Chaos in the Backyard

I don’t even know if we call this a homestead, a hobby farm, or just our chaotic little family farm. I’m not pretending to be an expert living off the land. We have egg-laying chickens, a horse, a goat, a sheep, and a pig that are mostly pets. We’re getting meat chickens soon. Every year I plant spring and summer gardens, and every year I convince myself I’m going to master fall gardening too. My goal is to build a life that my family and I enjoy; animals, gardening, slower living, teaching my sons responsibility and respect for the animals that feed us, producing some of our own food, and creating a home-centered lifestyle. Whatever label fits, one thing is certain… we love building this life.

So, maybe it’s a homestead. Maybe it’s just a small backyard hobby farm filled with animals, gardens, muddy boots, and big dreams. Either way, it’s becoming the kind of life we’ve always wanted for our family.

Why We’re Starting a Homestead

If you had asked me a few years ago if we’d be getting ready for meat chicks and maximizing my garden beds, I would have said that it was a crazy idea. 

I didn’t grow up a true farm kid, but I grew up on a fun/hobby farm. Acres of land where summer produce was grown. Pastures with horses and a goat. Geese in the driveway. Mudpies, tree forts, and country living. But when we bought the house from my parents, the barn was knocked down. Fences were taken out. It was slowly erased.

But somewhere along the way, something shifted. While everything might have been taken out and taken down, the blueprint was still there. 

Little by little, I started craving a slower, more intentional life.

Not necessarily an easier one, because raising animals is definitely not easy (especially when you’re starting over from scratch), but one that felt more connected. More grounded. More meaningful.

It started small.

A raised garden bed here.
Bushes and plants.
Actually learning how to grow our own food in a way that can be sustainable long term.
Wanting our kids to understand where food actually comes from instead of thinking it magically appears at the grocery store.

And honestly? The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn.

I Want Our Kids to Grow Up Differently

One of the biggest reasons I’m starting this journey is our kids.

We want them to grow up knowing how to work with their hands. My husband can learn anything and build and fix everything. He has single-handedly built every coop/run-in/lean-to we have, hammered every t-post into the ground, and strung every line of electrical fencing. I’m learning how to raise farm animals, how to grow something from seed, and see it through. All things my father knew and tried to pass on to me, but I was too busy being a kid to really pay attention and learn the why and how behind it all.

We want them outside more.
We want muddy boots and dirty hands.
We want them to understand responsibility, patience, and hard work in a real-life and meaningful way.

There’s something incredible about watching kids gain confidence from doing things themselves:

Tending to animals and collecting eggs.
Helping in the garden and yard.
Learning how food is grown.
Being part of something instead of just consuming it.

Those are the kinds of skilled childhood memories we want to build.

We’re Craving Simplicity

Life feels loud and especially chaotic lately.

Schedules.
Screens.
Work.
Politics and the world.
Constant rushing.

And while we love so many parts of our busy life, we’ve also realized how much we want and need simplicity in the middle of it all.

This small, fun hobby farm, for us, isn’t about escaping life completely.

It’s about slowing down and being intentional. 

Making more instead of buying more.
Growing what we can.
Learning and passing down old skills.
Being a little more self-sufficient every year.

Even if we never become a “full” farm/homestead, every step towards it feels totally worthwhile.

We Want to Know What We’re Feeding Our Family

Another huge reason behind this journey is food.

Both of my sons had dairy intolerances as babies/toddlers. The big eventually grew out of it, but not without a year of constant ear infections, tubes, and then finally the tubes being removed. The little reacted to dairy AND soy with such a reaction that I thought it was a true allergy. Pair that with a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes for my big, and I became hyper vigilant. The more we had to start paying attention to ingredients and labels, the more I wanted to take back a little control.

Do and will we still shop at grocery stores? Of course. I can’t grow coffee beans, and Alani in the yard, and those two things are just about non-negotiables. 

But there’s something so rewarding about being able to walk outside and pick the produce for dinner. Yelling to the boys to “stay out of the garden!” when they’re picking and devouring all of my ripe fruits and vegetables before I even get to see what I’ve grown. Knowing exactly how your food was raised and cared for.

It makes you appreciate food differently.

We’re Learning as We Go

One thing I want to be really honest about is this:

I absolutely do NOT have it all figured out.

We are learning as we go.

There will probably be failed gardens, just like there have been every year. Last year, it was tomato blight and vine borers.
Plants we accidentally kill (sending some positive energy to the lettuce plants I put in).
Projects that don’t go as planned.
Mistakes that we cry about but will laugh about later.

But that’s part of the journey too.

I’m not chasing perfection.
I’m chasing a lifestyle that feels family-centered. 

And right now, this feels like the beginning of something really special.

This Is Just the Beginning

I don’t know exactly what it will all look like years from now.

Maybe it grows into more animals, bigger gardens, and preserving our own food.
Maybe it stays simple and small-scale.

Either way, I’m excited for the process. For the learning. For the memories. For the life we’re building together.