The Prairie Homestead

Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land

Jill Winger

8 Comments | |    Last Updated: February 11, 2015

Gardening with Shade Loving Plants

I am thrilled to welcome Holly from Your Gardening Friend as a special guest poster today! After reading my post over at Frugal Granola about utilizing the shady areas of your yard, Holly had some wonderful ideas and decided to turn them into a post! John and I have always lived in places with an abundance of shade. For the past 4 years, we’ve lived smack-dab in the middle of the woods… literally. During these 4 years, I’ve come to ...Continue Reading

72 Comments | |    Last Updated: April 10, 2019

Whole Wheat Sourdough Tortillas

Once upon a time, I thought that tortillas could be one of our "compromise" foods. Hubby eats a LOT of them, and I figured they can't have that many ingredients, so I decided that they could be something that I would purchase, rather than make at home. Until the fateful day when I merrily pushed my cart up the bread aisle and decided to glance at the ingredient list on the back of the bag before plopping them into my cart. Boy, was I ...Continue Reading

158 Comments | |    Last Updated: March 11, 2019

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Homemade laundry detergent is something that catches everyone's attention-- even if they aren't yet completely sold out to this whole homesteading thing... Things like rendering tallow or making homemade marshmallows can seem a little bit hardcore to the uninitiated, but once you switch the conversation over to homemade laundry soap and explain how much money you can save by making homemade detergent, people are usually all ...Continue Reading

162 Comments | |    Last Updated: May 26, 2020

Homemade Fly Spray Recipe

Learn how to make your own homemade fly spray recipe. This is a wonderful natural fly spray that will help prevent flies around your homestead and while you work with your livestock. You can relax knowing that it's made with natural and safe ingredients instead of unknown chemicals.  You know how in the book of Exodus, one of the ten plagues was massive amounts of flies? When I was younger, I always thought "Well, that one ...Continue Reading

11 Comments | |    Last Updated: February 9, 2020

State of the Homestead: June 2011

As you probably already know, I don't talk a whole lot about our day to day life here on the blog. My goal is to keep The Prairie Homestead as a resource for those already homesteading or interested in homesteading, rather than simply a journal of my every day life. However, recently when of my readers (thanks Holly! :) ) mentioned that she was curious as to how our goats were faring, I got to thinking that perhaps I should start ...Continue Reading

92 Comments | |    Last Updated: June 13, 2023

Refried Beans Recipe

As much as I love to cook, when summertime rolls around, I find myself spending less and less time in the kitchen. Summer is so short here in Wyoming, that I feel the need to soak up every.single.day of nice weather that I can! I generally turn to very, very simple meals during the summer months. We eat a lot of tacos and nachos, and I've found that incorporating beans into these meals helps to stretch our grassfed beef even ...Continue Reading

Nice to Meet You

I’m Jill. I’ve never been very good at following prescribed paths.

For the last 15 years, that instinct has led me through homesteading, entrepreneurship, and creating a life my younger self could have only dreamed of.

These days, I’m less interested in living the perfect "old-fashioned life" and more interested in knowing which ideas are worth carrying forward. The first half of this story was about building a homestead. The next part is about building a life that actually fits.
Read My Story