How we started a homestead

A dear friend recently asked how we started our homestead. Since we came from the city hours south, we basically started with nothing. Here’s how we did it!

Prayer & Manifestation

Thats right. I give credit to the power of prayer as the basis for getting off the ground. This dream started in the Heart, when one summer I completely broke over the health of our planet. This has happened many times for me, often fueling movement & projects, including jetting out to Hawaii Pacific University to study marine biology post high school.

Raised with indigenous culture, I’ve always felt deeply connected to the Earth. My “baby book of firsts” includes lines my mother recorded from my 4-yr old explanation of “Mother Earth”; “The rocks are her bones, the water is her blood, the wind is her breath, and the grasses are her hair” I’d told her. I still remember saying it because that’s how I saw it. Right away I considered Earth to be a conscious and living eco-organism. Thats why my heart breaks over the sickness inflicted upon her. The way her creature-children are slaughtered without respect or empathy in unethical practices, how all the sacred waters have been polluted with micro-plastics, the way poison and trash chokes beautiful life. It is a supreme disrespect and a dire error. THIS IS WHAT DRIVES ME.

On that particular summer in 2017 I sat meditating in our small yard in the city, connecting with Mother Earth as I often did. I grounded down deep, reaching out my field to acknowledge the grass and trees, mingling with their roots and soil mycelia. This time, I chose to open to where the Earth needed healing. I felt profound sadness and pain within the planetary field coming in like a torrent, it was immense and heart shattering. I cried. My sorrow was soul deep. I felt anger and frustration and helplessness. I put my face into the grass and begged for an opportunity to do something, to heal what’s been done, and protect my Earth Mother. My tears wetted the soil. “If I just could preside over a little bit of land, love it, nurture it, let no one harm it..” I begged.

Two weeks later my husband got an offer from his company to transfer to a location in the rural north. I saw a door. It felt like an answer, and I said “jump on it!”. We were given two more weeks to pack up our home and we hadn’t even found a house yet. There was very little on the market, and yet we “happened” to stumble on the perfect two-story home within our budget complete with barns, a working fireplace, fruit trees, and situated on 40 wooded acres. This was it. I wept with gratitude as I still do sometimes.

Heating with Wood

We moved towards the end of summer, so by the time we had begun to settle in, the Michigan air turned cold for autumn. Being a witch, the fireplace was a requirement as the hearth is the heart of the home. Past-life memories stir with the importance of keeping a clean hearth. Naturally I had to claim a cast iron cauldron for cooking, & it is probably one of my favorite culinary things ever.

Heating with wood was our first homesteading adventure and it has taught me so much in regards to chopping, collecting, & storing logs, how to properly build lasting fires, kinds of wood & their smell when burned (apple wood is my favorite!), the tree life cycle, and of course my favorite lessons on reciprocity and building a relationship with the Fire Element. I could get into so much here, but perhaps another time. For more on the details of heating with firewood, check out this previous post.

Chickens

I’ve always wanted chickens and so it was one of our first purchases when the snow thawed in Spring. We designed and built a coop with a small run and purchased a few chicks from the local farm store. We kept them inside for months until it was warm enough outdoors and the chickens were big enough so as not to slip through the chicken wire. I plan on writing an article on chicken keeping soon & will update here when I do.

Fresh eggs daily! We choose to keep the chickens as friends, not food, and enjoy their natural egg offerings. My boys can easily eat a dozen eggs in a day, and I’m happy with this cruelty-free protein choice. As for reciprocity, let’s just say I love spoiling my birds! Each year we’ve expanded and added on to the coop and run, and added upgrades like heated water dishes for winter and multiple high-watt heat lamps. I even bring each hen inside for a few days a year to give a bath, do a health scan, and give her a rest from the flock and rooster.

Naturally, we have lost chickens due to predators. Only one has died from a health issue, which was a beak deformity. Each predator attack has been traumatizing to the flock and our family.

Gardening

I got it from my Mama. My mom loved gardening. I grew up with vibrant roses and a healthy compost pile in the yard. Digging for earth worms just to release them was a favorite activity. Mom always made sure I spent time in the garden, from helping sow, to weeding, to harvest time. An old-ways-pagan meant she valued the turn of the seasons and the fruit that came with it. Still I dance to this rhythm. I planted my very own garden in pots on an apartment balcony in 2013. When we moved into town nearby we were blessed with an acre in the backyard, of which I had a small garden plot, overflowing with fruits & veggies.

The summer after we moved north, a garden was a MUST for our homestead. Although our 2,000 sqft garden and accompanying greenhouse are fantastic, I’ve taken great interest in permaculture forestry which recreates a forest ecosystem, complete with ground cover, brush, trees, vines, and top layer. Can you imagine a forest in which most of the foliage is edible? Trees laden with fruits, and native herbs perfuming the air when stepped upon? Eden is my inspiration. Source is my witness. I am the doorway. And so it is!

Arboriculture

What caught my eye right away at our new home (besides the hearth), was the plethora of old fruit trees. So many were damaged and overgrown, it took a great effort from this lil mama to wield a chainsaw and open space for the trees to breathe. I researched online as much as I could about arboriculture (tree care) and took to pruning at appropriate seasons. The apple harvest brings deer friends, but also a bounty off fruit! The pear trees are less productive, but also suffered a great deal of damage from the previous landowner.

Sheep

I’m soo excited for the Dorset ewe lambs we’re getting next Spring! Mom is interested in fiber arts and as her bff, I want to oblige with high quality cruelty-free wool. We plan on shearing & spinning wool into luscious hand-dyed yarns. I really love to crochet, so all the better!

These are the steps we’ve taken to establish a homestead from scratch!

Thank you for reading, hope you’ve enjoyed your stay!

Bright blessings,

Nakoma