The Prairie Homestead

Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land

Jill Winger

74 Comments | |    Last Updated: April 17, 2026

Homemade Maple BBQ Sauce Recipe

Homemade BBQ sauce intimidated me for the longest time. Crazy, I know... Especially considering how slow-rise artisan pizza and traditional mozzarella cheese hardly make me blink. I didn't develop a liking for BBQ sauce until later in life so I felt unqualified to make the stuff... Not to mention everyone has a vastly different idea of what homemade BBQ sauce should be. But I love you guys, so I decided to dive into the saucy ...Continue Reading

146 Comments | |    Last Updated: December 27, 2023

The Story of Our Prairie House

Once upon a time, there was a house. A little prairie house. It was born in 1918, a homesteader's dream, built to shelter a growing family from the harsh conditions of the high plains. It's seen a lot in the past 98 years. Lightning strikes. Blinding snowstorms. Rattlesnake infestations. A shop fire. Tornadoes. The Blizzard of '49. And relentless wind. Oh, the wind. Many families came and went after the ...Continue Reading

45 Comments | |    Last Updated: May 30, 2016

30 Essential Oil Hacks for Homesteading

WHAAAAT...? That's my response every time I get an email from someone who wants to know why I talk about essential oils on a homesteading blog. Okay, okay... to be fair, there was a time when I didn't get the connection either. I thought essential oils were just expensive little brown bottles surrounded by a bunch of hype. I still use herbs too, but I've found essential oils to be much easier to use as they are more "grab and ...Continue Reading

66 Comments | |    Last Updated: August 30, 2016

Deep Mulch Gardening FAQs

Back in the day, I was known as the "goat blogger"... ...thanks in part to my Goat 101 series and our small herd of extremely hard-to-contain dairy goats. But as I drifted away from the world of goatiness (hello big beautiful Brown Swiss milk cow!), I've found myself taking on a new identity: "That mulch garden girl" Yup. That's me. And I'm happy to claim it. I won't go into the back story of how I got into the whole ...Continue Reading

90 Comments | |    Last Updated: August 25, 2016

Dandelion Salve for Muscles & Joints

It's that time of year... ...when shriveled dandelion bits litter my kitchen, and desk, and float in random cups half-full with water. Every single time my 3 year old brings me a fistful of fuzzy yellow flowers, I can hardly bear to throw them away, even after they have wilted beyond recognition. Picking dandelion blossoms is a childhood rite of passage. I used to consider the predictable yellow flowers popping up each spring to ...Continue Reading

56 Comments | |    Last Updated: February 9, 2021

Do You Have to Refrigerate Eggs?

Do You Have to Refrigerate Eggs? No. And yes. How's that for an answer? I sometimes wonder what people think when they walk into my kitchen and see a big bowl of farm fresh eggs sitting on my counter. We are so conditioned to the notion that you MUST refrigerate eggs, I'm imagine some guests likely think we're trying to kill ourselves with food poisoning. But, believe it or not, there is a method to my madness. There are ...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