About Me

I’m a wife and stay at home homeschooling mother of two wild things. I am blessed to be a steward of many people and things that I care deeply about, but it hasn’t always been that way. Over the years, I’ve gradually dragged my willing family into a wonderfully challenging, yet satisfying homesteading lifestyle. 

Will and I both grew up in the suburbs. We had no farming/growing experience. We’ve been blessed to have met each other when we were 16 and have been glued at the hip ever since. I had a horse in my teen years that I competed in barrel racing. A decade with that animal taught me what hard, dirty, satisfying work was all about. Will and I had always talked about one day having a farm, purely for the (pet) animal aspect. It’s funny how the culture can just swallow you up in the “you shoulds”. I said goodbye to the horse after 11 years, we both worked 9-5s and picked up debt left and right. God had a wonderful plan for us. We needed to get a taste of that rat wheel before it got violently derailed. Now we are well on our way to no debt (even free of the mortgage) and self-sustainability. 

In 2014, our first son was born healthy and happy. At 5 months old he suddenly developed terrible eczema, though he hadn’t been introduced to solid foods. We got passed around from doctor to naturopath and back again… The Mama Bear in me was scratching and clawing for answers, not bandaids. I was shocked to discover how slight diet changes for me quickly rid him of eczema entirely (and has never come back, I might add). To my surprise, my own daily headaches, weekly migraines, dizzy spells and brain fog all dissipated too! This new passion for holistic medicine and nutrition led me to many forms of detox/healing (heavy metals, chemicals, awful city water, EMF radiation, GAPS diet) and wanting to know everything about where our food comes from. This then sparked my need to grow and raise our own food and preserve it. The ways of the “good ol’ days” really appealed to me and I sought to acquire all the skills. I’ve become proficient at waterbath and pressure canning, freeze drying, dehydrating, fermenting, and smoking foods to preserve them. My list of want-to-learn skills is forever growing! Haha We started raising chickens for eggs… then meat. Then we kept adult (meat breed) chickens to breed, hatch and raise our own meat birds. This year we raised our first meat turkeys and just butchered two beef cows ourselves, that we had the opportunity to raise on our neighbor’s property. We are motivated by the idea of being as self-sustainable as possible and buying or bartering with other small local farmers or businesses for the rest of our needs. This rabbit hole has led me to food forests, permaculture, propagating plants, foraging, herbal medicine; all the while learning to make a dairy, grain, nightshade and sugar free diet thoroughly enjoyable. We are thriving! And these are the skills we want to be part of our children’s foundation. 

The events that began this journey were not by choice but by God’s grace, it has led us to an extremely fulfilling chapter of life we wouldn’t have known otherwise. We are so thankful for the likeminded community that we have attained over the years. We have so much to learn from each other! As we strive to live a healthy, enjoyable, self-sustainable life, I share what I do in hopes of making good stewardship contagious. And, of course, make more friends along the way!