Bryson and I do a lot of things, all of the time. We both work full-time, and we are building a small farm. When I think about a homestead, I think about people with large gardens for each season who can and freeze and save enough food to last through the winter. I think about people with several types of livestock that they butcher periodically. Oh, and they live many miles from civilization.

That is not us. We do live “out in the country” according to most people’s definition, and it takes almost 30 minutes to get to the closest real grocery store (we have a highly frequented Dollar General 5 miles up the road), but we live busy, fast paced lives. I’m terrible at gardening, despite several attempts. Bryson does not even eat vegetables. We are raising meat sheep with names, if that tells you anything. And our last group of chickens met a terrible fate last fall. 

Basically, we are rookie homesteaders. But you cannot get anywhere if you do not start, and this blog will let you follow our journey as we learn all the things.

Let me tell you about our farm. Three years ago we bought about 30 acres with nothing on it. Nothing. We lived with my mom while water and septic was installed on the property. Then we moved into a camper. A 28’ camper. We always said we would look back on this time and laugh, but I am still not laughing. I was not made for camper life. Especially camper life in red clay. There was red clay on and in everything we owned. Looking back, I am so thankful this was during warmer months of the year, which meant we did not spend quite as much time actually inside. I am also extremely grateful and blessed for this opportunity, I know!

As soon as we closed on the land, Bryson started installing fences. I was there, but I’m not sure you could say I helped much. It was a disaster. The red clay was hard as a rock, not to mention the million rocks we (he) hit. We borrowed a post driver from a friend. The ground was so hard it was a joke. That did not work. After weeks of attempting to drive posts, another friend let us borrow his skid steer with an auger. Thank the Lord for good friends. Really, they are what make the world go round. After about a month and a half we were able to move our 8 horses to the land.

I should say here, as I’m sure it will come up again, Bryson would not have horses if it were not for me. So this post should tell you a lot about his character and his work ethic. Those fences caused a lot of headache that never would have come into his life if it were not for our horses. My horses. Actually, come to think of it, he would not have needed enough land for horses either. But here we are, and he certainly knew the horses were a non-negotiable when he married me. 

We started out with two pastures and now have four. We also have a house now. We moved into the house about 10 months after closing on the land. Two years ago, the school where I was teaching had sheep. We had a ewe die after lambing, and Bryson offered to bottle feed the lambs. Then he went out of town. So I spent the weekend bottle feeding, probably with not the most joy in my heart. I warned him before he came home to not get attached. As soon as they were weaned, they were going back to school. He came home and named them immediately. Josie and Roxie started our sheep herd. Last year Bryson started growing our herd and we are up to 15 sheep. 

My garden is officially planted as of today, and I have 5 new chickens to pick up next week. This will be our second round of chickens. I do not have a large coop and we really do not eat many eggs, so 5 should be a good number for us. I am not a very good gardener, but that will be another post for another day. I am looking forward to having fresh veggies, though!

Spring and summer are extra busy for us with long days and plenty of time after work to spend on projects, and I look forward to having you join us as we build our homestead on the side. 

“He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows.” Isaiah 30:23