The Prairie Homestead

Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land

Jill Winger

12 Comments | |    Last Updated: May 21, 2019

30+ Ways to Use a Whole Chicken

(Photo Credit: Lindsay Linton Buk/Linton Productions) What is up with America's fascination with chicken breasts? If you thumb through most cookbooks or Pinterest, you'd quickly come to the conclusion that that chickens don't even have other edible parts. The vast majority of recipes are suspiciously absent of wings, thighs, or drumsticks in the ingredient lists. Which is all fine and dandy until you start raising your own birds ...Continue Reading

94 Comments | |    Last Updated: May 12, 2026

Raising Old-Fashioned Kids in a High Tech World

I'm not a mommy blogger. But you probably already knew that, huh? It's partially because I have little interest in telling folks how to raise their kids when I'm still trying to figure out how to raise mine, and partially because my inspiration rarely flows when it comes to that stuff. I've never been one of the cool moms... We don't all have matching outfits for Christmas pix. (Heck, I haven't even done a Christmas CARD in ...Continue Reading

16 Comments | |    Last Updated: May 6, 2025

How to Cook from Scratch When You Have Limited Time

Would you believe that I don't spend all day in the kitchen? Well, it's true, my friends.  I may have written a cookbook and filmed a cooking class, but that doesn't mean I spend my life in the kitchen. Most days you'll find me bouncing all over the homestead from the barn, to the garden, to the office, to the kitchen, yet somehow I usually still manage to pull off plenty of from-scratch, homemade meals during the ...Continue Reading

5 Comments | |    Last Updated: October 13, 2021

How We Support Our Homestead While Working from Home

To many folks, it might seem that we're living the dream. We have the land.... the cows... the garden. And we're entrepreneurs, which means Christian and I no longer have to drive to town and work for someone else. Which means we basically just frolic outside all day long with the chickens and pick flowers, right? Bwahahaha... I'm laughing hysterically over here-- can you hear me? The first two sentences are true; the third ...Continue Reading

9 Comments | |    Last Updated: April 10, 2019

3 Things Need to Know Before You Start Your Garden!

Seventy degrees today... Blizzard tomorrow. And such is spring in Wyoming, so I can't really complain. (OK, fine. I might complain a little bit.) Thankfully, the kids and I were able to spend some time outside re-filling the raised beds with fresh soil this week, so I suppose that will appease me (a little) as I'm huddled by the fire again with my hot cocoa. After gardening for at least a decade and making EVERY mistake in the ...Continue Reading

17 Comments | |    Last Updated: March 3, 2020

It’s Here! Introducing The Prairie Homestead Cookbook!

I don’t believe it. The day is actually here. And it's surreal. After over TWO YEARS of testing recipes, writing, photo shoots, editing, and more editing, The Prairie Homestead Cookbook is out in the world, and it’s already a bestseller in several different categories, even though it just hit shelves today! This is the cookbook I wished I had when I first began to want to cook like a homesteader. The recipes aren’t overly fancy ...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