Who Needs to Go To The Gym ?

Its 8:30 p.m. My husband and I have just now come in for the evening. It was a work day for us. Planting more grapes, transplanting Echinacea and soapwort. Putting in more peppers and cucumbers. Planting sun flower seeds. Chopping up trees that had fallen during the winter. Collecting small branches that were covering part of the land for kindling to use in the woodstove. Watering all the garden areas. Hauling 5 gallons of water at a time to water the new grapes that are in the back of the property. All this work was probably the equivalent of 5 hours at the gym working out. We lifted weights, 5 gallons of water is heavy while walking a distance. Lifting logs, and throwing them over to the fire pit area. Hoeing the soil and raking are both very aerobic exercises. All the walking from one area to another adds up.
The bending and stretching of planting seeds and harvesting spinach and lettuce for the evenings meal.
I once heard a famous Doctor on Television talking about if we all worked like our grandmothers did, there would be no need for fitness experts and health clubs.
The walking they did, hanging laundry, ironing, gardening, sweeping floors and washing them with real mops and not tiny light weight swiffer type things.
Its something to think about. Last year for the sake of knowing the health of my heart I had some tests done. The one where they inject dye and have you do the treadmill was one of them. My mother died young, age 65 from a heart attack and I wanted to know what my risks were.
I had the test and the Doctor called when he had looked at everything and told me I had the heart of a teenager. He wanted to know how often I was working out. Now in all fairness I do run, but I told him what my usual day was like and he laughed and said, "that would be your answer to why you are in such good shape". Years of milking goats, tending gardens, no clothes dryer, no dish washer and lots of hiking has kept us fit. My husband turns all our land with a shovel. We don't even own a tiller.
Tonight I am sharing with you where I sit in the evenings and do hand work. A cozy corner in the living room where my rocking char is. The curtains by the way are the ones I just made from the $1 a yard fabric at Wal-mart. We have 4 windows in our living room so it was just about $16 to make all of them.
Sleep will come easy to us tonight after spending the day out in the sunshine working to create an environment of simple beauty.