The Prairie Homestead

Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land

Jill Winger

12 Comments | |    Last Updated: May 26, 2020

How to Start Buying Local Food

I've become lazy. I've been an advocate for local and small businesses for a loooong time, but to be honest? Even with my commitment, I've been seduced by cheap, easy food. (And Amazon...) Now, to be fair, we still grow a LOT. We raise all of our own beef and chicken (and usually pork), keep milk cows, and grow as many veggies as our Wyoming climate will allow. But convenience is enticing. And I realize I've become more ...Continue Reading

32 Comments | |    Last Updated: May 12, 2020

Save Time by Using Chicken Power on Your Homestead

I'm generally pretty Type-A when it comes to homesteading stuff. But this year, my obsession seems to have reached an all-time high... We're planning on adding a greenhouse; we're adding a better-quality milking room for the dairy cows (reveal coming soon!); and we're building multiple chicken tractors around the farm for the chickens. NEVER before have I felt more called to grow more food and help others to do the same. A ...Continue Reading

5 Comments | |    Last Updated: April 28, 2020

Ideas for Making Bread Without Yeast

Making homemade bread does not mean you have to scrounge around to find yeast. This is a list of ways for making all sorts of delicious baked goods and breads without commercial baker's yeast.  Did I ever think I'd live through a yeast shortage? Uh, nope. Unfortunately, with the rise in all things baking lately, finding supplies for making bread has been especially challenging. However, I've found that when the grocery stores ...Continue Reading

2 Comments | |    Last Updated: August 20, 2021

How to Start a Homestead Blog in 2020

The year was 2010... I was a brand new mom. I had quit my job as a Vet Tech to stay home with our firstborn, and even though I loved being home with her, I was CLIMBING THE WALLS. Our tight, one-income budget meant I had to limit my trips to town, not to mention I didn't have a whole lot of mom friends at that point anyway. So I stayed home. A lot. And when you combine a Type-A personality with not enough human interaction and ...Continue Reading

132 Comments | |    Last Updated: April 1, 2024

Troubleshooting Sourdough: Your Questions Answered

Sourdough is super trendy right now and I'm loving it. Who would have thought, that in 2020, the whole world would suddenly have an interest in ancient methods for capturing wild yeast?! Anyway, I've been making sourdough for quite a while (yes, back before it was cool...) and considering y'all are begging for more info on all things sourdough, I recently wrote about making a sourdough starter and how to make a simple sourdough ...Continue Reading

12 Comments | |    Last Updated: June 11, 2021

Fast Growing Vegetables to Grow for an Early Harvest

This list of fast growing vegetables will help you get harvestable produce from your garden in just a few weeks. I include additional tips for having a successful quick growing garden and some of the best varieties of vegetables to grow. Restless. That's how I would describe myself every single spring when I know it's *almost* time to start digging in the soil. However, the restlessness is even higher than normal this year due ...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.
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