Part One: The People, the Land, and the Beginning of a Lifestyle Today, the word homesteading means many different things. For some, it’s a garden in the backyard. For others, it’s raising chickens, preserving food, baking bread from scratch, or living off the grid. Some homesteads span hundreds of acres, while others fit onto a suburban lot or apartment balcony. But homesteading didn’t begin as a hobby or a lifestyle trend. For many families, it was simply the way they survi

Every homestead begins with something smaller than land. Smaller than a garden bed.Smaller than a flock of chickens.Smaller than a pantry full of jars. It often begins with knowledge. Before hands learn the work, the mind learns the ways. Before seeds are planted, someone studies the season. Before the bread is baked, someone reads the first recipe. That’s good news for beginners. Because no matter where you live, how much land you have, or what season of life you’re in… you

Why we prune tomatoes Hello Neighbor One of the quickest ways to overwhelm a new gardener is handing them a pair of pruners before they understand what they’re actually cutting. Tomato pruning sounds complicated at first because people throw around terms like suckers, topping, airflow, determinate, indeterminate, and disease control all at once. But once you understand why we prune tomatoes, the whole thing becomes much easier to manage. You are not trying to make the plant l

Homesteading, Farming, Prepping, and Modern Living One of the biggest things new people discover is that homesteading, farming, prepping, and off-grid living are often talked about like they all mean the same thing. But they are not exactly the same. They overlap in many ways, and one lifestyle can absolutely lead into another, but understanding the differences helps people figure out what kind of life they are actually trying to build. Homesteading vs. Farming Farming can ab

There has got to be a better way There has got to be a better way, such a simple statement that carries so much weight. As a couple, my husband and I were born and raised in the city; the fast-paced hustle and bustle was just becoming too much for us. All of the children were nearly grown, living their own lives, finding their path, and here we were, stuck in a concrete jungle that offered us nothing more than stressful and unfulfilled lives. While there had been many convers