What is Homesteading?

As a young girl, I dreamed of being a mom, raising children and being available to take care of the familial needs that came up. Life does not always work out the way you plan. Most of the time, you find yourself pivoting. While, I can hear many women groan at my desire to stay home and do the “primitive” thing, what I would say is that we are all made differently, have different goals and aspirations and that’s ok. For me, I am most content when I am engaging in acts of service. I would love the time to clean the house like it deserves, cook wholesome meals for my family and tend to the garden daily. That is not my reality. I am guessing, it’s not yours either. You probably read this title and are diving into this topic more deeply. Currently, homesteading and caring for my family full-time is not my reality. Yet, I cannot break away from that dream of being more present for my family. This year, I hit 50 years of age and I have my two youngest still at home. Matt is a sophomore this year and Bethany is a freshman. Yet, I still have that desire to serve my family and be more present. Is it ever too late to pursue this type of lifestyle and dream? I am living proof that it’s never too late.

So the next question you might be asking yourself is why I push so hard when I have two children who are about to enter adulthood? The truth is that seventeen years ago Matthew was born. He was born with missing bones in his right leg and foot and eventually we would learn that he was also on the “spectrum”. I am not one for labels because to me that doesn’t mean a whole lot. Matthew is Matthew. He enjoys music, funny videos and his dog. He works hard in school and at home. So when I start to think about homesteading and building a business off of that dream, I am thinking about passing on those traditions, skills and hopefully a business that will benefit our children (especially Matthew who has found his way in this life-style). Matthew goes in and out of coops, picks up birds and works with me to trim beaks, move birds or whatever else needs to be done. He helps clean coops and water animals. He helps me pull weeds in the garden. Bethany helps me make bread, cut up fresh veggies and do the dishes. We all work together and push through the many tasks that go along with the dream around this lifestyle. So what is homesteading?

When I think of homesteading, I think about the early pioneers and self-sufficiency. I think about using everything that you can source from the land and also giving back to the land. I think of being tied to your family and priorities looking much differently than they do in the conventional United States. I daydream about walking out to the coop and bringing in eggs to cook up fresh for the family in the mornings and nightly meals around the table where we talk about our day. Instead, I am tied to a job as a school teacher and my husband a job as a computer-engineer. Many days, my days start at 5am and then I am rolling into the driveway at 7:00 at night because of coaching duties, after-school appointments, grocery shopping etc. Yes, I still use the conventional grocery store, but it is my desire to break away from that reality or at the very minimum source much more food from my farm than the store or even better yet, work with other local growers. This year in particularly, I have really paused and asked myself what my true priorities are and what is most important. Every year of working brings me a little closer to our goal of paying off debt and being free from the conventional systems. Every year that I push and every minute of sleeplessness is for the outcome I have dreamed of since childhood. So how do we homestead and can we really call ourselves homesteaders?

Last year, was the first time we tried to sell our products at the Farmer’s market. We met so many kind people who supported us by buying our products, providing encouraging words and spreading the “word” about our small business. We even had other small businesses supporting ours. In turn, we have also worked hard to source what we can from local businesses. We started by cutting bramble and making some beautiful thorny looking Easter wreaths and taking products that didn’t sell and dehydrating it to make garlic scape powder, which was a huge hit! We also made jalapeno salts, serrano salts, chili powder, etc. When customers didn’t know what to do with the peppers, we showed them new ways to use them. When we have kitchen scraps, we feed them to the ducks and chickens. When we have things that can’t be given to the chicken and ducks, we compost the items. Then, each year we clean the layered bedding out of the chicken coop and that becomes composted. The liquid duck poop in the pools is recycled and used in the garden. There is an ebb and flow between taking from the land and returning to the land. We have worked to make our own homemade breads to use, make most things from scratch, so we know what is going into our foods and just taking one-step at a time to meet our goals and dreams of becoming full-time homesteaders. We are feeling so blessed that you have decided to embark on that journey with us by either creating your own homestead or supporting ours!