Welcome! You're here to follow along as we grow our homestead in the North Country of NH, to see our tips, tricks, successes and failures.
Ideas and motivation to spark your inner Homesteader!
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I'm here to support and encourage you! To let you know that anyone can become more self-sufficient, anywhere!
A little about us...
Jess
Wife, Nurse, Dog Mom, Prepper, Homesteader, Lady Farmer, Halloween Addict (we were married on Halloween!) who is finding a balance between modern medicine and a more holistic path.
Vin
Amazing Husband, jack-of-all-trades, Confident, Bearded Mountain Man.
Hi Everyone!
Welcome to our online journal {essentially}. We decided to chronicle and write about our adventures as we transition from a small plot in New Jersey to our 8-acre homestead-of-our-dreams in New Hampshire! Our goal is to share our hopes, dreams, ideas, successes and failures with you and to inspire you along the way to undertake your own homesteading dreams, however big or small they may be, on whatever size yard, field or balcony you have!
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Our Background
We've always had the goal of becoming more self-reliant and a big part of that for us was growing and raising our own food. The part of New Jersey we were living in can be challenging and expensive to find local, organic, whole food and humanely raised meat. Our dream was to grow/raise/butcher as much of our food as we possibly can. Living on just 3/4 of an acre in a residential area is a tough place to reach that goal! We did use every bit of space we had for our raised beds {the soil was horrible there}, chickens {thank God for understanding neighbors who loved fresh eggs!}, rain catchment and food storage during the 8 years we lived there.
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What we both think is worth it weight in gold that we got from that property are the skills and experiences we gained from that venture. It's where we learned the skills we needed to transform the property we're on now into our permaculture-inspired, self-sufficient, homestead of our dreams {that transformation is still in progress, and I suspect will be for many years!}.
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We learned how to grow, harvest and naturally treat our vegetable garden for soil issues and bug problems. We learned how to raise and care for chickens, rainwater catchment and treating for animal and human use. I learned how to bake my own sourdough bread, water bath and pressure can, ferment, knit and so on. We read and researched A LOT. We did all this while living on 3/4 an acre....you can homestead and be more self-sufficient ANYWHERE!
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What Now?
Well, we're living in our home now {after a year of remodel - more here} and we've put in a vegetable garden, blueberry bushes, chicken coop and runs, transformed the barn into Husband's wood shop, transformed the basement into my craft and canning dream space and we continue to read and learn everything we can! Our goals include expanding the gardens, growing our own grain, starting a home business {more to come on that}, adding more livestock to the homestead {we're thinking pigs and sheep at this point} and expanding our self-reliance and preparedness skills and supplies. The "to do" list around here remains endless........
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Check out our post here on setting annual goals with a free printable to get you started on yours!