Forager, milkmaid, sheep enthusiast, Livestock Guardian Dog connoisseur, homesteader, and mother.
Simple living; that was the goal when we decided to begin a homestead. Living to spend my time with the people I loved, to eat produce that was grown clean, to raise livestock we knew was grass-fed and holistically raised, to be self-sufficient and only answer to ourselves, to wake and sleep with the rise and fall of the sun. I never realized how humbling simple living would be.
I started as a city girl. I didn’t know about animal husbandry, permaculture, or utilizing nature for energy. But I loved food. When our family decided to begin eating a clean, organic diet I, was amazed at how much better I felt, and also how expensive it was. We quickly began learning how to garden and raise chickens – which supplemented a huge amount of our food intake. Then we made a crazy decision to go from ¼ acre to 40 acres. Within a couple of years, we were at 160 acres, 175 sheep, 20 some cattle, 4 cameloids, too many poultry to count, livestock guardian dogs, 3 adults, and 7 children.
The journey wasn’t easy, or even pretty. We put our cart before the horse multiple times. We learned hard lessons – in hard ways. We made a drastic change, from city-living to living completely off-grid. We dealt with city water, cisterns, and gravity feed springs into our site. We experienced heating water in coiled black piping. We washed our dishes in buckets and kept our food cool in the – always flowing – creek. We lived in a camper, a shop, and a house. We learned about mineral deficiencies and parasite loads. We saw the joy of new life being born on the farm and the hardship of birthing complications hands on. We learned about herbal medicines, gardening zones, and new gardening and husbandry techniques.
It was worth it.
My goal is to share my experiences and knowledge so that you can skip learning the hard way. Furthermore, I hope to encourage you. So that you know with confidence that even when things get tough, you can still move forward.
