How We Started Out

Welcome!

I'm Tina, daughter of the Most High God, Super Wife, Master of Motherhood, Homemaker Extraordinaire, Craft-a-holic, Homeschooler and Newbie Homesteader. Meet the family...


Gregory
 

Joshua

Janie

Layne & Eric Jr

Eric & Tina

My hubby Eric and I, along with our 2 youngest kiddos Eric Jr & Layne (we have 5 total), recently moved from the burbs in Washington State to the country in Idaho. We went from a shy 1/4 acre on the edge of town to almost 3 acres in the sticks and boy are we excited!

"You've always been a country girl at heart." That's what my mom said when I told her what we were planning to do. I think that has always been true for me. Although I grew up in the suburbs, I have always been drawn to the country life. Before Eric and I were married, a gazillion years ago, my Daddy warned him that, "She always has to have animals." It's true. I love animals! Right now we have 2 dogs and 2 cats.

A glimpse at our WA Farmette

In WA we had what we liked to call a "Farmette". We had anywhere from 10-25 chickens at a time, 2 dogs, rabbits and even had a couple of ducks for a while (that didn't last long). Came close to getting a goat at one time too. We built a "barn" (a 10x12 wood shed painted red with white trim) and had some 8x8 raised beds for veggies. I planted fruit trees and bushes, flowers beds and Eric built me composting and rain barrels. We crammed everything that we could (legally) in that backyard! It was obvious that we needed more room though. We had bigger plans.

It has been a dream of Eric and I to move to the country for a long time. We had hopes of raising more animals, having a larger garden, a fruit orchard and berry patch. The goal being to raise all of our own fruits & veggies, meat & dairy. We would love to be 100% self sufficient one day. That is the goal.

It was a hard decision to move though. You see, my whole family lives in WA. I am the oldest of 7 children and have a very large and close knit extended family as well. Not to mention that my three oldest kids live there as well. My family was very supportive of our move though. They know that this has been a long awaited dream of ours. We really felt like God was leading us to Idaho. Eric's parents live there. A verse I read one day inspired me to take a leap of faith...

 

"Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your own country,

and from your relatives and from your father's house,

to the land which I will show you;"

Genesis 12:1

 

So, off we went!



Our New Home

We moved in October of 2013 and it has been quite an adventure so far! A very different lifestyle that is a perfect fit. Of course, I would have liked to start on outbuildings, planting and acquiring animals right away but, with winter on the way, we knew we should wait until spring.

 

Currently, I work around the house, making it a home for us. We are becoming more self reliant and ecofriendly every day. I have totally eliminated paper products from our home (with the exception of writing paper for homeschooling) and make all of our own cleaning products. I am working on making natural personal products now. It has been a lot of fun using all of my creative gifts for practical purposes.

Truth be told, I have more hobbies and interests than I have time for. I sew, knit, crochet, needlework, spin, quilt, scrapbook, draw & paint, bake, garden, woodworking... and much more! As you can see I need more hours in the day. I also love to read. I am a research nut, so I have books about "How To" everything. It has definitely come in handy over the years. I know it will be useful on our homestead as well.
 

Overall, we are excited for this new chapter I our lives that we have been given. We are truly blessed to be able to finally see our dreams becoming a reality. Will it be hard work? Yes. Will we make mistakes? Probably. None the less, I believe that we will succeed together as a family! This is definatly a journey worth taking!

 

Tina:)