Asia is an newer urban homesteader living in a vintage home that was owned by her grandmother and now by her.
She is a single mother of two children. While she works a conventional 9-5 as a manager in a Finance setting she longs to be home on weekends and out in her garden. In addition to gardening and working, Asia thrives on frugality, family time but also needs time in a hotel for a weekend or just dinner at a restaurant alone.
Her creativity and curiosity normally lead her to attempt most things that peak her interest, which maybe how she began homesteading and gardening. As her children grow into their own she’s working to find out what her interests and passions are at this stage of her life.
Initially, following being contact to takeover Homestead Mamas, my thoughts were “This is an awesome opportunity” and “I grow food in my backyard, is that a homestead?” In pure me fashion (big ball of anxiety hehehe) with sweaty palms and an overly active heart beat the thought crossed my mind to message the representative of HM to explain that I’d love to do the takeover but tiny little plot really wasn’t a homestead.
Clearly I fought that moment of anxiety because here I am! I’m here and super exited to have this opportunity to share the next 3 days with you all! Thank you Homestead Mamas!
As introductions go, I am Asia (@msasiaspratley) of Home Behind the Yellow Door. Interestingly enough both the entrance to my vintage home and garden plot have yellow doors. I am a working single mother who moonlights as a homesteader *wink*. Behind the yellow door you’ll find me, my two children (10 year old daughter and 17 year old son) and our dog. It’s safe to say they both thought I may have had a COVID quarantine breakdown when one 4X7 raised garden bed turned into a fenced garden plot that consisted of 10 garden beds, a compost pile, a rain collection system and a small mobile greenhouse.
My son jokes today that I am growing a garden in our laundry room. But hey, it’s seed starting season. They gotta be started somewhere, right? If all goes as planned, my children will have something else to report to our friends and family lol because the plan for this spring/summer is to add a chicken coop and rabbit hutch to the urban homestead.
Last summer when it finally hit me that the COVID quarantine wasn’t going to be quick I decided to relocate and enlarge our old cinderblock garden bed that had been abandoned a few year earlier. I personally have never been a fruit and vegetable eater. However, my daughter loves them cooked or raw. In my daughter’s younger years when she was able to eat baby food instead of purchasing jar food on Sundays I would cook, process and freeze fresh food for her. As a way to combat my boredom I figured I’d start a garden for her.
The garden served two purposed one being giving her new vegetables and fruits to try that she otherwise wouldn’t because her mother doesn’t’ think to grab new things at the store. Ha!
Recently, I’ve become quite interested in the homesteading way of living. Self-sufficiency and sustainability really has begun to appeal to me. During 2020 most of the harvest was eaten when harvested with the exception of some green beans and kale.
In 2021 I will learn more about preserving via canning, dehydrating, blanching, etc. In addition to learning to preserve I’ll learn to raise chickens (egg and meat hopefully) and rabbits while having them work for the homestead.
My three days of takeover will detail our life of urban homesteading and gardening. I’ll share some tips on frugal gardening, starting plants from seed, urban compost creation and more as it comes to me. Feel free to say hello and introduce yourself! Let’s talk! I absolutely love the conversation, support and comradery of the gardening and homesteading community.
-Asia
Home Behind the Yellow Door
I began my homesteading journey from the perspective of a Nutritional Therapist, closet herbalist, and beekeeper. This mentally gave me a few barriers to diving into the conventionally accepted tools for animal health such as antibiotics, injectable vitamins, generic minerals and mass produced bagged feeds…
I am not well traveled. I’ve never flown on a plane. I’ve never been north of Ohio or west of Texas.I’m not as well traveled as some may say one should be, but this piece of land has housed all of my fondest memories…
Do you ever worry that your kids will miss out because of this homesteading lifestyle choice? This fear crosses my mind time to time. I’m sure many, if not most of you, could agree that it can be extremely difficult to get extended time away from the homestead for more than a full day, especially in the busy summer months when daily chores demand our regular attention…
“In some Native languages the term for plants translates to ‘those who take care of us’ … the land knows you, even when you are lost.” – Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass…
Babies, Business, and Bumper Crops: How I am Learning to Homestead with Babies in Tow
Have you ever had one of those days? You know the days when you are cleaning the baby’s diaper, milking the cow, scooping poop in the barn, wiping noses, and cleaning more poop off of kids’ shoes…
One year ago, I resolved that I would learn to make all of the bread products my family needed. With an ever-shrinking bank account battling current inflation prices, I would walk the aisles of our local markets frustrated that I did not possess the skills required to make most of the things I needed to purchase…
Hey there, Homesteading Mama’s!
I’m Rachel from @frontier_homesteading. My husband Ryan, three children and I have been homesteading for about 10 years now, first in Wyoming and now in Alaska.
We currently have milk goats, pack goats, sheep, a pig, a cow, chickens, rabbits, bees and a dog. Seasonally, we also have more pigs, meat chickens and turkeys….
Stained glass windows date back to the 7th century. With the earliest known reference dating
from 675 AD when workmen were imported from France to Britain to Glaze the windows of a
monastery…
Homesteading and growing food is not the easy way out of this life, i would say it is the hard way as there’s nothing convenient about it. It’s a lifestyle, a life change not a trend or hobby. Well, that’s my opinion any way…
