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Hi Friends and Neighbors,
We homestead on 23 happy acres of oak and pine in California’s Sierra Nevada Gold Country. There’s a year round creek across the road and a seasonal one borders two thirds of our property. Maybe one day the gold panning will pay off.
When we got here, nobody had been here for a REAL long time. There were some rusty remnants of ancient barbed wire (“bob war” if you’re ethnically country) --fencing with rotted posts leaning over. Probably the efforts of some gold fevered forty-niner. That was it. The place belonged to the coyotes, black bear, raccoons, deer and mountain lions. We'd be startled awake in our trailer in the wee hours of the morning and listen tentatively to the things that go ‘bump’ in the night. Unnerving.
We gradually reached a symbiosis with the native wild life. We enjoy seeing them and they eat whatever scraps the chickens leave.
We haven’t gotten as far as we wanted but we enjoy each day here. Sunrises and sets rival the greatest artwork I’ve ever seen. I always know what phase the moon is in though I never paid attention in my city life.
I have adult children scattered across the continent and one 14 year old, the Homestead Handmaiden, who may never leave me. We are both loved and protected by the Homestead Hero.
I love the country. I want to be a good Christian though I struggle with coveting my neighbor’s goats. Actually I struggle with a couple other things too.
What I really want is to know who might read this. What are your thoughts on modern homesteading and homemaking? Do you live on a cattle ranch with 200 head or grow herbs in your apartment window sill? Is it just you or a whole tribe? You are cordially invited to submit your comments below. I’m dying to read them.
So long for now,
The Homestead Homemaker
The Homestead Homemaker
Loves
The Homestead Hero.
Our Daughter,
The Homestead Handmaiden
With The Family Dog,
Niles Winston
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Homestead Homemaking is about old fashioned country living, traditional homesteading skills and rich family life. Have you heard of the modern homestead movement? If you grow some of your own food or raise some animals, you're in. You can be a homesteader. The homestead homemaker is not merely a consumer who buys, uses up and buys again; but rather one who produces, nourishes and nurtures - a worthy steward of land and loved ones.
Homestead HomeMAKERS realize that wonderful homes do not just happen. They are MADE. In homemaking, we look to the simple, unpretentious thoughts and traditions of the past to enlighten today's home-centered, rural life.
Homestead Homemaking is about the heritage of the past at home in the present - the pleasures of traditional homemaking. It's for those who want to put more of themselves into home and the relationships that grow there. It's for folks who like to pull fresh eggs from an apron pocket for breakfast, to savor sweet goat cheese on warm homemade bread, and enjoy the hearty nourishment of old fashioned, homestead cooking. This site promotes a love of the country and of growing things like gardens, farm animals, and children. There are some easy Do-It-Yourself-Sufficiency projects and help for honing your homestead skills. Whether your interests are in spinning and weaving, quilts, creating a home interior of old fashioned country comfort, or just reading aloud to the family in front of the wood stove, you’ll find here, the resources you need to live the good life. It is a place for all who enjoy the humble homemaking pleasures of hearth and home.
