The Prairie Homestead

Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land

Jill Winger

| |    Last Updated: June 13, 2023

Cast Iron Fruit Pizza Recipe

The standard fruit pizza recipe always starts with a tube of sugar cookie dough. But we don't need to do that, do we? Nah, not us homesteader folk. Because we know that whipping up a quick sugar cookie crust from-scratch isn't nearly as difficult as the manufacturers of tubed cookie dough would have you believe. ;) Having a solid fruit pizza recipe in your arsenal will serve you well when company is coming and you're in need ...Continue Reading

33 Comments | |    Last Updated: June 30, 2023

How to Can Tomatoes Safely at Home

Oh Tomatoes... You tricky, tricky things. You wouldn't think home canned tomatoes would be earth-shattering topic, would you? Well, you'd be surprised. I've seen some pretty heated discussions in regards to how to can tomatoes safely at home. Whenever the conversation comes up in my Homestead & Heritage Cooking Facebook group, there are always members who pull out their tried-and-true recipes from their grandma's day-- ...Continue Reading

19 Comments | |    Last Updated: March 11, 2025

Natural Weed Control for Your Garden

It’s no secret. I’m not a gardening diva. And heaven knows I’ve had my share of ridiculous gardening mistakes, like that time I killed my whole garden with poisoned hay mulch. Even so, I stick with it every year. Every January, I order my heirloom seeds and dream of that idyllic garden that weeds itself and never looks messy. (Are you laughing yet? ?) And then, by June, the weeds are working hard to destroy the dream. In fact, the ...Continue Reading

17 Comments | |    Last Updated: August 5, 2024

Canning Cherries with Honey

When someone offers to send you a whole box of freshly picked Bing cherries? You say yes. Even if canning cherries will add an extra measure of craziness in between back-to-back trips and 4-H events. And that's exactly what happened when Northwest Cherry Growers emailed me and offer to ship me a box of cherries if I'd create a canning recipe featuring them. I've been on a canning kick lately anyway--how could I say ...Continue Reading

18 Comments | |    Last Updated: July 5, 2019

Chive Blossom Vinegar Recipe

Early spring harvest... It's almost a non-existent concept for Wyoming peeps like me. Our growing season is short. It starts late and ends early.... which means while everyone else is bragging about their first harvests of greens and radishes, I'm still looking at snow on the ground. And even when the first pictures of ruby red strawberries and cucumbers start flooding social media, my harvest baskets are still empty. But I do have ...Continue Reading

15 Comments | |    Last Updated: February 26, 2021

How to Garden in a Cold Climate

It's mid-May. The grass is green. We had snow last week. The neighbors north of us got four inches of HAIL a couple days ago. And this is totally normal. There's really no sense complaining about it, since that's just how we roll in Wyoming. But hey, I figured this is perfect timing, so let's talk about how you can garden in a cold climate. Because I'm proof that it's possible! (Most years, at least...)  Our prairie ...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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