Seated: Tom and shalom, our grandbaby.  Standing from left:  Bethany, our daughter, Celia, our daughter-in-law, Jamin, our eldest, Josiah, our son, and me, Janele. 

When Tom was in high school he searched for property.  He read books, books, and more books on how to build a wilderness cabin, how to grow food organically, and how to homestead.  As life would have it he didn't buy land for a while, but his love for living a simple life became my dream too, after we married. I married young, 19 years old.  My husband doesn't particularly like it when I tell people he was a senior in high school when I was a sixth grader! But I sure get a charge out of it.  :)  We had Jamin 13 months after we were married so we dove right into "familyhood."  Even then, we had a big garden and big plans for our future.  After some years we found a nice piece of property that seemed like too much money at the time but really wasn't compared to today's standards.  Tom is a carpenter by trade so when we built our house on this beautiful piece of land, he was the contractor and laborer.  Our children were young but they pitched in every single day we worked out here.  Now, my husband's dream has become our family dream.  We would love to just keep buying up land but you can do a lot on a small piece of property, too.  I guess ours is small compared to the farmers around here.  But, we have more than enough to do the things we want to do.

For so long now I have been dreaming and wanting to share with people our homesteading experience.  We have SO much we want to give you.  So, so very much!  I am excited to finally have someone (or lots of someone's) hanging out with us.  Welcome to our home!!!