The Prairie Homestead

Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land

Jill Winger

3 Comments | |    Last Updated: August 20, 2024

6 Surprising Ways to Use a Herding Dog

I love having dogs on our homestead... But up until now, I never considered homestead dogs as anything other than pets (and occasional chicken killers).  But after talking to Jordyn Kelly of Working Aussies Homestead on my podcast, I'll never look at a homestead dog the same again. I enjoyed our conversation so much, I asked her to share some of her wisdom on the blog today. I know you'll enjoy her creative, time-saving tips ...Continue Reading

5 Comments | |    Last Updated: August 5, 2024

Canned Cherry Pie Filling Recipe (with honey)

I LOVE eating cherries.... But I HATE processing cherries. This is a problem.  It's always been my personal rule to skip tedious canning recipes (aka I refuse to individually skin tomatoes even for my canned tomato sauce recipe...) Yet, the siren call of the cherry weakened my resolve this year, and I impulse-bought a box of bing cherries from Azure Standard. (Which I promptly forgot about until the Azure truck ...Continue Reading

5 Comments | |    Last Updated: July 23, 2024

How to Cook for a Crowd (Without Losing Your Mind)

It would appear that feeding people is my destiny. From dinner parties at the homestead, to branding calves, to owning the soda fountain, to hosting our annual horsemanship clinics, to helping with group functions in Chugwater, I'm continually in the kitchen. The funniest part? Once upon a time, cooking for a lot of people threw me into an absolute tizzy. Now, I regularly feed crowds of 20+ plus without blinking. So what ...Continue Reading

6 Comments | |    Last Updated: July 17, 2024

Haymaker’s Punch Recipe

I feel like I've been living in an alternate universe for the last 9 days. And it's been glorious. We just wrapped up our annual horsemanship clinic with clinician Cal Middleton and it was a whirlwind of colt starting, roping practice, 5am gathers, and people camped out at our homestead. I loved every minute of it. It was also blazing hot and since we were outside or horseback nearly all day, we chugged water like ...Continue Reading

5 Comments | |    Last Updated: July 8, 2024

If the Internet Never Existed…

"Is social media even worth it these days?"  The question came during a conversation at a recent homestead event. Naturally, I replied with a very helpful, "Eh... well... it depends." Probably not the answer you'd expect from someone who has made a living online for the last 10+ years. But I'm wrestling with the Internet lately. The online world feels different these days. Maybe you've felt it too? People are ...Continue Reading

Leave a Comment | |    Last Updated: June 25, 2024

How to Make 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

It's the ultimate in home baking—the holy grail, the perfect standard.... I'm talking about 100% whole wheat sourdough bread, of course. This is the kind of bread Ma Ingalls would have made. It sustained the pioneers. It's the quintessential old-fashioned loaf. Yet, it can feel stupidly hard to replicate in our modern home kitchens. In fact, whole grain sourdough bread stumped me for years, so much so that I gave up on it completely ...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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