Hi, I’m Jill.
First and foremost, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. He absolutely defines and gives breath to my passions and efforts. I am a wife to my handy husband, CW, and mama to the sweetest little Prairie Baby you will ever meet.
I am a lover of:
- horsemanship,
- organized chaos,
- prairie life,
- traditional cooking,
- animals,
- and all things domestic.
My journey into modern-day homesteading all began with a compost pile.
Since then, I have had a sneaking suspicion that most people have a bit of homesteading spirit hidden deep inside of them.
I write this blog to encourage you to explore those ideas yourself and return to your roots of self-sufficiency and simple living, whether you live on a sprawling ranch or in a high-rise apartment.
Remember, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. And I look forward to sharing our journey to simple, wholesome, sustainable living with you!
I am also a proud member of the Nourished Living Network .
I just want to say Thank you for all of your information.. I too have starting the homesteading journey with Jesus leading me on this journey.. We have a large garden, chickens, goats & I am just embracing the simple life.. Can’t imagine what I was missing out before..
Hi Jill! Hey I love your website! I will have to visit you about it tomorrow at church. I hope you can visit mine. Love in Him, Lynne
Aw… love your beautiful site!So much to come back and check out. Adding you to my faves and I would love to be in touch! jill (too)
I am excited to learn more about you on your site! My husband and I have a big dream to ranch and I am excited to find someone who shares the passion for country life
So nice to “meet” you Shelli! Glad you found me.
Great site! It is nice to find other people working towards the same goals.
I love your site…I am trying to catch up on all of your entries. I know that in a previous life I was a homesteader….now re-living it and having so much fun…come and visit me sometime!
Oh Jill! I’m so glad I found you! I am on my journey as well up here in Alberta, Canada homeschooling 3 young boys and trying to urban homestead. Whole foods and local farms were this year’s goal and we met it with gusto! As winter is the mark of slowing down for us we call it the beginning of goal setting, so this coming year it will be a genuinely productive backyard garden and compost that I don’t keep forgetting about!! And putting food by next summer! So you have become one of my new favs for resources. Thank you! The only thing I wish I could see more of is YOUR homestead – get that camera out lady!! Great site.
I’m glad you found me too Stacey!
Sounds like you’ve got a great homestead up there in Canada. I love hearing stories like yours! And I’m working on more pics of my homestead. Look for a video coming soon!
Can I ask you what you and your husband do professionally, or do you support yourself by homesteading? I’m a big fan of Etsy, and have noticed a LOT of enterprising homesteaders selling their homemade items.
My husband is an electrician by trade and teaches at the local community college. I am a full time stay at home mama. We don’t support ourselves by homesteading yet. Maybe someday!
And I looooove Etsy.
Jill, I found your blog from another blog my sister in Oregon sent to me here in South Eastern Idaho. I live in a rural area (Roberts) north of Idaho Falls. I am a single mother (9 yrs now), live on an acre lot and believe that nothing we do can come to pass with out the Lord involved so I invite him each and everyday. I am a full time bank (credit union) worker but try to do the things that bring natural products and foods into my home. Just this weekend I made homemade bread, muffins and chili. I canned the chili I made to add to my food storage. It felt so good to make this and know of the ingredients that went into it and not have all the preservatives and processed junk in my food. Love to can. Am teaching my twenty five and fourteen year old daughter how to can as well. A month ago we made raspberry jam from berries we picked this past August. Local grower with a low cost. We pick and then we enjoy. I love your blog and will be returning time and time again to enjoy your thoughts and idea. God bless….Debi
Hey Debi!
Thanks for the note- women like you truly inspire me– single mom, full time job, AND homemade food-from-scratch. WAY TO GO! And I’m a Idaho girl, too. I lived in Northern Idaho until I was 18. However, my Dad was raised in SE Idaho, near the Terreton/Mud Lake area. The original family ‘homestead’ is actually still there!
Where in Northern Idaho? That’s where I live
Too bad you’re a self-professed “Rattlesnake killer”. Interested in your blog – disgusted by that. Didn’t God create all creatures? Don’t they all have a purpose? As an ecologist I see the value in all living creatures, and rattlesnakes serve a valuable role in the ecosystem. Their senseless killing is bothersome and ignorant. Funny you profess yourself a lover of animals… yet a rattlesnake killer, all at the same time.
Of course rattlesnakes serve a purpose, but I have seen far too many snakebit dogs, horses, and cattle for me to allow them to live near my house and outbuildings. One bite from a rattler could easily kill my daughter.
Do I enjoy killing them? No. Do I go out on the prairie and hunt them down? No.
But when I find them inside of my barn, as I did last summer, I will kill them to prevent injury or death to my child, dogs, and livestock. It would be negligent of me to do otherwise. Plain and simple.
It’s unconscionable that anyone who’s visiting a blog feels no hesitation about attacking the blogger’s views. Certainly, it’s a “public” forum, but for heaven’s sake, if you disagree, at least present your own views with courtesy. Participating in an online discussion, where you’re not face-to-face with the other people involved, does not give you permission or the right to chuck common good manners.
If you cannot express your opposing point of view with humility and kindness, then just move on without comment.
Sorry, Jill, to keep this thread going, but reading Sara’s post really angered me.
I’ve enjoyed reading the info you’ve shared. It’s important that you continue to feel free to write about the reality of your life with all the beauty and bruises it may have. Authentic living is all about becoming a whole, gentle, honest person. Rock on!
Negligent? Sadly, no. I have a 16 month old daughter. My husband has his PhD and is a snake biologist. I have a MS in zoology and ecology. The snakes were here before we were. It is unfortunate we can’t view them as beautiful creatures and upon encountering them either leave them alone, or, if you find them too close for comfort, use it as a teaching tool (as we do with our daughter when encountering ANY wild animal), and gently relocate the animal to a more suitable location. I always find it amusing people who profess themselves animal lovers, and then boldly claim their hatred for “undesirable” animals. Sorry – do enjoy the content of your blog, but find it distasteful that you need to use this forum to promote the killing of wildlife. Of course, it’s a free country and your blog, so do what you will! Just had to put my 2 sense in. Doesn’t mean I won’t read your content!
Found you while researching cheese whey.
I agree with, Jill. And I can’t help but think that people who talk about ignoring or relocating rattlesnakes have not lived out where they have to deal with them. It reminds me of an old story (and I’m probably not remembering it very well) about a traveler who came across a poisonous snake who was cold and injured. Feeling compassion for the snake, he picked it up and put it inside his coat, and continued on. After a while, seeing that the snake had warmed up and was feeling better, he went to take it out of his coat and put it down. As he did so, it bit him. With tears in his eyes, the traveler said, “Why did you bite me? I saved your life” The snake said, “You knew what I was when you picked me up, so don’t blame me now for being what I am.” So to those who wish to “relocate” the snake or “use it as a teaching tool” just remember that it won’t necessarily stay relocated, and the snake is not teachable, and the next time your child or pet meets up with it, it will behave exactly as snakes have always behaved. Of course, you can’t blame the snake…
Hi there! I was referred to your website by my sister because she knew I was looking for ways to use my whey!
I love your website and I am dreaming of the day when we are able to find a home with a bit of earth (maybe a few dozen acres!) where we can have a farm, animals and a large veggie garden, etc. I am just getting started on my homesteading research and learning about how to live and eat in a way that reflects common sense instead of wastefulness and unhealthiness. I also love Jesus, so it’s always a pleasure to “meet” a sister in Christ! Thank you for being an inspiration and encouragement to people like me! Blessings to you.
So nice to ‘meet’ you, too Michelle. Keep on dreaming and hope you get your little bit of earth someday soon!
Near my home, animal pens, garden etc if it’s poisonous then it’s dead. I’ll leave a Copper Head, a Cotton Mouth, and a Rattle Snake alone when I’m in their habitat hiking, floating, or fishing but if it’s coiled up in my garden or in a haybale I’m going to usher it to the next beyond. No way am I risking getting bit trying to relocate it. Ratsnakes and King Snakes, they are welcome to stay. I might relocate it if I find it in my chicken house but otherwise they are safe here. I’ve seen poisonous snake bites on kids and animals and it ain’t pretty.
Thank you for your encouragement! My husband and I yearn for the day we have a homestead. Right now we live in town that does not allow chickens ( I am working on that
) . We have so many dreams and passions we would love to do but sadly don’t have the room. We are doing all that we can with the space that we have for now. But we dream of the day to have acres for us to raise livestock, chickens, have a huge garden and room for our kids to run and play! I love your blog and it gives us hope , even when we get so discourage we will never get there , that it will happen All in God’s timing. He has a plan. Since starting our homesteading journey our family verse has been Jeremiah 29:11 
Thank you again for your wonderful blog! I love reading and learning from you!
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Hi ! Just wanted to say that Jeremiah 29:11 is also my very favorite verse too !
Hi, Found your site through the barn hop! So glad I did!
I just started reading your blog and am so excited ! I live in Western Wyoming . I love farming and all that goes with it and love animals ! Right now I live in a small town ….right on the edge so I can’t have animals .:( Well I do have two dogs! But I have access to raw milk and am looking to buy a cow to keep at my son’s, if I can get him talked into letting me keep it there. He says it’s cheaper to buy the milk than keep the cow… I do not agree. So I’m praying he will come around. I love the Lord too with all my heart mind and soul !
Just found your blog googling use for Whey, I enjoyed reading this and am looking forward to trying your pizza dough recipe! I have a stone that I have not used in years. Gonna get it out and get busy! Thanks so much!