Rachel is a homesteading mama who lives in Alaska with her three children. She is a childrens author and they have many animals on their homestead including dairy goats and pack goats, sheep and more!
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.
Our dream is to have at least five acres of land and live in a yurt, but my cancer and Lyme disease treatments keep slowing us down. Someday!
For now we have just over an acre and we are trying to balance making improvements and upkeep with not doing anything too permanent with the hope of selling and buying some land when we can.
One of our goals is to spend the least amount of money possible on food and household items. (When your children take after their 6’ 10” father and grow half an inch a month, this is difficult in the shoe and clothing department) We buy what we can’t produce ourselves in bulk, such as wheat berries, salt and baking soda, and otherwise hunt, fish, raise, forage and grow most of our own food. We also trade/buy large quantities of certain vegetables from a larger farm friend and preserve them with the rest of our food for the long winters.
We forage for herbs and medicinal plants to dry for teas, tinctures, salves, shampoos, seasonings, etc.
We homeschool our children (almost 15, 12 & 11) and they are an immense help around both the house and the farm. I couldn’t do it without them!
We weave school deeply into the homestead, and it’s such a natural and beautiful thing!
I think growing up on a homestead/farm is one of the best gifts you can give your children. Our children are learning by example how to stay the course, to persevere, to walk with grace, through often difficult circumstances. Not to mention the vast amount of invaluable life skills they gain.
In today’s world, those are some of the most powerful qualities you can instill in your child’s life and heart! We are not raising kids who will fall apart when The Hard Stuff inevitably happens. Our kids are forged through fire, and will emerge strong and capable. That is your legacy, Mama.
Please join us by sharing, continuing the conversation below, and connecting with Rachel at the following:
If you want to be self-sufficient and feed your family healthy hearty meals from scratch, you’ve got to
start milling at home. I know, I know, it sounds complicated and al little bit scary, right? But it doesn’t
have to be!
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…
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…
Awakino Station is a child’s dream. There is the river to splash in, tussock covered hills to explore, animals to raise and a bustling kitchen with a baking tin full of something yummy to eat…
