HOMESTEAD WITH A PURPOSE

“Live off the land” - what a cute idea. What that quote doesn’t explain is the time, money and dedication that goes into living off the land.

So, why do it? Why spend your time and energy providing your food when going to the store is super simple? Our story started back in 2015.

I was under 30 and newly married. I woke up one day and never felt the same. My body ached, my stomach couldn’t tolerate any foods, I lost weight and had no energy. Multiple ER visits and doctors appointments led to no diagnosis. Nobody could even point me in a direction to relief. It was that moment I realized our world of western medicine was failing me. And, the more I researched, the more I learned it was failing many, many people.

I self diagnosed and began to read remedies and ways to heal naturally, mostly from diet. I started eating paleo/organically, and watched my life come back together slowly. My pain went away, digestive symptoms, no more Insomnia.

We moved into our forever home in 2018. We had our second son, and fast forward to 2020 we decided it was finally time to grow our own food.

So, why was I so set in us growing our own food? Couldn’t we get what we wanted at the store? Well, here’s a great list of whys below.

1: GMOs

Where has the term, you are what you eat gone? If we wanted to break down what we were eating, we’d find out we were eating strawberries crossed with flounder genes. Our genetic code is altered by what we eat. Let that sink in. Eating GMO crop could lead to: inactivating genes, activating genes, scrambling genomes, widespread mutations... you get it. We only grow heirloom plants, or plants that haven’t been modified

2: Clean Plants

Fruits, Grains and Vegetables are just not the same quality as they were years ago. They’re depleted of nutrients and sprayed with chemicals that harm our gut bacteria. Our land has been massed farmed. Crop rotation doesn’t happen the way it should, and farmers are steadily depleting our land of nutrients to keep up with the demand. When you grow your own crops, you can make sure the soil is replenished after each season. And of course there’s the pesticides. Pesticides are made to kill bugs - what do you think it does once it is in your gut?! These toxins can kill good gut bacteria, turn on genes, and turn off genes. On our farm, we use essential oils, herbal options and things like nematodes to control unwanted pests!

3: Meat is GROSS

Well, not ALL meat. But, let’s say a lot of it. Especially here in the United States of America. Animals are kept in a small space, which is obviously not their natural habitat. When we first got chickens, I had my husband build a coop that the “books” said would be large enough to fit 50 chickens. Turns out, I didn’t feel more than 14 chickens should be in a space that large. Did you know chicken producers also keep the lights on 24-7 for chickens so they eat and don’t sleep? Let’s not talk about how many hormones are given to livestock to hurry they’re progress on. Or the Prozac given to animals raised in close quarters that are depressed (because, we can‘t have their depression stunt their growth). The list truly can go on and on. These are the things that made us want to grow closer to our food source.

I can literally remember back to six months ago when I called my first 3 birds. There was so much time and work invested in processing our turkeys we had raised from tiny chicks that I said I’d never waste meat ever again. And, for the most part, I havent. We have used less meat at each meal to ensure nothing goes to waste.

4: Vitamin D, Fresh Air, No boundaries

My kids have learned so much from changing our life to a farmstead. There is nothing like waking up and spending the whole day outside, exploring. Digging up bugs, feeding them to the chickens, planting seeds. Most people don’t realize how much their vitamin D levels are affected by working inside all day and not getting much outdoor time.

So, you see how important making this change was to our family, and to our environment. Just like our slogan says, we plan to eat “food and herbs, as nature intended.”