We've been getting lots of emails from readers lately asking about our financial situation and how we fund our homestead. They usually take me by surprise. WHAT? Why would people be asking that?! Perhaps because it was pretty public knowledge that last year, in Alabama, Dave Ramsey ran out life like the tightest of ships. Like serrrrriously tight. Tighter than those maroon pleather pants I wore in middle school tight.
And yes. We are still Dave Ramsey followers, working desperately to pay off the very last of our student loan debt (don't even get me started…), though we don't quite follow all the rules as prudently as we once did. Mainly because we're working to build our homestead while paying off said debt at the same time.
While I'm not going to divulge actual numbers (isn't that like showing people your dirty underwear?) I do think it'd be beneficial to point out how we support our homestead and what that involves. Especially since we've finally crunched some numbers on how much we're spending (better late than never).
How we Fund Our Homestead
1. We rent our homestead for a reasonable price.
While this isn't most people's idea of “arriving” at the American dream, for us, it's been the perfect situation. We happily have submitted to being on our property for years, and years, and YEARS to come. In the words of our landlord “I want you to live here for the rest of your lives.” and we couldn't agree more. We're happy here. It's exactly what we wanted in a piece of property and we were able to get started without emptying our savings account on a down payment. On top of that, our rent includes property taxes, road association fees, and two shares of irrigation water. We pay less than we would pay to finance the property – and frankly, the thought of a mortgage on five acres of prime agriculture real estate doesn't exactly comfort me. Renting has been a fantastic way for us to enjoy the property without carrying the entire burden of the property ourselves and the landowner has been an absolute blessing in our lives. We're happy with this situation.
2. I started working.
I blogged on this beautiful page for over three years before I made a dime. And I was happy to. Blogging is like therepy for me and I've enjoyed (more than I ever thought possible!) getting to share our family's story here with you every week. When I first started blogging, I sank hour after hour after hour after hour into this blog with no intention of ever monetizing the site. It wasn't my goal – and frankly, it still isn't. Last year, in our hardest of financial tests, I still was bringing no money into the household – which we were fine with. We made the decision early on in our marriage that me staying home with our children was our priority.
That being said, at some point (when my brain wires finally connected in the way that they should have) I began to monetize the site. It all started with the release of my cookbook last year which brought in more money than we originally anticipated. Frankly, I thought my Mom would buy a few copies for Christmas gifts and that'd be about it. But after investing over a year into putting it together, I was so thankful for it's financial provision for the family. With that cookbook money, we were able to purchase our dairy cows, put up corrals, stock up on hay for the year, get our chicken flock started, and even plant a few annuals (that died, but that's not the point). The cookbook gave us money that we weren't accustomed to having in our normal, day-to-day budget and so we were able to use it as “building the farm” money.
The cookbook continues to bring in a steady income each month which we utilize for farm expenses.
On top of cookbook sales, the blog also brings in money via sponsors, ads, and affiliate sales. On top of that, my essential oil business continues to grow and has started to provide us with a serious additional income.
This blog income most recently funded our greenhouse project, which while expensive, will reward us with freshly grown produce all winter and spring long.
The huge benefit to my work is that it can be done at home, as I can. Some days that involves hours and hours of computer work. Other days, I can't commit any time to it. For a mother of two (soon to be three!) young children that is also running a farm this is essential. Working around our family's and animal's schedule is what makes this job doable. On top of that, it's my dream job. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing.
How thankful I am.
3. We work endlessly.
If I had a dollar for every hour we'd spent digging fence holes, mucking stalls, stringing barbed wire, feeding and watering animals, milking our cow, weeding our garden, or fixing a broken piece of equipment – I'd be a gadjabillionare.
That's a really rich person, if you didn't know the proper definition of gadjabillionare.
We rarely, rarely buy things new. Or put together things. We didn't opt for pre-made, perfectly shaped chicken coops. We build a lot of things out of netting and crooked fence posts we salvage. We buy used equipment and just recently finally splurged on our first brand new piece of power equipment (a drill).
What we lack for in funds we make up for in ingenuity and pure, adrenaline fueled, determination. As I told my husband recently, I'm a real stubborn son-of-a-turkey when I want to be. And when I get my heart and mind focused on a homestead project, I find a way to make it work with or without money. Plenty of projects have been done for free because we didn't have the funds – but we just found a way to make it happen.
Adapt and overcome. It may be a military motto but it's become mine.
If you're willing to throw hard work into the equation, it takes care of a lot of the financial problems – even if it's not the most fun option.
4. We barter.
We needed fence posts and traded homemade bread. BAM. Business deal. Produce is exchanged for hair cuts. Fertilized chicken eggs and prenatal massages for dairy products. A roast and homemade butter for use of a chicken plucker.
We've made friends with those in our community who are focused on the type of lifestyle that we live and most are not only willing, but eager, to do business with us in a variety of different ways. Bartering has been a great way to trade extra from our farm for extra from another farm. I can't over-stress the importance of community with this lifestyle – for example, a local farmer just called us and said he had a bunch of freshly cut oat hay that he didn't want to bale. If we came with ‘ol Bess and forked it out of the wind rows in his field, we could have it for next to nothing. Had we not established a relationship with this farmer, he never would have thought to call us and let us capitalize on this option.
Also, I'm not going to say we sell our products – because, well, that would be illegal, wouldn't it? But we are able to share them with friends and family in exchange for a variety of other items that we need – like bags of animal feed. Eggs, organic garden produce, and dairy is always a hot commodity. And I'm telling you – if we had the means and know-how to do it, we could have easily raised 20 hogs for local families this year. The demand is HUGE y'all.
5. We dream.
We continually seek a variety of ways to make our homesteading a viable financial entity in and of itself. With our landlord's blessing (and request) we're looking to plant two acres of steep, rocky terrain with wine grapes. We dream of supplying other local families with organic, pastured meat products. Our laying flock is ever expanding and Lord willing, will be open for egg sales in the future. Though our main goal has always been to supply our own family with enough food for the year, we're continually looking forward to the future of Beatha Fonn and how we can better share this wonderful life with others.
Money isn't free flowing for us. It's honestly earned and it's tightly spent. And as we continue to grow in our farming adventure, we are continually reminded that all of this – the property, the animals, the lifestyle – is the Lord's, given to us to enjoy for this time.
And for that we're thankful!
Amanda
Awesome! Lord, your provision and favor is humbling, and we thank you. Continue to lavish this family and homestead with grace as they work and love and grow for your glory. Shaye, thanks for sharing life!
Lisa Steele of Fresh Eggs Daily
Great post! I get email on a weekly basis from people wanting me to share their Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign with my readers to help fund their ‘dream farm’. I was flabbergasted when I got the first few. What?!?!?!? What happened to hard work, saving your pennies, starting small (you woudln’t believe the ‘dream farm’ some of these people were wanting to start! I am going to star sharing your post with anyone who emails me asking for help, because truly, if you don’t have the ‘gumption’ (for lack of a better word) to work hard FOR your dream, you sure don’t have what it takes to actually LIVE your dream – on a farm, with animals, and expenses, and hard work and no vacations…..Congrats on living your dream. I love your blog and your writing and I am grateful that people like you are keeping the American dream alive.
Lisa
Fresh Eggs Daily
Shaye Elliott
Wow Lisa – THANK YOU!
Brian McCray
I agree in an era where money buys it all it still doesn’t buy happiness! For years I have lived the homestead life, raising polled Herefords, still enough work for a single guy of 30 + years! I had downsized the herd and was praying for my mate all these years, 1.5 years ago we met, there were calves to feed and other chores as well. I literally built my 2300 sf cabin home 14 years ago, , it was me and my dogs and a horse. My bride took right to it, I think when she just jumped on the tractor and needed no instruction, I knew, I wasn’t going to get in GODS way.
We now have over 200 laying hens, raise pastured broilers and turkeys, naturally grown garden vegetables only amended with worm castings.
I have no spoon or a degree hanging on the wall, it is 24/7 work ,planning and trying to make the pennies work as well.
Will there be a retirement, ? We are both from generational farm families, and enjoy everyday, there are obstacles, we Thank GOD and give him the glory everyday, we are mid 50’s , and put in 15 hour days regularly.
It would be nice to have money, we barter as well , we know we could be a day away from disaster, but our needs are always supplied. Life surely is how you appreciate it. It is all attitude. A refuse to lose attitude helps as well!
I read you both and enjoy all your articles.
Cassandra Ibarra
This cannot be made as a blanket statement. I live in an expensive area of California; both my husband and I have to work full-time in order to pay rent and feed our kids. I am very frugal and resourceful, and I have no doubt I would be able to run a small farm/homestead if I were ever lucky enough for that to be my full-time gig; however, paying the rent or a mortgage on a piece of land big enough to do so, while running the farm, may never be feasible for us. Buying a 30-year-old, 1200 square foot home on a couple acres costs at LEAST $400k here, and unlike metropolitan areas, the wages here are not commensurate with living expenses. For people like us, it would take some capital even though we both work our butts off. So please don’t act like it’s ridiculous for people to want some seed money for their dream.
Wendy dunn
we couldn’t afford even a small one bedroom apartment where we lived. Now we are running a one acre farm all the way across the country. We are in our sixties. If you really want it, you will find a way.
Sharon Quisenberry
Just read this post, where are you all? We too are in our late sixtys and in mtns of VA on acreage.
Christine Simpson
I hear people say things like, “We couldn’t possibly do that here! Everything is so expensive.” Unless there’s something holding you there like shared custody, elderly parents you can’t bring with you, etc. you can move & make it possible. There are many places in the U.S. that are both beautiful & affordable.
Shawnda
People don’t need to be given “seed money” to start a dream. People should work just like everyone else. It’s like buying your kid their first car, it darn sure doesn’t mean as much to them as if they worked for and bought it on their own. It’s best not to raise a society that feels owed something, like handing out seed money. You want it?….work hard and do it on your own.
frank smith
OH PLEASE, MY PARENTS GAVE ME MY FIRST CAR, IT WASN’T MUCH BUT BOY DID I APPRECIATE IT. SO THERE…
Katie
Great post! My husband and I are just moving to our new soon to be homestead , we are determined but the same as you. We earn the money with hard work but spend it very tightly. We hope to be able to expand in the future and to teach others about not only this way of living , but this way of growing your own food to eat and knowing where it comes from. Thank you so much for your blog you are a true encouragement!
Beks
It’ll be interesting for you in ten years to see where you are, and how much you’ve been able to accomplish. Maybe in ten years, you’ll write a book about the journey! 🙂
Allison
You are an inspiration! Seriously. I love your blog! Once my hubby is out of med school and we can settle down, a homestead like yours is my dream! Just the other day we were talking about a greenhouse and how it’s probably super expensive to build. Well thank you for proving us wrong! Can’t wait 🙂
Robin
It blesses my heart to see young people returning to this lifestyle and putting family first. You and Stewart are so blessed and a blessing to others in return. I watch your YouTube videos back to back for hours. I left my job last year and put in a 48′ x 48′ garden. It was awesome, so much work but so rewarding. People like you are my inspiration. Thank you so much. – Robin
Madelyn
Yes! I’ve been waiting for you to write about this!!!! Thank you thank you! Next you could write about how you do it with your kids! lol…. THAT I’d like to hear cause I don’t even have a homestead and cant simply cook dinner in the kitchen without my son whining. Baby number 2 is due soon though so maybe the more kids, the more they occupy one another. 🙂
Rose
Thank you for sharing this, Shaye! I have to admit, I did wonder how you were managing (though I assumed it would be rude to ask, lol). I love that your cookbook has been such a success!! I’ll be waiting in line for the next one!
Cathy
Beautiful greenhouse, we have just completed a 72 x 30 foot high tunnel so I can appreciated the “thrown objects and some mild cursing” Do you have a way to vent your greenhouse? At 892 degrees you might just die and so might your plants. Although in the winter it won’t be as hot and you can have a table and chair in there to have coffee and a muffin during the snow storms. That’s what I am planning on doing in a corner of ours.
Best to you.
Rebekah Loper
I found your blog yesterday (I think… it might have been the day before…), and I especially enjoyed this post! I wish rental of property like that was affordable in my part of the country, but it’s sadly not. We just have to use or not-quite-quarter-acre lot to the best of our ability for a while, and save in the meantime.
Can’t wait to learn from your posts!
B
You have a beautiful, well put together and well written site here. Your life seems so similar to mine (aside for a very different part of the country, I am surrounded by trees in most directions) I don’t know where to begin. I live on a farm where we make the majority of our food and cook solely on wood harvested on our land. I milk a cow and a goat, and of coarse raise chickens, vegetables etc. to feed our three young children as well as currently six other people staying on the farm, make my toothpaste, herbal tinctures, dog food… I am also a writer and am nearing completion of my first book. My husband now builds and sells greenhouses http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtJQgXAN_qk he designed. We are actually converting them to inexpensive housing for people and plan to move into one soon ourselves. As it can be difficult to leave the farm very often (sometimes a month without going to town) your site makes me feel inspired knowing I am not alone in the daily struggles. I was very glad to come across it, we only recently got the internet at home (and electricity for that matter) and don’t know how long we will continue paying a company for it but I am glad to make the most of it by reading what you have to share. One thing I find helpful to remember is that we really can do without many of the things our society (even close family and friends) tries to convince us we do need, and actually may be better off without them. Thank you. Keep going.
Edna
How about solar? There are plenty of options, depending on your needs, and they can even pay for themselves down the road. Currently, I live in Brooklyn, NY and, after Superstorm Sandy was left without electricity for two weeks. While I didn’t suffer as much as so many others, this was enough of an inconvenience to push me to invest in a small solar generator (comes with a folding solar panel) and other solar equipment (lamps, chargers) in the event of another catastrophe. These items can be used when I finally move at which time I intend to upgrade the solar equipment. I feel we pay too much for electricity as it is and, since you just got it, you’re in for a financial shock. The electrical companies are very, very greedy and very, very rich.
I hope this helps, and I wish you luck, success and much love.
Jeanette Prince
We always joke that people have to be millionaires to homestead, fencing alone makes me want to pass out of expensiveness! What I always wonder about your life is the sheer magnitude of things you guys get done so quickly. I’m guessing your family helps and maybe your husband is home some or alot of the day. I’m a major work a holic, even with 3 kids I get an absurd amount of things done but with a husband working full time and busting it every day after work building it took us 2 months to get a chicken coop “up and running”. A helpful family is such a gem, ours is skeptical and condescending of a life like ours so we can only really rely on ourselves when we need something done. This sounds nice and complainy, sorry about that 😉
Vanessa
Thanks for opening yourself up like this, Shaye. It is inspiring, and it offers clarity! My husband and I follow your journey, and we’re so happy to see your success! Can’t wait to see what’s next.
Sally at Garden Valley Homestead
Blogging and homesteading are so alike in many ways. Especially in that you work and you work and you work–and finally there’s fruit! Hallelujah! And, don’t do either unless you absolutely LOVE it.
Dance like no one’s there.
Sally, Garden Valley Homestead
Lauren | Bears By Lauren
What an inspiring post. You are lucky to live in a community that supports bartering. People where we live don’t subscribe to that line of thought and it’s too bad. It’s how our ancestors got by. We are working on building our 10 acre hobby farm into a more sustainable homestead for us and I’ve recently started a business to help “fund our farm”. I also have to work full time out of the house, but maybe someday I won’t need to do that. THank you for sharing this insight and always your blog is such a delight to read!
Valerie
The chapter about working endlessly completely resonated with me! I moved to my 2 acres in March and I am overwhelmed sometimes by the amount of work that needs done. I had been dreaming about this for years and was completely out of touch with reality LOL but I love it! I’m living in a 1969 single wide trailer that is becoming quite cute if i say so myself! I have 2 rabbits and the only thing I have growing right now are loofahs. My land had been abandoned for awhile and there is lots of trash to clean up and mow the 2 foot grass/weeds. On top of it all I’m doing it by myself but I have great neighbors (one who has a tractor with a front loader 🙂 plus I still work 50-60 hours a week….as long as I take a step forward everyday I feel good!
Stacy
Valerie,
I am so glad to see your comment!
I follow Shaye’s posts with great joy and am in a similar place to yourself. After ten years of marriage, living overdrawn in a very high expense, suburban area, I am now striking out on my own on 3/4 of an acre in a rented double-wide, with grass as high as yours, and neighbors as kind!
My meagre goal is to get a garden for myself going and be ready to have laying hens by next Spring. It really does take working on it every day! I too am working full time outside of the home still, and at home selling candles, and have started following Dave Ramsey’s excellent advice.
To all of you glorious homesteaders and would-be homesteaders, I’m honored to be joining your global community!
Kathy
Oh, Shaye, it was such a pleasure to read this post. We, too, sold our home and through God’s refining fire, and a few medical issues that totally changed our “plan” (man plans and God laughs), we are now, a year later, renting a home on the back few of a pine straw farm, for the “rest of our lives” too! So parallel our stories are, but I think my husband and are are a tad older … 6 children and 13 grandchildren can attest to that age difference! But we are too, just starting, with the blessing of our landlord, to turn our section into an organic farm. Our website isn’t quite up and running yet, but will be opening soon with some blogging! Can’t wait to join you in the homesteading/blogging arena … and I already have a farmer for a husband. Thank you for sharing what determination, perseverance and trust in God will do!
Donna Runion-Bruce
What a sweet way to share your story. I am cheering you on. I just sold the little house in the big city where I raised my two children as a single mom. The money from that sale is the seed money for my small one acre of irrigated land. It is all that I can afford. But it is more than I need. God is my provider and He has given me so much from His abundance. I am truly thankful.
God bless.
Kirsten
Love reading your blog. Love your cookbook. Beautiful and wonderful. Wondering: we are also homesteading, as is a friend of ours……you said that you could’ve easily raised 20 hogs due to demand………..where is the demand?! our friend has about 20 hogs & 20 head of beef and we’re struggling to sell them. how do I find that demand?!?!?! any recommendations?
Shaye Elliott
Primarily, our demand has been from friends, family, fellow church members, etc.
Momtotwo
Thank you so much for this. We are a city family with enough money once we sell our house to buy a decent piece of land with all the fixings all at once…..BUT we lack the HUMAN resources, as we know NO ONE who has done this. Namely WHERE should we go? We want to be self sustainable in case this economy and structure erodes away, and away from big cities for all that would come with said issue. Anyone have any info for me on WHERE TO GO? Where you are Shaye, sounds lovely, but I’m not sure I could handle the intense cold for so many months, I’m from the south.
Granny Miller
Good post with a message many need to hear 🙂
You are very wise at this point in your life to rent.
So many young people make the mistake of buying ground or a run down place to homestead without first testing the waters. They often wake up 2 years later in debt and in over their head.
It takes about 5 -7 years of living a homesteaders life to find out if you have what it takes and the resources to make a go of it. Almost anybody can float for a couple of years.
But it’s the daily hard work, challenges, personal sacrifices and trials of a year-in-year-out small holder’s life that will determine if homesteading is a life that you can actually afford.
Melissa
Thank you so much for sharing this piece of your journey with us. We, too, are piecing together our homestead dreams (currently on our itty bitty urban farm) through a quilt of incomes (well, one big one and several small ones). I appreciate reading about all your hard work and determination…they truly are the only things that will get the job done! Cheers!
Melissa @ Bless this Mess
Such a fun read! We are just about twins with varying details. We just bought our own 7 acres for a future homestead and are so looking forward to building our home and getting settled. Thanks for the post lady!
MaryLena Anderegg
I enjoy your blog and am grateful for the example you are setting for your generation and the one before and after. My husband and I married in 1975 (a second for both of us). We set two goals: the first was always to tithe and the second was to be debt free within 15 years. We made our last mortgage payment in 1982 and our last car payment in 1977. He had to retire following a heart attack in 1992 and I was our major or sole support thereafter. I was able to retire in 2001 (years before I qualified for social security). I had grown up in a rural farming community, my husband in the city just before the Depression. The last six years before I retired, we grew more than 60% of all our food. A few years ago (with less energy for growing our food), we started couponing and are spending on household needs less than we were 14 years ago when I retired. Like you, we make whatever we can, barter for services and materials, and buy used as often as possible. All this combined has allowed us to travel internationally even while we still had a child at home.
God will bless your prudence just as we blessed us. Please do not lose heart. Blessings to you and your family.
Jenna
Love this post. We are a one income family trying to make our homesteading dreams come true. We are going at it one step at a time and learning what it really is to do what you can where you are. You and your blog are a HUGE inspiration to me. 🙂
Cheryl
I don’t suppose your landlord has another farms for rent does he??
Dee
I enjoyed reading this. Forgive my ignorance, but I’m unclear on why it would be illegal for you to sell your products. Is it due to laws in your state or federal?
Shaye Elliott
Both. We’re not licensed to sell any of it – and the hoops to sell both meat and dairy are very difficult to jump through.
Steven Martin
Great article. Still I was left wondering about financial data. After all the title mentions how to fund an endeavor. Not to know your personal business at all, but for comparison and planning purposes. For ex, our rent is $xxx per month which is about the going rate for our area. We paid $xx for these hogs, feed will cost $xx , processing costs $400 and we expect to make $1000 from the project. Readers probably already believe in the homestead or sustainable philosophy, but need to be guided to projects that make economic sense for them. I think this is the most important decision/risk factor, having this data. For ex, in my case I would discuss a project in these terms, we spent $5800 on a high tunnel greenhouse. We built it ourselves saving $3000. USDA reimbursed us $4000. We also dug water lines ourselves. Materials were $200. We grow vegetables and I expect this high tunnel to repay the investment in a single growing season. I think this is useful info that others can use. A homestead is a great lifestyle but can really only grow via profitable projects. There are a lot of fundraising projects that sound really good to support philosophically, but will never make ends meet or be economically viable. Maybe with some better data, it can be more financially sustainable. So I think its wrong to call financial data “dirty laundry” and avoid it. It should just be honest and open economic data that can be evaluated for lessons learned and to help others.
Katie
Hi! Love your blog and I am totally binge-reading tonight. My hubs and I and our two kids (soon to be three, sound familiar?) are thinking of buying an 18-acre property and starting our own homesteading/farming adventure. I want it to be a true lifestyle change…hopefully eventually being able to quit our day jobs. I would like to start, though, with both of us working part-time. But what I can’t figure out is how to afford to provide health insurance for my family. I know it’s a super personal question and feel free to opt out 🙂 but if you or your readers have any thoughts on how to handle that, I’m all ears! Thank you for your blog – you’ve got a fan in me!!
Shaye Elliott
We are members of Samaritan Ministries. Our family pays $405/month. It’s been great for us!
Brenda
Hi, I’m from a rather small town in Colorado after living and working in Colorado Springs and Denver for many years. I’m not a homesteader and I’m a divorcee with grown children. I’m 79 years old and not only do I enjoy your blog, but you inspire me. It’s just a joy to read about your work and your family. I’m with you knowing with faith, we can do just about anything we need to do whether we really enjoy it or not and reap the rewards well deserved. Thanks for your honesty and thoroughly enjoyable posts.
Angela Hawkins
Just recently found your site and am having a ball reading about you, your beautiful family, and way of life! I think what you’ve accomplished is admirable and such an inspiration to others! My husband is currently a Commander in the Navy, but when we retire I would love to find a little slice of land to homestead for the rest of our days! Thank You for sharing your story with the world! God Bless-
Cathy
Hi Shaye-
I don’t think I’ve ever read one of your posts that I didn’t learn from. Not only are you a gifted writer, you are an educator and I am so thankful for the opportunity to read your posts! While my life is kind of at the “other end” of yours and we are slowing down a bit, we continue to be as lean and green as possible for us- and I learn lots from you! Thank you for sharing.
Shaye Elliott
Thank you, Cathy!
Kelley
I think what you do is incredibleand I love that you love And worship God on top of it all. But honestly how can two people do all that work by themselves with 3 small children? My husband and I both work full time and have one small child…work on our wanna be homestead is so far beyond what we can even accomplish that most of our “dreams” just can’t happen. Just looking for an honest answer because I obviously don’t know how to make it all work. Thanks!
Shaye Elliott
I don’t know… I guess we just do it? Nights, weekends, you name it. We work when we want and don’t when we want to kick back and hangout instead. My personality is such that I like to be ‘improving’ things, so I guess it’s just fitting with that.
Sameeha
Hi, Shaye. I’d better mention upfront first that I’m not a homesteader, and likely will never be one either. I am, however, expecting my third, so maybe that’s enough in common?!
I just wanted to thank you for being a breath of fresh air in my life. You might think that your blog is just a way to express yourself or blow off steam, but you’re actually inviting us into your life, sharing all the good times and the hard ones too. Everytime I see your post in my mail, i start smiling. It’s like keeping in touch with a slightly distant, but well-beloved relative. Just wanted to let you know that there are people around the world who wish you well, and are rooting for you to succeed. God bless you and yours.
Shaye Elliott
Sameeha, thank you so much! I appreciate that more than you know.
Corina
Oh boy! I homestead on five acres in the Pacific Northwest wilderness, where I homeschool my three children. My husband and I raise goats, pigs, ducks, chickens, lots of organic vegetables and lots of fruits and berries. It’s a lot of work! When people ask me how we make money homesteading, I laugh into their faces!
My husband works out of the home, that’s how.
Also, people have been coming to our homestead for years to take classes on homesteading and wilderness skills. That helps financially, and we love, love, love sharing our knowledge with folks.
I teach cheese making classes and am just rolling out my first ever online cheese making class. I am also getting ready to publish my book on how to make Gouda cheese. I am very new at this online computer stuff, but I am liking it a lot.
I wish we could sit down to tea one day and share our experiences!
Shaye Elliott
Sounds lovely Corina! Where are you at in the PNW?
Michele Miller
Do you have a web site? I would love to check it out.
Margaret @ Pure Pearl Homestead
This is so encouraging! As a new blogger and homesteader, it’s always great to read about people who are making it through and living their dream no matter how challenging. I’m inspired and striving to one day be in your shoes. If I may ask what were some of the things you did that made your blog so successful?
The Micah Principle
I loved this post! I also wondered how you were able to do everything you do, especially since you are home with the children. That’s THE most important job in the whole entire world yet it goes unpaid. We should at least get a big tax break or refund from it! My kids are college aged and I stayed home most of their lives with them. It was very hard at times. I got used to being at home so it was natural for me to want to be able to work from home. I’m working on growing my blog right now and searching for ways to bring in an income from it. I’d love to see a post from you dedicated to just that—making an income from your blog. If you happen to already have one, point the way! Thanks so much for all your honesty, Shaye! Looking forward to seeing and hearing about The “New” Elliott Homestead!
homesteadorgus
Awesome!
Sharon Quisenberry
Just read this post, where are you all? We too are in our late sixtys and in mtns of VA on acreage.