Welcome friend!
I'm Melody Joy, creator of Farm Girl Inspirations. If you love chickens (and other barnyard critters), frugal living, cooking from scratch, and you get a kick out of gardening and stocking your pantry with home preserves, then you've found a kindred spirit here!
I'm Melody Joy, creator of Farm Girl Inspirations. If you love chickens (and other barnyard critters), frugal living, cooking from scratch, and you get a kick out of gardening and stocking your pantry with home preserves, then you've found a kindred spirit here!
I grew up on an Oregon farm during the
back-to-land movement of the 1970's. It was the ideal life, let me tell you! But when I was
sixteen, my family lost the farm, and we had to move to the city. I spent the next
three decades promising myself I'd get back to the country some day. While I waited (and waited), I discovered there's lots of ways to get back to your roots, even when living in town.
Maybe you have a back-to-the-land dream too...
It seems many people today share a longing to stake their claim in the country. But like I had to, they find themselves needing to live in the city for scads of different reasons. I want to tell you something: You don't have to leave where you are to start living your homesteading dream. You can live it today, right where you are. What I mean is, there's no reason to think you can't start the life you want just because you don't yet live in the country. There are lots of ways to homestead and live more simply no matter where you stake your claim.
It seems many people today share a longing to stake their claim in the country. But like I had to, they find themselves needing to live in the city for scads of different reasons. I want to tell you something: You don't have to leave where you are to start living your homesteading dream. You can live it today, right where you are. What I mean is, there's no reason to think you can't start the life you want just because you don't yet live in the country. There are lots of ways to homestead and live more simply no matter where you stake your claim.
Our journey from an urban homestead to the country...
While living in town, my husband and I made the best of urban living. We raised and homeschooled our two sons in town (in an apartment, actually), but as a family we were very much a part of the homestead movement. In fact, for most of the boys' childhood, we were the on-site apartment managers where we lived. (I'll admit we were blessed with a pretty sweet deal that included a spacious apartment with a decent size yard). We were crazy about gardening. We grew herbs and salad greens, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and we even put in two peach trees. We also visited u-pick farms or gleaned for extra produce. Even in an apartment, you can do home canning and other food preservation!
It was a good life. But all the while, we kept our country-living dream in view. Because we received free rent along with a salary, we saved and saved until eventually we had enough for a down-payment.
Finally, in 2013, we bought a house in the country (a rather ugly, boxy looking thing, but with a totally awesome view!!!). We now live by a lake and have
about ten acres with an old barn, a falling down shack (that we call an out-building), a second house that we rent out, and a house where we live that's perpetually being remodeled (so someday it won't be so ugly)! Though our country homestead will likely be in transition for years (or maybe forever), I like to think we're redeeming the old place, transforming it into what it should always have been. But every single day, we absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE just the fact that we're actually living in the country at last! (And so can you, just be sure to keep your dream in view each day and make choices that stay in line with it)!
Why this blog?
This blog began because I wanted to share our back-to-the-land move with you. Like many dreamers who leave the city to try their hand at country homesteading, we came here with pretty much zero actual farming skills and know-how. (Though I'd lived on a farm as a girl, we never had animals or chickens, for example). To both George and I, gardening and living a made-from-scratch life in the kitchen was familiar, but farming, and keeping up an acreage? Everything we do now is a new adventure, and that means mistakes as well as successes. It's been slow going, but I really want to share our country homesteading experiences with you, both the good and the bad. Now that we've been here a piece, you can expect to see more of these stories (starting with the mistakes we made when getting chickens).
But beyond these stories, I also LOVE to share what I DO know a little something about: Living a more healthful, simple, self-reliant life that starts in the kitchen. That means you'll find a good part of this blog dedicated to DIY recipes and tutorials to help you stock your house with made-from-scratch products like...
This blog began because I wanted to share our back-to-the-land move with you. Like many dreamers who leave the city to try their hand at country homesteading, we came here with pretty much zero actual farming skills and know-how. (Though I'd lived on a farm as a girl, we never had animals or chickens, for example). To both George and I, gardening and living a made-from-scratch life in the kitchen was familiar, but farming, and keeping up an acreage? Everything we do now is a new adventure, and that means mistakes as well as successes. It's been slow going, but I really want to share our country homesteading experiences with you, both the good and the bad. Now that we've been here a piece, you can expect to see more of these stories (starting with the mistakes we made when getting chickens).
But beyond these stories, I also LOVE to share what I DO know a little something about: Living a more healthful, simple, self-reliant life that starts in the kitchen. That means you'll find a good part of this blog dedicated to DIY recipes and tutorials to help you stock your house with made-from-scratch products like...
- Yogurt
- Cheese
- Bread
- Butter
- Dry mixes
- DIY grocery items
- Home preserves
- Soap
- Cleaners
- Bathcare products
- (And more than that, too, as time goes on)
My friend, I'm thrilled you've found this little corner of the internet! I hope by visiting here often, you'll be inspired to embrace the simple, home-spun life you envision--no matter where you live!
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