Yes, the animal part is really hard, and never gets any easier. For the gardening part, I've found that working on balancing my soil has started to eliminate the pest and disease problems. I do use a broadfork in the gardens, but the first thing we bought was a tractor. Our disabled bodies can't do the heavy stuff. My mom cooked from scratch and that's the way I've always cooked too. Keeping an inventory of what you put up, how much was used, and how much to do the following year has been very helpful for me. And we've been heating with wood since 1978. We used to go out and collect wood, but when the disabilities got too pronounced, we started having log length delivered. We are reaching a point where we might have to go to cut and split delivered...

All good points! Excellent post!