken butt? And who's gonna are you gonna bring the chicken in the house and put it in a sits bath? I don't think so. And the worms and the lashed eggs and I'm just like, I don't know, but

Maggie (16:34.392)
Yeah.

Maggie (16:41.245)
Ha ha ha.

Meara (16:55.672)
But that's a part of homesteading.

Maggie (16:55.798)
I think it's I think it's changing your changing your perspective on these animals too. and I think chickens are probably one of the easiest examples to do this with. Rabbits not so much because you can never really fully bond with a a rabbit, I don't think. Can you? Okay.

Meara (17:16.814)
Excuse me. yes. yes.

Maggie (17:23.639)
I guess Ruby has, hasn't she? Ruby and the rabbit are like one.

Meara (17:26.865)
yeah, that was the first death that we had too. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Ruby and the Rabbit are one. Sure, you can bond with any creature or anything like that, you know?

Maggie (17:34.102)
Yeah, that's true. And I think, you know, you have to look at them as

as pets, as members of your if not so much family as your your community or village, you know. Well especially if you're gonna be butchering those animals. That that can be kind of hard, you know. but chickens have personalities and they can be very affectionate and very lovely and you can build, you know, relationships with them and that's and that's where I think, you know, if you do that then it's a lot easier to fall into those habits and remember what you have to do.

Meara (17:42.988)
For family.

Meara (17:47.778)
Yeah. Eat

Maggie (18:08.713)
and I just want to point out you do not need to buy blueprints for a chicken coop. You do not need to go out and spend thousands of dollars on a chicken coop. We we're in the process of building ours and we just felled some trees. My husband did that and, you know, carried the these, you know, long you know, the

Meara (18:15.79)
But it was nice. yeah.

Maggie (18:34.795)
the trunks of trees or or whatnot. and we're using those as posts and then we have some just all different kinds of scraps of metal fencing and we're using all of that together and we have some fence boards left over. So we're kind of just, you know, patching it all together and yeah. And it'll be you know it'll be what it is, but

Meara (18:37.571)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (18:56.718)
That would be nice.

But my husband has that mastermind of perfectionist where, you know, he was a mechanic in the Air Force back home and everything has to be precise and done like correctly and all his woodwork stuff that he's done and so I'm like, okay, honey, if that if if that's what you want, like I've seen things that I want that we could just look at an eyeball and do, but this is what he wanted, so I'm like, okay, I'm not even gonna I'm not even gonna argue on him with this. I just want the birds. So build the home and the birds.

Maggie (19:17.771)
Sure.

Maggie (19:27.263)
Yeah. And you gotta you gotta think too, especially, you know, something

Meara (19:30.77)
that's

Maggie (19:34.153)
And and women can I've I've built things before and I I built our huge, you know, garden out back or whatever. I'm not going to be like the number one on building this cute. My husband is. So it's gonna be done essentially the way he wants to do it because he's doing the majority of the work, you know. So all things that you need to look into and and think about before you get that space.

Meara (19:57.231)
And I think so many of us again, I'm always gonna say this.

We're all used to moving so fast that we don't even realize how just how disconnected we've become. So, you know, we all we wake up already thinking about everything that needs to be finished for the day and we move from one task to the next and before we know it the day is over and we do it again. So living slower doesn't mean that you suddenly have fewer responsibilities or that every day is gonna be peaceful, like again, like you said, but it does mean that you be you need to become more present.

Maggie (20:06.988)
Mm.

Meara (20:32.63)
in the life of which we already have. So noticing our mornings, noticing our children, noticing our food, the water, how how you feel, because we never take care of ourselves as women. So start noticing just how how am I feeling today? You know, the people around you. And and I it sounds simple, but I think that kind of attention changes a lot. Like, yeah.

Maggie (20:35.211)
Yes. Hmm.

Maggie (20:56.813)
It does. And you you will still have a full day. you will still be tired, you'll still have things that you don't want to do. But

the the reward that you will feel for doing these things is is different. And and the gratitude that you start acquiring is is different. And there still can be chaos, especially with, you know, kids involved or, you know, Mother Nature, that sort of that sort of thing. It just doesn't have all

Meara (21:19.384)
Yes.

Maggie (21:39.19)
all the noise of of society, all the

The meaningless content that we are subject to day in and day out. It's removing that. You still have a full day of just beautiful, lovely things to do that all have a part in actual life and actual living. and you know, acquiring more knowledge and skill. And it's so I say this all the time, but it is so rewarding, and you feel so much better.

Meara (21:49.048)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (22:13.857)
about yourself and you really feel like you're accomplishing something. you know, something meaningful. so and that's you know that's the number one reason I think to to do this, to to start this type of lifestyle is just that

It's just that building yourself up and you know being the best version of yourself. I don't think that you can do that in societal living. I you know, 'cause you're always working for somebody else. But in this

Meara (22:46.284)
No, because it's about society. Yeah. And it's all about society.

Maggie (22:51.391)
Yeah, and this lifestyle you are working for yourself and your your family. And if that fragile system goes down, if the powers that be take everything away from you, you you will be okay. You will have a head start. So don't wait, 'cause you know everything could come crashing down at any moment. So start now. Start where you can. you know, and figure out how to

Meara (23:18.062)
Yeah, but also don't freak out about it. Where did you go? you know, because I work in society. I I have a societal job, societal job. but again, I feel like it's we just keep coming back to looking towards the inner you within yourself, how to is how you create this homestead. And it's always, always about that intention and living how our creator has, you know

Maggie (23:37.74)
Hmm.

Maggie (23:41.389)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (23:48.067)
has intended for us to live. And I also think that people get caught up in trying to make their life look like someone else's version of simple living. You know, you don't have to garden if you hate gardening. You don't have to keep chickens. And you don't have to bake that sourdough bread. But

Maggie (23:54.392)
no.

Meara (24:02.17)
you know, someone else's version's gonna look different than mine. Like you might enjoy cooking dinner f scra from scratch just a few nights a week, or it might be sewing or buying from a local farmer, or just spending your families with Sundays with family. The point is to build a life that actually feels meaningful to you, not to perform a lifestyle for other people.

Maggie (24:27.057)
Our Samir and I our lifestyles are are very different. Yes, we are you know, we grow food and yes we both want chickens. Yes we have lots of kids and we homeschool.

But I I would say that your style is more minimalist whereas I am more maximalist and I have, you know, paintings and you know, artwork and pictures and just all kinds of crazy things up on my walls and hanging around and I've got tons of rugs and curtains and you know, candles and just everything I can get my hands on. But when I go into, you know, Mira's home it doesn't

All of that. There are touches of that. but it's you know, so it can be and you can be even more minimalist. You don't have to have, you know, a bunch of stuff for this lifestyle, or you know, if you're someone like me, you have you know, ev everything you can get your hands on. So there's always gonna be differences in everyone's life and

Meara (25:11.416)
Green walls.

Maggie (25:37.355)
You know, my our little farmhouse here is not a farmhouse. It is eclectic and bohemian and and just you know.

Meara (25:50.041)
Hundred percent, Maggie. We have maximalist I'm gonna I'm gonna come up with a new word. We have maximalistic things in our home in the kitchen because my husband is a cook now all of a sudden. So it's like air fryer and deep fryer and this and that. And I'm like, our kitchen, like what

Maggie (25:51.934)
It is. Thanks to my husband.

Maggie (26:04.631)
He is a fantastic cook.

Meara (26:11.926)
Where we put this stuff? Like, you know, now we don't have a basement. We don't have any place to store this stuff. So one more thing. And then the only thing I have is an ice maker. But this man has this, that, and the third, and something new and something else. And then he wants to broast chicken. And I'm like, no, wait a minute. So so we do have lots of things, certain places, but for the most part, we do like are really trying to like just downsize because we just everything we brought from the old house, I'm like, this is this is

Maggie (26:16.407)
Yeah.

Maggie (26:22.829)
No.

Maggie (26:31.97)
Yeah.

Meara (26:41.174)
junk like I hate this I wish we could just leave everything there and come here and not have to deal with it but you know we change over time so another part of this discussion for me is community

Maggie (26:46.445)
Yeah.

Meara (26:55.286)
you know, slower living shouldn't mean withdrawing from everyone around you because people used to depend on each other more. Communities, everything, and that's what we're building here at Women Folk Revival, you know, where they knew their neighbors and shared food and helped each other and families gathered and kids grew up around their grandparents, cousins and neighbors and all of that. And now we can do almost everything without speaking to another person. Everything. We can order our food out, work from home, entertain ourselves with our phones and our computers and do our, you know

Maggie (26:59.309)
Yeah.

Maggie (27:04.321)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (27:25.25)
daily routines without a real connection from people. I'm sure that's convenient, but we are definitely losing something when life becomes too isolated. We are losing that connection.

Maggie (27:34.327)
Yes. We yes. We have and it's we've gotten to a point where we've escaped life when we come home and we're on our phones or computers and

you know, being by yourself. We're escaping life. We're not being a part of it at all. And and it's so funny to use that word too, because people often feel like they have to escape their life to live like this. And you don't. You can start, you know, doing this in the life that you have. but think about it. Have you escaped already? Do you not have, you know, a village, a community? you know, if that

Meara (28:16.334)
you have to escape to not have that. Some people might just not just might not have that at all. Like I never had that.

Maggie (28:21.504)
Well that's what I'm saying. Have are you escaping life by not being immersed in those things?

Meara (28:28.588)
Yes, because I am a recluse.

Maggie (28:31.212)
Well yes, and I'm the same way. I'm I'm not a big, you know, be around a lot of people, but you know, I have you. Yes. I love what we're doing too.

Meara (28:37.368)
But I love what we're doing. And our community. It makes me so much hap like I don't think I now when I was granted, when I was in high school I was I like

After high school I love being the life of the party going out and hanging out and stuff. But then as I got older, I'm like, I don't like this. It's scary. People are weird. And I like just started converting into this like little recluse hole. And then I found you. And then I'm like, yeah, this is who I am again. This is what I want to be. Let's build this huge movement of women who can all come together and be like family and who all have like minds and a sense of wanting to reconnect how the creator wanted us to live. And I know I keep saying that over and over, but it's just, you know, it's not about

Maggie (28:54.858)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (29:04.64)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (29:17.698)
how other people see us like society and how they want you to be. It's all about from within and growing yourself in the midst of and being around other people, but being able to grow yourself differently, like from a different country and a different culture and a different religion. We can all still come together and still love each other the same and do everything together, you know, and I just I love the whole thought and idea behind all of this. So that's what excites me.

Maggie (29:28.342)
Yes.

Maggie (29:41.567)
I do, I do too. And you know, you talking about you know

being a recluse and realizing that you know people weird and you I've been like that my entire life. And thinking back on it, especially since we started this, I I never really got to know people well enough. there's so many things that I, you know, so many people I look I look back at and I'm like, I I'm sure there's so many things that I would have had in common with them had I just actually gotten to know someone

somebody and and I especially think of you know like my my parents and all of their friends and just like the community that I grew up in. I'm sure all of them had at least something that they could have shared with me and taught me and something that we would have had a connection by. But I was just so weird and so different and I just felt like I was never going to I guess I was always just worried about people really getting to

Meara (30:19.842)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (30:29.944)
Yeah.

Maggie (30:48.366)
To know me and knowing just how like just, you know, different I am. and that's you know, and I think that's a big thing with people now is just, you know, just getting you don't have to be immersed in somebody's life. You can have a small

a small something that you share with somebody. You know, maybe you

Meet one person and and start working on a quilt, you know. Maybe you go and meet another one and and that's like your interaction. That's what you do. It's not an everyday thing. Okay, what are we doing this weekend? What are we doing that weekend? And it doesn't have to become a whole immersive relationship. It can be something just small where you just have that one thing that you share together and you learn from one another. And then, you know, you build from there. But it doesn't have to be this big orchestrated

relationship that that evolves from it.

Meara (31:50.415)
Well, I think another thing is women folk revival is not society's norms. When we were going out and talking to other people, we were also going based off of how society s how society saw us as. So when I see saw someone, it wasn't them. It was how do they see me because of how society is. With women folk revival, it's we're all so real and natural. Like every single woman we have spoken to so far, I have enjoyed

Maggie (32:08.94)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (32:16.812)
Yes, immensely, yes.

Meara (32:17.4)
talking to them and we just have this deep connection with every single one of them has aligned with us completely on everything and it's like this is what life is really supposed to be. We are and we are and that's what makes it so amazing is being able to connect with someone even though they're so different. But but we all align on just that same thing, you know, and so society ha we have nothing to do with society here in our

Maggie (32:23.498)
Yes. But we're so different. We're so different at the same time.

Yeah.

Meara (32:41.314)
women folk revival community and I think that's what makes it so natural for me to not be a recluse here is I can be myself. I don't care what anybody thinks of me and I don't care what what anybody else is like or what they do, you know, as long as they're not a bad person, I could care less who you are. I just want to know you for who you are as a person. And I w so I want to know the people around me and I want people to feel welcome in my home, even if my house isn't perfect, even though I really don't like people in my home except for you. And I want my kids to grow up seeing other people, you know, help one another and I want us to share what we have instead of feeling

Maggie (32:53.59)
Mm-hmm. Right.

Maggie (33:05.605)
Huh?

Meara (33:11.258)
Like everyone has to do everything alone, and then we have our family. One of the biggest things that we can give people we love is our attention, like not more things, you know, or another activity, but our attention. And I want my kids to remember ordinary things and being outside and being around the table and helping someone or laughing or getting extremely muddy. Just yesterday, my kids were all making mud pies, and I'm like, how can we make a lesson out of this? So we're counting the mud pies, and we're there.

Maggie (33:38.711)
Get out! My kids made they made a mud cake. This thing was like this this thick and they I don't know. They grinded no, my they grinded up a bunch of our chalk our driveway chalk and decorated like frosting and Yeah, it was a humongous and they were just they were a total mess. I'm like, you guys are disgusting

Meara (33:41.168)
Yeah, they were huge.

Meara (33:48.866)
They stick leaves in

Meara (33:55.489)
Okay. Yeah, my kids do that too. that's cool.

Meara (34:05.258)
See sometimes we work so hard trying to give our families a good life that we just forget to actually live it in the moment with them and I don't want to miss that. And you know, I notice that most when I'm outside, especially when I'm watching my kids. Ew, I'm gonna get emotional. And when I'm, you know, just making something with my hands or if Mira wasn't crying.

Maggie (34:26.856)
It wouldn't be an episode of Women Folk Revival if you didn't get emotional

Meara (34:34.838)
There's something about paying attention that changes our perspective on things. You know, you stop feeling like everything is missing and you just start noticing things that are already there. and I don't think we were meant to spend our whole lives rushing. No, we were not supposed to spend our whole lives rushing and comparing and consuming and feeling behind. We were just meant to notice more and to be grateful and live with intention and care for what we've been given. Yeah, and care for each other and remember our connection.

Maggie (34:38.251)
Yeah.

Maggie (34:58.036)
And to be connected with each other.

And I will say, you know, for people that are living in cities or, you know, like the suburbs or or whatnot, it is actually easier for you to start building that community because you have so many people around you. And so many more people are finally starting to, you know, really understand that that life should be more. You're you're gonna find a lot of people around you already.

Meara (35:27.725)
Yeah.

Maggie (35:31.502)
So absolutely start you can start living this lifestyle right now and bonus you have people all over the place. You know, we have

Meara (35:32.867)
You are.

Maggie (35:43.531)
We have one person that's close to us and then we have acreage between the rest of our neighbors. So you get to know them here and there, but it's not, you know, necessarily an an everyday occurrence where you see each other. Yeah.

Meara (35:49.55)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (35:58.487)
Have to talk to them and I have to do this. Yeah. So, so instead of asking yourself how to get the perfect homestead, you need to ask yourself how you want your life to feel where you already are. I have got to take some kind of medicine for this because I can I cannot keep doing this. I've got to find some kind of herbal remedy to get me to stop crying. What could you do to slow down?

Maggie (36:16.576)
Don't say medicine to me.

They're out there.

Meara (36:27.276)
What can you learn? What can you make? Who could you spend more time with? What part of your day are you rushing through without even noticing? You don't have to change everything at once. Like we always tell you, start with one thing, one habit, one meal, one walk. And for our words of wisdom this week, we want to leave you with this. Don't wait for the land. Don't wait for a bigger kitchen, garden, chickens, country house, or the season of life when you finally have more time. Start where your feet are.

Open the window and notice the weather. Cook something from scratch.

Stand barefoot in the grass, sit at a table a little longer, grow something in a pot, turn everything off for a few minutes, and get quiet enough to reconnect with yourself and with your creator. A meaningful life isn't waiting for you somewhere else. It's already happening. And I think intentional living really comes down to noticing that cherishing the people around you and being grateful for what you already have and still allowing yourself to dream without believing you have to wait for those dreams before life can begin.

I dreamed about having acreage for years, and now that I have it, I am incredibly grateful. But the land didn't begin with this journey for me. It started years ago when I wanted to live differently with what I already had. So wherever you're listening from today, a farm, apartment, neighborhood, rented house, five acres, or no backyard at all, just pay attention and participate in your own life. And let that be enough for today.

And if this episode resonated with you, share it with another woman who might need to hear it too. Make sure you follow Women Folk Revival on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss next week's episode. Is there anything you would like to add?

Maggie (38:11.164)
join us on our community page where I need to be more present.

Meara (38:18.178)
Join us on our Facebook community page.

Maggie (38:18.408)
I am one one part of slow living that I have mastered is not being active on social media and unfortunately I need to be.

Meara (38:24.588)
Not being active on social media.

And next week, we're talking about marriage, beyond the wedding, through the good seasons and the hard ones, mirror crying, and what it means to keep choosing one another as life changes around you. It's a reflection on marriage, growth, partnership, and building a life together through all seasons that come with it. So until next time.

Maggie (38:47.798)
Stay rooted and stay wild.

Meara (38:50.357)
Stay wild.