Country Dweller in Me

I grew up in a city. I went to college in an even bigger city. When I moved back to my hometown I swore I would not stay there long because it was too small. Fast forward a few (ok, maybe several) years and now I have absolutely no desire to live in a big town (but sadly, I do). I guess, to be honest, I want the best of both worlds. I want to live on land where I can have chickens and goats and more than a couple dogs and a huge garden. BUT, I also want neighbors close so I won't lose my sanity and the boys will have kids to play with. Much like we had in the Highlands only without the water issues and crazy mountainous drive and tough soil where you couldn't grow anything without a state of the art greenhouse.
When we moved here we talked about planting a garden but alas we haven't (and won't) plant one. Instead, I've been "living" off the land thanks to various people. One neighbor has given me a few of her chickens' eggs. One of Rob's co-workers gave him a generous amount of banana peppers, tomatoes and pepper jelly. An elderly neighbor across the street has "adopted" me and the boys and is always extremely generous in sharing her fresh, garden herbs and produce. In fact she's the one that has kind of challenged and encouraged me to step out of my box in the way of cooking. She shares recipes, has set up a subscription for me to get Better Homes and Gardens, and has taught me about freezing herbs. She is an awesome Southern style cook so whenever she brings us a meal she tells me how she made it and/or what gives it the special flavor.
Today I realized we had a lot of produce and I didn't want it to go bad, especially because it came from other people and not our own wallets. If you know me well you know that I LOVE projects, crafts, learning new things. Sitting still on a weekend is not an option for me unless I am sick or absolutely dog tired (which is rarely the case). So I googled how to can stuff...and spent the entire afternoon doing so. I ended up making fresh spaghetti sauce and learned that, after a 3 hour process of making and canning it, the $1.68 that I pay for Ragu sauce is well worth the price for my time and effort. I also canned 3 jars of banana peppers. I have yet to taste them as it's taken a long time for them to cool but if they turned out good I'll be excited to do more. They were super easy! I also cut up and froze some other veggies to use in the future.
It was a fun, busy and MESSY learning experience! I'd love to live off the land more but for now I'll be happy with the generosity of others sharing their homegrown stuff. Ah, the life of a city mouse trying to be a country mouse (If you've read that children's story you get it).