Do you ever feel like there has got to be a better way? In the wild world we live in today, I constantly think about what I can do to make a better world for myself and my little family. I’m sitting here in the dark writing this post for you all, feeling this baby kicking inside my belly as she is feeling my excitement in this journey that I have set out on. I want to create something my girls will forever remember as I teach them the skills they need to be self-sufficient, strong, independent young women through homesteading skills.
My name is Katie, and I live in Montana with my husband and two girls, who are 8 and 5 years old, with another girl on the way! We live in a small city where we only have a little room in our backyard to grow some food and have limited space for animals. Our dream is to buy land and build a house, have enough acreage to sustain several animals, and become even more self-sufficient than we currently are. I can’t wait to share our journey with you as we embark on this homesteading experience and learn through research, trial, and error.
Homesteading Chicken Fun!
We bought our first batch of chickens in March of 2022 and have fallen in love with the idea of homesteading on a larger scale. My girls have loved raising chickens since the day we brought them home from our local farm supply store. They are so excited to check for eggs every morning, feed them, give them treats, and a bunch of love. These chickens have brought our family so much joy and satisfaction. We work together to problem solve, for example, when it got to -22 and then -47 degrees with wind chills in the -50s this winter. How the heck were we going to keep these chickens alive that our girls have grown so attached to? I’ll share that story with you all later!
Gardening in Zone 3
I have also grown our food in our backyard since the summer of 2020. We have a very short growing season here with brutal weather that we must navigate. It can be challenging to grow much of anything here as we live in USDA Zone 3 and are at over 5,000 feet in elevation. It requires us to start many of our seeds indoors as our growing season is too short for most things. Our area is also known to get snow in June and sometimes even July, and we are lucky to make it to October without it snowing again. Growing food in our area takes a lot of planning and preparation to reap the benefits. But, boy, are the benefits great when you have a good growing season!
How We Got Here
There is nothing in this world that I would love more than to be able to teach my girls homesteading skills to raise their own meat, grow their own food, and not be so dependent on the “system.” Unfortunately, this system has failed us more than once. The most recent example that I’m sure no one has forgotten (but we all wish we could!) would be the COVID-19 pandemic, which was not so kind to many of us who relied on the system. Food was becoming harder to find, personal care products were nowhere to be found, people were fighting for what was available, etc. But! Because of this experience, it has opened my eyes to a better way to live, to be better stewards of our land, and to be more resourceful no matter what.
Starting Small & Learning Homesteading Skills
Although COVID-19 still exists, it isn’t as bad as when the pandemic first hit us. There aren’t as many restrictions in place, we can travel now, food and other products aren’t as hard to find, and masks aren’t required in as many places as when the pandemic first started. With all of that being said, I feel like through this experience, I have found a way to be more productive with the small space that I do have to grow food for my family, raise chickens for meat and eggs, and rely more on myself and my baking skills to make sure my family has healthier options and know where their food came from while reducing our carbon footprint. Homesteading has been an enormous blessing for our family over the last few years, and it’s something that we choose to do every day. We are learning and growing as a family so that when we find the land we want to expand into, we will be ready to jump when the opportunity presents itself.
What is Homesteading Anyway?
Homesteading can mean a lot of different things to people. Technically, homesteading is a term that was used way back in the 1800s when people were granted 160 acres of land for a small fee and were required to live on the land. What I am talking about when I speak of “homesteading” is what we call modern-day homesteading skills. It’s about learning to be more self-reliant/self-sufficient, repurposing items, reducing our carbon footprint, growing an edible garden, raising animals for food purposes, doing DIY projects, crafting, baking, etc. Homesteading is such a broad term these days that it can really encompass a myriad of different topics. I fully believe homesteading is whatever you want or need it to be for your circumstances, even if it’s just one thing that makes a difference for your family.
Talk to Me!
I’m so excited to share my experiences and connect with you so that you can learn from our successes and failures. This journey is so exciting, and I hope that you are willing to come along for the ride with me as our family navigates challenges in going through the process of bringing our dreams to reality. I would love to interact with you and answer any questions you may have, so please leave a comment and let me know what homesteading skills or topics you would like me to write about.
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