Hello from SE Missouri! My name is Amanda, and my family and I are working every day towards our dream of self-sufficiency. We are committed to learning every day, growing together literally and figuratively, becoming as self-sufficient as possible, having fun, and sharing our learning adventures with like-minded people. We do not require like-minds to be friends or to share our journeys together, and it’s not our intent to preach to anyone. This is just one family’s journey – and you’ve caught us mostly at the beginning.

We lived in Western North Carolina until the end of 2009, when we bought 40 mostly rocky and wooded acres in the Ozarks. We unschool our children, and it has been a great pleasure watching them take to farm life. In 2010, we started with a small flock of day old Buckeye chickens, were given two friendly wether goats (neutered males), and had an awesome garden. In 2011, we bought a second, mixed flock of older chickens, bought a milk doe and her two bucklings, went back to NC to meet my first niece (and had most of our chickens poached while we were gone), and had a wonderful planned homebirth/accidental unassisted/freebirth.

So far in 2012, I lost my beloved soul mate & best friend of eleven and a half years, Achaiah (pit bull/border collie mix); we’ve gotten a new batch of day old chicks (Buckeyes, Ameraucanas, Phoenixes, and Welsummers); we’re slowly getting the garden started again; and we’re working on plans to get meat rabbits.

I had a website that I wasn’t very happy with, and most of the Steady action was taking place on our facebook page. Several people suggested that I start a blog, so with the help of a very awesome friend, I swapped my site over to WordPress. I’ve had a personal blog on livejournal for years, which is now very sadly neglected. I’m going to commit to trying this for at least three or four months, but that means I also have to get back to my abandoned one as well. This one will focus on our homestead journey, and I’ll try to post at least once a week. Please bear with me as I figure it all out.

Some of the things I’ll probably be discussing include:

Homesteading, farming, self-sufficiency, gardening, prepping, pets, livestock, harvesting/processing/butchering our own food, learning about wild edibles, home remedies, homeschooling, unschooling, attachment parenting, birth and birth advocacy, breastfeeding, reiki, energy work, shamanism, God/Source/Universe and its presence in my life, goal setting, frugal living, food/cooking/menu planning, motorcycles, learning about Missouri and the Ozarks, flylady, the Grateful Dead/general awesome music, overcoming grief, trying to get crafty/artistic/some kind of useful skill(s). I’m sure there’s more.

Today is the four year anniversary of my mother’s death. This has been a very healing year for me. It’s because of my mom and the events surrounding her death that we were even able to get this farm and try to realize our dreams. We spend each day being so grateful for her presence in our lives, all too brief that it was, and being grateful for this opportunity to realize the dreams that she shared for us. We seek to honor her memory in all that we do.

Thank you for sharing this journey with us!

♥ In Loving Memory of Carol “Christy” McDivitt. ♥