So many times, people have asked us why we decided to homestead/live off the grid. Well, good question! Why did we decide to bite the bullet?
Back in Ohio, Zach and I would help out on our friend’s farm, Non-Typical Farms. We would help with the cows, chickens, and pigs. Non-Typical Farms is a regenerative farm. A regenerative farm is an approach to conservation and rehabilitation to food and farming systems. It mainly focuses on regenerating the soil, increasing the biodiversity, improving the water cycles, increasing the crops’ hardiness to climate change, and strengthening the health of our soil. This opened up our eyes to how his animals lived compared to a more conventional farm. His cows have different fields they go into every few weeks or so. He would also feed them hay instead of grain. Cows are grazers, so eating grass or hay is a healthier option.
The meat chickens lived in a chicken "tractor," which, if you do not know, a chicken tractor is a coop that does not have a floor, and you move it to a different part of the yard every day. This is because the chickens scratch the ground and loosen the top inch or so. It is a good way to regenerate the ground to prep it for a garden, and also the chickens’ byproduct is good fertilizer for the grass, which in turn is good for the cows.
Non-Typical Farms has all of their animals butchered locally. The pigs and cows would get sent off to a local butcher, and we would help butcher the chickens. Zach and I always ordered a few chickens, half of a cow, and half of a pig to support our friends. When we first received our cow back, we made steaks. If you know me, I like my steaks rare and seasoned with just salt and pepper. If it’s truly a good steak, you will not need steak sauce or multiple seasonings. After I took my first bite, it just melted in my mouth. I have never had a steak taste so fresh. I cannot even describe how much different the taste is from the grocery store steaks. The biggest difference is it doesn’t have any chemicals added to it. Now, I am not saying go out and buy all organic meat, because that gets expensive quick. What I recommend is going out and finding a local farmer, see what they have available, and buy from them. You will be amazed at the quality of product you will receive.
When Zach and I started helping out at the farm and ordering local meat, our eyes were opened. Why do we buy from the grocery stores? All these different foods have so many chemicals and weird labels you do not understand or know the meaning of. Like what even is yellow dye number one? So, we started doing some research. We would visit our friends almost every Friday and watch different movies about farming. Some of the ones we watched were Food Inc, The Biggest Little Farm, and Kiss the Ground. Watching all of these movies opened our eyes and made us realize that we want to become self-sufficient so we do not have to rely on grocery stores.
In Ohio, Zach and I built a decent size garden with all sorts of vegetables, including corn, squash, zucchini, 3 different types of tomatoes, cabbage, etc. We also had 15 egg laying chickens. Each chicken would lay an egg a day. So, between our garden, the chickens, and our friend’s farm, we would not have to go to the grocery. If we did need something from the store, we would just go to our local farmer’s market.
We were so successful this year with the garden and the chickens that we decided we needed a bigger piece of land. Now that we moved, we unfortunately need to start all over again, but we have big aspirations this upcoming year.
I highly recommend watching the movies I listed above. You will learn so much about what is in your food and how important regeneration farming is. Then next time you go to the grocery, you might think about what you are about to eat.
Go out and support your local farmers and farmer’s markets, start a garden, even if it’s a small garden. Think about your health and how you are helping the community by supporting local family farms. These things are so important, and will lead you to a better, healthier lifestyle.
Pictures courtesy of Non-Typical Farms
