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Homestead from Scratch

Stephanie and her husband Andrew, have 5 kids all within 6 years. They felt the need for the slower paced life and wanted to get back to the basics of life. So they bought some untouched land and started their homestead from scratch. Stephanie is a registered nurse turned SAHM. She is passionate about helping other moms thrive in motherhood through mindset work and whole body health. She homeschools her children and loves that they are together all the time. Follow along @wildandfree.mama to see their beautiful chaos unfold!

Hey homestead mamas! I am so excited to be here with you all and to get to share a glimpse into our homestead and family life. 
 
I’m Stephanie, Registered Nurse turned SAHM. Wife to Andrew of 13 years. We have a unique and fun story that I love to share. We met on a blind date, we weren’t each others date. 3 weeks later we were engaged. 2 months after that we were married. I was 19 he was 22. People thought we were crazy to be getting married so young and so quick but we couldn’t deny that we knew we were supposed to be together. 
 
Together we have 5 kids ages 8,7,5,4, and 2, two angel babies and two babies that we loved for a short time and was able to give back to their birth families. We struggled with infertility for 5 years, if you’ve been through any type of infertility you know how hard that can be. We didn’t let it tear us apart but let it grow us closer and stronger together. 
We are also an adoptive family and a transracial family. So we are advocates for adoption along with trying to do everything we can to make sure our girls have strong ties to their culture. 
 
We own a small homestead that we have grown from scratch. When we bought the 36 acres of land it was just sage brush, nothing else. We added water, power, built a barn for our larger animals and a smaller barn for our goats as well as a chicken coop and a green house. We fenced in about 1.5 acres for the animals.  We did all of that just my husband and I  with our 5 little kids right along side us. 
 
We don’t live out there yet but as soon as our adoption is finalized that is our next project. We can’t wait to be out there full time. 
We have 7 llamas, 5 goats, 9 chickens, 1 donkey, 1 cat and 2 dogs. We plan on adding a jersey cow, a yak, piggies and maybe some pack goats. We fly by the seat of our pants most the time so who knows what we will add next. Our main goal for our homestead is to be self sufficient and to teach our kids life skills we feel are so important for them to learn that a lot of kids aren’t getting taught in the world today. 
 
We also homeschool our kids. It wasn’t on our radars to homeschool but when our kids came they called us to more and here we are 5 years later and loving most every minute of it. 
 
My house is never clean. I am never on time for anything and I practically live in stretchy pants with pockets. I’m excited to share our beautiful chaos with you guys over the next few days! Make sure to follow me @wildandfree.mama
 

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