How We Homestead: How It All Began

Welcome to the first installment of our new five-week series, How We Homestead. Each Wednesday I will write a post about a different homesteading topic to shed more light on where we are on our path to self-sufficiency and what homesteading looks like for us.

In spring 2009, I began to hear a lot of buzz around a new documentary called Food, Inc. It promised to give viewers an honest look at the current food industry in the US and reveal how it is controlled by several large corporations. I hadn't been too interested in where my food came from for most of my life, but when I found out about the film something inside me was provoked and I felt that I had to see the movie.

We weren't aware of it at the time, but Food, Inc. proved to be the catalyst for making big changes in our lives and inspiring our homesteading journey. The documentary opened our eyes and we were totally appalled at what we learned, so we vowed to take more control over our food supply. My first thought was that we had to start a vegetable garden; David was immediately talking chickens.

One of our first ever tomatoes.



Some of our first eggs.


We still lived in the city at this point, but were beginning to have big homesteading dreams and goals that would require more land than what we had on our tiny lot. We absolutely adored our home in the city, a very charming 1914 bungalow, but felt that as much as we loved our home, we wanted land more. So on St. Patrick's Day in 2010 (I remember it vividly because we lost our first hen, Raven, that morning) we met with a realtor and listed our home for sale.

The next year was an emotional rollercoaster. We eventually took our home off the market due to not receiving a single offer in nine months. We were crushed and figured our dream would just have to be put on hold until the housing market rebounded. After some serious and passionate conversations, we realized we were not willing to stay put and keep shoving our dreams aside, so we decided to relist with a different realtor and drastically reduce the price of our house for a quick sale. And guess what? We got it! Our home sold this time in just one week!

After accepting an offer, we kicked into high gear to find the perfect homestead. After a couple disappointments, we finally found a place with 20 wooded acres about 35 miles outside town. It wasn't totally perfect, but we vowed to turn it into our dream home; something we are still working on today.

The day our journey began.


Four other awesome bloggers are participating in this series as well, so don't forget to check out their posts to read more about where they are in their homesteading journey. You can find them here -

Staci at Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Meg at Little Homestead
Daisy at Maple Hill 101
Amber at Making A Home

Thanks so much for reading and please do let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear from you! Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for the second installment in the series where I will be focusing on how we have begun to embrace simple living.

~Tammy

Shared with The Backyard Farming Connection Hop