Let’s start at the beginning. Patrick and I met in college, fell in love and got married 11 months later. Before we knew it, God had blessed us with twin boys (honeymoon babies!) and soon after, a precious little girl. Married life started off with a bang and little did we know, this was just the beginning.
We struggled to get through those early years. We both worked full-time jobs, living the “typical” American life, filling most of our free time with activities and focusing on entertainment, eating lots of cheap (low nutritional value) and convenient processed foods, and using consumer debt to keep us afloat. We found ourselves exhausted, isolated, unhappy, unhealthy and unfulfilled at the end of the day. Life was challenging and we felt like we didn’t quite fit in. We knew something had to change.
We realized that we didn’t have the life we truly wanted. The first step was to bring Debbi home full-time to raise our kids. It was hard to make ends meet at first, but we realized that the extra time meant that Debbi could do more things at home that could save us money. Debbi’s a gifted DIYer and was amazed at how many things she could actually make from scratch, from toothpaste to marshmallows to pillowcases to furniture. The challenge was ON! This was when our priorities began to shift and our dream was planted.
As our family continued to grow, our dream did as well. We started learning about where our food came from and realized that shopping at the grocery store is hard when you are trying to eat healthy. Despite living on a small lot in suburbia, we planted our first square foot garden and hatched out some baby chicks. We learned so much that year. This whet our appetite to learn more about growing our own food.
After a few years of gardening in the suburbs, we realized that we wanted to live on a farm, raise as much of our own food as possible and live a truly meaningful life with our children, far from the hustle and bustle and consumerism we were currently trapped in. We knew it would be hard work to get there and that we would have to make sacrifices, but realizing our goals seemed a long way off.
God had other plans in mind and our family of 6 quickly jumped to a family of 8. That’s right, a second set of twins! Our house was now too small for us and we needed a new place to live. Thankfully, we were able to rent a larger house for a year. During that year our dreams began to blossom and we started to look for a farm. We knew we wanted enough land for cows and chickens as well as a place that fit our growing family.
We were so excited when we set foot on our newly purchased land, ready to take what we had been learning and put it into action. Despite the cautions from others, we jumped right into the homesteading life, purchasing cows and chickens followed quickly by goats. It was a time of learning and growing. A new adventure every day!
More changes were coming and we started to embrace a more minimalist approach for our family. We were overrun by STUFF and the important things in our lives were being crowded out by the things that we truly didn’t want or need. We did a household purge and felt so free at the end. We were hooked. When we were able to ditch all of the excess, it allowed us to focus on what really mattered, our family. This wasn’t just possessions either, it was our time and energy too.
We wanted the ability to expand in our homesteading and create a place for others to learn from us and enjoy being on the farm, so we moved to our current homestead, out in the country, about an hour from any major cities. What an amazing move it has been! Now, here we are, continuing to learn how to spread our homesteading wings, raising our 9 spectacular children and homeschooling, while nurturing our old fashioned, simplistic values and beliefs. We hope you’ll join us in our adventures!