We all have a story to tell from the road that we have walked on. Due to what life throws at us we all experience different things and with these experiences we find easier ways to get through them. Here is an Interview with a stay at home mom that is building a healthy life style for her and her family.
1.Tell us a little about yourself!
My name is Caitlin, or Cat McKnight. I am a twenty-seven year old mother of two feral girls. I also raise goats, chickens, rabbits, and -coming this spring- pigs. To capture my world and my journey to a healthier life, I vlog a few times a week using YouTube. I also have a small online business of hand stitching ultrasound embroideries that I sell to help pay for my passions.
2. What are some daily struggles you face?
I have health issues centered around my weight- like inflammation and pre-diabetes. I also suffer from anxiety and depression. To lessen these burdens, I am trying to lose weight, eat clean, and through a series of many long winded side stories haha. I have decided to raise or grow most of what my family consumes. As far as struggles go, the list can some times drag on.
However, if I’m seeing me on a good day, I’d say my biggest struggles are few: I parent solo as my husband spends twenty days at work and only spends ten days at home (oilfield), and my nearest support member lives over an hour away.
I very often feel glaringly alone and overwhelmed. Couple this with anxiety, depression, and the constant-ness of parenting/farming ..some days are very bleak. However, on those days I lean greatly on phone calls with family members, and finding comfort in God’s presence.
3. What are some tips you have for moms with husbands in oilfield or away from home?
Find a support system of some kind! Seriously, even having somebody I can just call as I stuff myself under the table for some peace and quiet goes along way. But other places where I have found like minded and hearted people are: play date groups like MOPS or MDO programs, church groups, children’s programs (like meeting a fellow mom at my daughters ballet class or in the toddler story time at the library). Even if you don’t end up braiding each other’s hair and venting all your past hurts, it’s also important to just make a schedule that includes you being able to interact with other adults. People I could trust to watch my kids, I have to drive hours to see, but people that I can talk to and feel like an adult? That’s Tuesdays at 4.
It’s easy to feel alone, and it’s hard to branch out. Especially if you’re in a new town or area like I find myself. Even having lived here before, I only have one “half” friend. I get it. It’s TOUGH, but try! Be transparent about needing friends, and go get ’em, Tiger.
4. How did you get into homesteading?
It’s literally in my blood. The grandparents I knew and spent time with, they gardened and had animals. My great aunt chased me out of her strawberries and cherry tomatoes like I was a raccoon, and summers at my Papa’s house taught me some tough realities about honking, angry geese and woody radishes. I loved it though! Books like Charlotte’s Web, Little House on the Prairie, and other tales set in “simpler times” always held a romance in my mind as a child, and it’s always rested quietly in the back of my mind.
As an adult, I found myself surfing YouTube, and found channels of people who decided that this modern life was just too much pressure, but it was optional. With that new, profound idea, I grew my first tomato plants in a greenhouse made from a kiddie pool and a shower curtain. I. Was. Hooked.
I’m coming up on my second year, and I have really cultivated an honest-to-goodness farm. I decided to live life the way I wanted to: with greater responsibility, effort, and control over my health and that of my family, but also with a profound, deliberate appreciation of things like time, nature, skills and God. Not to mention the joy this lifestyle brings my entire family.
5. Do you have any tips for a mom who is wanting to home stead?
If you want to be a homesteader, patience will be your best friend. Patience for seeds to sprout, skills to learn, or patiently waiting for something you need to pop up cheap on Facebook marketplace! I found the hardest thing to shake was the sense of urgency that I live with. I still struggle with this, but wanting to do all the things, grow all the plants, build all the infrastructure, or raise all the animals!! that all took time.
In fact, I usually get one large-ish project done a month being a solo mom. The in between time, I do what I can, but some things take more hands. I had to learn to chill out, and appreciate the process and importance of waiting for your reward.
I’m currently waiting nine months for the pepper mash I made from peppers harvested three months ago to be ready to turn into hot sauce. For somebody like me- who feels encouraged and fueled by instant satisfaction- I had to shed that sense of urgency, and learn to happily live life in the slow lane.
Also, it is key to remember: before all the animals and plants, you’re raising tiny people. I whole-heartedly feel that this way of life has taught my kids certain things, that otherwise might be missed out on or would take many years to become knowledgeable of.
For example, how babies are made, what it means to be a good steward, and the importance of responsibility. My last big bit of advice though is to have a barnyard babysitter so that family vacations or weekends out of town don’t become a thing of the past!
Cat Mcknight is doing a really amazing job as a momma, homesteader, and managing her Cat Mcknight Creations!
Don’t forget to support our fellow momma by Checking out her homestead channel Homestead to Health by clicking below
And also checking out Cat Mcknight Creations via
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