I am pleased to launch a new feature here at The Prairie Homestead called Homesteader Connection. Once or twice a month, I will choose a different homesteading blogger to interview and showcase.
This month and I honored to be featuring Kelly from The Morris Tribe! This mom does it all- whole foods, homeschooling, and homesteading!
As a young wife and mother, I really look up to women like Kelly. I hope to be just like her someday!
Well enough of me talking! Let’s get on with the good stuff!
1. Tell us a little about yourself and your family.
Mark and I have been married 20 years this November. We have 9 children, 6 of which are biological and 3 we adopted from Ethiopia 2 years ago (Jill here: Check out Kelly’s video of their adoption homecoming. Very emotional!). Our oldest daughter just graduated from college and is out of the nest. The other 8 children are still at home and range in age from 17 – 4 years old.
I am a stay at home mom, blogger and homesteader. My background is in business/finance.
2. Why and when did you start homesteading?
My love for living off the land came from my father. He is a very creative man and I loved watching his desire to be independent. Dad gave me the confidence to try anything and not be afraid. He was so far ahead of his time in the 70′s. He was largely self-taught and a very skilled carpenter. He built many of our homes growing up, debt-free.
My young adult life was immersed in business, but that whole world just took it’s toll on my health, physically and mentally. My desire for simplicity and independence began to emerge at about 35 years old, but I didn’t see a way for it to play out. My husband loved the suburbs and had no idea why I would want to garden when I could just go right up the street and buy food at the grocery store. LOL!
I honestly didn’t ever think that we would find our way out to the country, although I wanted nothing more. After our adoption, the need for more room and running space became paramount. We also needed a safe school system to help us with our new children. After 5 years of praying like crazy and looking for property, the right house showed up.
I decided that I was a homesteader on the day we closed on the property.
My greatest desire in homesteading is to be completely independent of outside food and energy. However, I realize that the next generation of Morris’ may be the ones to complete the job. Everything I do on our homestead is for our good now and for future generations of our family.
3. What animals do you keep on your homestead?
This was the year to bring farm animals onto our property! We have never had anything but hamsters and a basset hound, so husbandry is a whole new world for us. However, after quite a bit of research, I felt that dairy goats would be a good fit for us and it’s been great so far. We currently have two does (one milking), two doelings and a wether.
Next year, I hope to have chickens for fresh eggs. But for now, I have enough of a learning curve to overcome with the goats but also making my own dairy products.
4. You share some great info on money matters on your blog. How do you balance frugality with the (sometimes)
expensive side of homesteading?
That’s a great question. My husband and I both have background in finances and actually lead the financial ministry at our former church for over 15 years. We live, eat and breath stewardship.
That being said, there are certainly a lot of surprises and unexpected expenses on a homestead. We do our best to anticipate needs and set funds aside. We also live below our means to create as much margin financially as we can. Having 9 kids can bring unexpected expenses
as well. It’s not a perfect system, but we do everything we can to avoid debt. We teach our kids how to save for things as well, this culture puts too much emphasis on “gotta have it now” and consumerism.
My thinking is all about ‘delayed gratification’ with this homesteading thing. I put out a vineyard, berries, fruit trees and asparagus last year, knowing that I wouldn’t see much from any of it for a few years. That’s ok with me. In the end, it will all pay off. What doesn’t pay off in direct food or resources will pay off in terms of experience.
5. What is the hardest part of homesteading for you?
At this point, I would have to say ‘feeling stupid’. (Jill: Definitely think we’ve all been there!) I like to know what I’m doing and so I’m having to humble myself and learn the hard way. Praise God that I am meeting more and more people in our community, through 4H and church. I’ll catch up. The fun is in the learning anyway.
6. What is your most favorite aspect of homesteading?
Oh, definitely passing this wonderful knowledge down to the children. They may or may not use this information anytime soon, but it’s in their little brains for life!
Regardless of where their gifts take them vocationally, I want my children to understand the basics of growing food and thinking for themselves. We discuss “thinking outside the box” with the kids and lining everything up with Scripture. This generation isn’t taught to
think and ponder anymore.
7. How do you balance homesteading and being a mother to 9 kids? (wow!)
In one word…”buy in”. The key to surviving homesteading with any number of children is getting them to “buy in” to what you’re doing. There are many ways to do this and I’m always racking my brain to be creative in this area.
For example, when I wanted to buy the goats, I explained to my home school kids what was involved. I told them that I couldn’t do it by myself and that we needed to go into this as a team. Joining 4H with them was a great way to get them excited about the goats, we do other 4H projects as well. I gave them time to consider and the freedom to say that they weren’t interested.
Now, that wouldn’t have kept me from getting the goats because I knew that in the end, it would be a good decision for the family overall. Nonetheless, they all love the goats and look forward to feeding them and doing needed chores.
It’s the same for the garden. Actually, last year I gave my three home school kids the chance to “invest” in a pack of seeds and grow their own food. I agreed to buy everything they grew from them for a fair market price. I got beautiful organic food and they learned about ‘delayed gratification’, also about entrepreneurship and getting paid for results. (Jill: LOVE this idea!)
8. I noticed your Just Get Em Fed ebook. What prompted your journey into whole foods?
Wow, now that’s a long story. I went from a junk food eating teenager straight into body-building in college. I learned all of the discipline of eating right and sculpting my body.
Once I had children, that athletic lifestyle just wasn’t going to fit anymore. However, I got into the whole organic scene and even went vegetarian for a number of years when I couldn’t clear up some digestive issues I was having.
After baby #5, the vegetarianism was taking it’s toll on my body and I knew that I needed to reincorporate meat into my diet.
By the time we were pursuing the adoption, God had a word with me about how we ate. We were spending a lot of money each week for the finest organic foods. I felt strongly about what God had to say to me, it was something like this.
“Would you be willing to trust Me with your health and use the money I’ve entrusted you with to feed those who have nothing?”
I was convicted immediately. My husband and I then became involved with “Kids Against Hunger”, a humanitarian/ hunger-relief organization. Today, we serve on the Board of that ministry.
Once the adopted kids came, the best I could do in terms of feeding everyone well was to just focus on whole foods. We aren’t perfect at it, but frankly there are so many other things in raising kids and maintaining relationships with them. If going out for a milkshake with my teenager helps him to open up and share with me, then the fat and calories were well worth it. An apple just doesn’t have the same effect.
Everything in moderation and with common sense.
The title of the book “Just Get ‘em Fed” came in a funny way. A woman had brought a meal over for us when we just brought the new kids home. As we chatted, she asked me “Well, I know you’ve always been into your organics, carrot juicing, raw foods, etc….what is
your food philosophy NOW with 9 kids???”. I thought for a moment and in my sarcastic exhaustion, I replied “My philosophy? It’s just get ‘em fed, THAT’S what my philosophy is! Just get ‘em fed!”. Hence the name of the book.
9. Anything else you’d like to add?
First, thank you so much Jill for asking me to do this. I’ve secretly hoped you would ask me for quite some time. (Jill: Awww. You are so welcome!) 
Second, to all homesteading moms out there, don’t underestimate the power of your knowledge to the next generation! Passing down these skills are priceless to our children, but to other moms as well. Look for opportunities to share!
Be sure to visit The Morris Tribe for an even more in-depth look on how Kelly does it all! Thanks again Kelly for the great interview!
Would you like to be featured in an upcoming Homesteader Connection? Contact me for more information!
All photos used courtesy of The Morris Tribe.
