Welcome to our journey

Dirt. That was all we ever wanted, our own dirt. Maybe we watched too much Little House on the Prairie when we were kids. Maybe we wanted to live out the best parts of our childhoods into our adulthood. Our grandparents were farmers, ranchers and survivors of the Great Depression. We grew up learning how to grow our own fruits and vegetables. We watched and sometimes helped with preserving that food. Mountains, woods, fields, creeks and streams were our playgrounds. It took us almost fourteen years and a move to the middle of the country to get our little almost fourteen acres, but we finally did it. The land has slowly evolved from open fields where cattle once grazed to chicken yards, a bee yard, a small growing orchard and gardens. The woods have expanded by an acre or so and now have paths lined with wild blackberries and paw paws.

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We’ve learned how to protect our chickens from raccoons after losing at least a dozen over the years. We’ve learned how to grow potatoes in the dense clay soil and peaches despite cedar rust and leaf curl. We haven’t figured out how to organically control johnson grass or squash beetles yet, this is part of the journey. As much as we learned from our grandparents, we didn’t ask enough questions or write down enough of the wisdom they shared. Self-sufficiency was nearly a lost art in this country and we are just one of many who realize this. Our children are as passionate about getting more food from outside our doorsteps than inside a grocery store as we are. Our grandson and future grandchildren just might have a different story to tell in a few decades.

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We invite you to join us on this journey, learn a few things that we had to learn the hard way so even more of us can spend less time in the stores and more time playing in the dirt.