The NEW Modern Alternative Homestead! |
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The NEW Modern Alternative Homestead!

admin May 8, 2018

This is it, you guys…what we’ve been dreaming of for years.  We decided that a small family homestead was in our future when our second baby was, well…a baby.  We even looked at a few properties back in early 2012, but it just wasn’t time yet.

After several more years…lots of changes…saving up…it’s finally real.

Our kids get to grow up on our very own farm.

The NEW Modern Alternative Homestead!

We are still settling in, but we are beyond excited.  We have a beautiful new (to us) home that was built in the late 60s and recently remodeled.  Hard wood floors, tons of counter space in the kitchen, large living room and dining space, large play room.  Outside, we have almost 10 acres of land.

On this land, we have a small orchard.  An apple tree and a pear tree are each 10+ years old (shown above!) and in full production, and there are about 10 additional 2 – 5 year old trees that produce apples, peaches, and pears (or, they will — in a few years). We had planned to put in trees ASAP when we found the right place…so it was beyond amazing to find a place that already had trees!

We have a small strawberry patch. It really is pretty small, and we hope to add a second patch out in the yard, because our kids just love berries.  I think we’ll have a good amount to eat fresh, but none to preserve this year.

There are a few perennial herbs growing around the property — some rosemary and sage for sure.  We found some kale.  And what looks like onions, too. There’s a cute little patch next to the apple trees.

And chicken coop.

Our new chickens were left by the previous owners, who were moving to another state and didn’t want to move them.  So, we have a small “herd” of 16 chickens that are already laying.  The kids are beyond excited!

It’s a bit of a learning curve for us — the property is already well on its way to being what we wanted, and we have to dive in and take care of it immediately!  But we are so thrilled to have found this.  It’s just what we wanted, and it’s in the perfect location (in a township so we can raise animals freely, but close enough to town that it isn’t frustrating to run errands).  We got so lucky.

Unschooling on the Homestead

The food production isn’t the only thing we’re excited about.  (Although the kids love the chickens and are constantly trying to play with them, feed them, and search for eggs.)

We also have a creek that runs through part of our property, and the kids absolutely love it.  They have already searched for different rocks, played in the water, tried to identify different plants and even found some fish.

This is at our house, you guys.  We can literally head out there everyday.

I don’t have any pictures of the inside yet, because we’re still setting up.  But we have a built-in bookshelf on the upper level, which is already stocked with tons of different books — story books from baby board books to chapter books, science experiments, art and coloring books, various non-fiction.

On the lower level, we have an entire room just for the kids.  They have their Lego table, a couch, and some other toys.  Over time, they’ll have an art table and space for their projects.

We also have a two-level screened porch, where the kids keep their “outdoor toys” and where the starts for our garden currently live.

And can I just say…I love that we have so many dandelions!

First, I just love dandelions.  The flowers are sunny and beautiful, and they are edible (dandelion muffins, cookies, and wine) and they have mild pain-relieving and skin-soothing properties.  The leaves are rich in vitamins and minerals and great in salads or as tea.  The roots are so beneficial to liver function.  All around, awesome plant.

Second, the presence of so many dandelions means that the yard wasn’t sprayed.  And that is a great start for our organic garden.

This is the dream, you guys.  It’s totally the dream.  We are beyond excited to start this chapter of our lives — at long last.

Where We Go From Here

I hope you’ll follow our journey, especially if you’ve been dreaming of your own homestead, someday!

We’re working to get our food production all set up (considering meat birds this summer, plus a large garden), creating our compost bin/area, fermenting all the things, and more.

It’s our goal to share our lives on the homestead, now that all the planning and preparing and learning we’ve done over the last 8 years has finally come to fruition.  It’s not just bits and pieces anymore, or theoretical some-day stuff….  It’s real.

Look for more tutorials on farm cooking and fermenting, DIY projects (my husband has promised me custom-built coffee table and kitchen table), wild crafting (harvesting herbs and other wild-growing things), and ideas for the homestead-dreamers.

And of course…all our usual health research, unschooling, and other wild, free, alternative living topics. 🙂

In a week or so…step two will be to show you the inside, once we’re out of the boxes and set up!  I can’t wait to invite you in.

Do you homestead, or hope to someday?

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10 Comments

  1. Congratulations! So happy you have your dream house/property now!

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  2. Oh Kate!! I never *thought* I wanted a homestead/farm, but after reading this, maybe I do!!! You are now officially living the dream, right?! 🙂

    Congrats on such a huge blessing.

    Kelly

    Reply

  3. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You sound so excited. It looks like a wonderful place. Anxious to see the rest. BLESSINGS in your new endeavor.

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  4. Congratulations!!! A homestead is part of my long term dream too. It sounds amazing!

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  5. Congrats!! What a wonderful dream come true. And my first thought actually wasn’t “yay congrats”, but rather, “jealous!!!” haha… Howabout build a little cabin and start an AirBnB so that others can come learn and share in your little slice of heaven? =)

    Reply

  6. Wow Kate, I am so excited for you! I’ve been reading your posts for awhile now and remember when your husband left his awful 9-5 job to work on your business together. I’m hoping homesteading is in my future too someday. What an inspiration you are!!!

    Reply

  7. So unbelievably awesome!!! This is definitely my husband’s and my dream, too, and I’m so excited to see how it unfolds for your family. Much happiness (and much jealousy – ha!) for you!

    Reply

  8. WOW! You guys are amazing. Always doing so much. Certainly as Gandhi put it “Be the change you want to see in the world”. Can’t wait to follow along in the journey. It too has been my dream for the past decade, being a therapeutic chef for postpartum mamas, I’ve really wanted to dive further into the absolute cleanest most nutrient-dense life. My family just acquired our homestead last summer. We have a crazy amount of land, 40 acres. It’s dreeeeeeamy and in the Sierra foothills near epic national parks. Now that we’ve been here a year, I wanna give props even more to all of us living the dream. It’s BIG work but ridiculously rewarding. We have 2 ponds, 400 olive trees, the cliché big red barn and tons of pasture and wildlife beyond anything I could have imagined. Blessings to you all in this heart-crushing in love with nature experience you are embarking on. I know you’ll explode with even more gratitude.

    Reply

  9. Congratulations! I raised my 5 kids on 11 acres after moving from the big city of Chicago and fell in love with the lifestyle. The only thing we didn’t have was a creek or a pond when eventually we were going to put in. I miss it every day. Enjoy!

    Reply

  10. I’m so happy for you! Just a little advice: maybe it’s better not to show pictures from you house because these days you really have to be careful on social media..

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Kate.  I love medical freedom, sharing natural remedies, developing real food recipes, and gentle parenting. My goal is to teach you how to live your life free from Big Pharma, Big Food, and Big Government by learning about herbs, cooking, and sustainable practices.

I’m the author of Natural Remedies for Kids and the owner and lead herbalist at EarthleyI hope you’ll join me on the journey to a free and healthy life!

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