Homesteaders of America (HOA)
Just like when we started homeschooling, we attended homeschool conferences and we see conferences are good places to start and gain a big picture of a new field. It was not long after the COVID time, many other conferences were canceled or rescheduled, but the HOA conference went on rain or shine.
The speakers are not all faith-leaders though, and you will need to sort out the information afterwards. What I like to do is to look up the speakers beforehand, check out their books, YouTube channels, websites, etc.. and do more research afterwards.
Check out local homestead gatherings will be a great way to get started and informed.
Joe Salatin and PolyFace Farm
I can’t go very far without mentioning Joe Salatin, as a strong leader both in faith and God-centered homesteading. We first met him from HOA, and didn’t realize that very soon his name would become frequently used in our daily conversations. On HOA’s podcast page, there is one from Joe worth listening if you are considering homesteading:
E13: Why Homesteading? A Candid Chat About the Homestead Tsunami
It’s important to know our whys before we make a commitment into anything, homesteading included.
We also had the opportunity to visit PloyFace Farm and wrote a blog post about our visit.
Joe is an inspirational speaker and writer.
A good book to start is :The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs (The audiobook, read by Joe, is also available)
This book will make you think and be prepared to stay open-minded.
Farmageddon Documentary:
My husband and I rarely have time to sit down to watch a movie as we navigate busy homeschool life. Sometimes, we may have a family movie time as a treat, but to watch a movie with just the two of us seems like a luxury of the use of time. Even when we do, we rarely finish a movie at one sitting. That being all said, this documentary is an exception. God has put this movie on our heart in His perfect timing to prepare us to count the cost as we follow Him. We are encouraged to know we still desire to homestead after watching this movie. Our highest calling is to follow His lead through thick and thin. We have seen the potential blessings of homesteading, such as good food, quiet living, etc., but it is a relief to know our heart is not for pursuing the comfort of life but to follow the truth.
In His providential leading, we were able to meet the courageous and faithful raw milk farmer featured in the documentary at a Christian camp, very soon after we watched the movie! Rhyming notes for his talk on Raw milk (Scroll all the way down) are available on our blog.
Back to Eden Documentary.
If you are interested in organic gardening/homesteading and have not watched this film yet, watch it! You will be blessed. A biography about him is the popular book Growing Food God’s Way!
“Abundacultre is an integrated system that allows a child of God, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, to access God’s abundance in providing energy, housing, clean water, good food, and sanitary living conditions for himself and to share with others.”
I was pretty excited early on in our journey in seeking God’s will in homesteading when their website showed right in front of me! Lord willing, we would like to visit and learn how they build the off-grid houses.
Some instructions for building small off-grid houses, and AbundaCulture Training Manual are available on the website.
Jared Dodd-Dodd Family Ministry
We met Jared at the same homeschool family camp where we met the former raw milk farmer. Even though Jared didn’t directly influence us in the direction of homesteading, their faith-filled lifestyle and teaching have been very inspiriational. Since it was our first time to attend the family camp, Jared has graciously gifted us his book The Essentials: 16 qualities that will set your child up success. We are so blessed by his focused mind and truthful teaching. As we faced all the ups and downs in our property searching, my husband kept quoting Jared’s call to the fathers to protect, provide and lead. We have confidence that our Heavenly Father will ultimately protect, provide and lead our loved ones as we seek His kingdom and righteousness first.
Go to their Resources page, and sign up for their newsletters if you are serious about the family economy. You will not be disappointed. Rory has authored the book Durable Trades to look at the family economy from a practical and historical point of view. We are very much encouraged by a real life example of one former urban family, now transitioned to a more traditional way of the whole family working together. Reading their newsletters has inspired us to continue ours to encourage others who might be called on the same path. Their newsletters also include announcements of events they are hosting or speaking at, and guest writers, which broaden the views and opportunities for like-minded networking. We found out about Jared Dodd from one of their newsletters.
I have more to say about Generations for homeschool resources, but for now I just want to mention its Christ-centered radio program. Knowing history and current events with a Christian perspective is crucial as we make decisions for the family in seeking His will. Homesteading is just one expression or application of our Christian worldviews for our family for this time of history. In other words, homesteading is a means not an end for home discipleship. Knowing our whys can help us anchor ourselves no matter whether we are in the city or in the country.
By this point, you probably have noticed the rabbit trail can lead us from one thing to the other. Seek, we will find. He is always faithful!
We heard about Durable Trades from Generations radio. Another recent episode discussed whether this is the time for your family to move. Just one more to mention on Christian living is Every Family is in Ministry. Of course, there are a variety of topics for the radio program and the related links are listed to give you a glimpse into faith-based family ministry or possible move as a follow-up decision.
We first heard about this ministry from the Teach Them Diligently homeschool convention. Rhea’s euthusiam in what she does to help families build home businesses has ignited the entrepreneurial spirit inside of me. As a homeschool mom, I know something about renewing and reforming ways we do and can do home education needs to happen. Even though we have not used their purchased service or resources yet, I am grateful for all the new ideas and possibilities I can continue to explore and research afterwards.
Shawn and Beth Dougherty believe the dairy cow is the original solar battery and they have authored The Independent Farmstead.They write and teach on the topic of small-scale intensive grass-based farming and sustainable food production. The Healing Land has a 6-part series of their teaching on reviving the independent farmstead. They live only less than 2 hours away from where our city house is in Ohio now. I wish we knew about them earlier to make plans to pay a visit to their farm. Gratefully, they have made many resources available online through their websites.
When the Lord led me to this ministry, I felt like a huge faith booster and couldn’t wait to watch the teaching videos together with my husband. They shut down their successful farm business after 13 seasons in order to focus on serving the body of Christ involved in agriculture. Knowing other fellow believers made bold faithful choices to follow God’s lead for the same calling is inspiring for us to continue to follow God’s lead. A friend of ours just gifted us Born-Again Dirt: Farming to the Glory of God by Noah Sander knowing we are heading into homesteading. We are thrilled!
I am blown away by how every good source of homestead information can all come together here! It’s fun to see those names I have just learned not too long ago appear again and again at this school. What a confirmation for the research God has allowed me to work on! The price is reasonable for all the expertise, teachings and training. They also host free zoom classes on a variety of homesteading skills. It is worth your time to take a look even just to get some names for further reading and learning, especially if you are just starting out as a new homesteader. Josh and Carolyn, this wonderful faith-filled couple hosts another site with blog posts and podcasts, called Homestead Family and YouTube channel here.
Recommended by our friends knowing we are moving to MO. We are very much inspired by their story and can’t wait to check it out when we move down there.
First learned about this resource from School of Traditional Skills . Definitely one of a kind butcher. The way he processes meat is a form of art! I am not surprised to find out he was an English major, with deep thinking and rich vabulary. He will not just teach you the traditional skills you need to harvest and process meat, but he will ignite your spirit to live an abundant life for God. On a side note, their family recently moved from Washington state to Oklahoma, which is encouraging to hear as we made our recent move. I agree with the way they see freedom as more of a claim of our responsibility.
We are called to look into homesteading out of faith not out of experience. Faith is the #1 reason for all we do. Thankfully, the Lord has timly led us to this family and their faithful farm story. Faith is the foundation for their farm, which is another confirmation and encouragment for God’s calling for us.
Aww, Millsap! We had no idea a farm so far away on the website can become so close (less than 20 minutes away close) and intimate within such a short time! Only our sovereign God can arrange such events in His wonderful and mysterious ways. We are attracted by their faith, hard work, love for the neighbors for God’s glory. Meeting the Millsap family in person trumped hours of research online. We are very much looking forward to growing our faith together with this family! They have modeled what true hospitality is to us and made our vision come alive in welcoming people from all walks into their lives.
I was trying to find their website to include the link. When their facebook page opened up, my heart was instantly warmed up by their smiling faces. This incredible faith-filled couple has been our mentors, vision casters, inspirational real life examples. God is amazing to allow us to meet in His perfect timing, perfect way. We are so grateful to have a mission-minded host to allow families to stay and learn. Their sacrificial giving and contributions to the community for God’s glory made our vague dreams become real goals. They host different family-friendly events to educate and encourage new and seasoned homesteaders. Recently, they have hosted a whole day event for Joe Salatin’s teaching on “Foundations on Resilient Food System”. If you are in the northeast Ohio area, make it a destination point to meet this couple soon, you will be encouraged in your homesteading adventure. We were actually looking at properties near them for a while, but God has different plans for us, and we are learning to let go and trust Him.
We started out as urban homesteaders with no experience or background in farming. These two sites give us opportunities to check out other farms, especially local farms. We found Shepherds Bridge Farm from Workaway and checked out several local farms from WWOOF. The challenge is to sift through all the farms when we desire to bring children along. You will need discernment in making those choices. Some farms can claim to be “Christians” but if you read their description more closely, you will see huge differences in doctrines. WWOOF has some practical filters to make decisions a little easier. We found Millsap Farm from WWOOF but back then we thought it was too far away for us to visit but maybe in the future. We certainly didn’t expect the “future” to be so soon!
On the other hand, we also see these two sites can be potential tools for the future. Not only can they bring some farm hands, but also we can have the opportunity to serve other visitors to our homestead for God’s glory. We have received a lot of grace visiting different farms and are looking forward to passing on the grace.
Here are links to all 16 posts in the “Stewardship” journal from Elyse’s Journal written around 3/25/2023. (The link will not work until the post is posted.)
1. Seeking His will to take back the stewardship of the land (Rob’s Introduction)
2. I. “Who”: Rescued from the System
3. II. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 1: Work System
4. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 2a: Medical System
5. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 2b: Birth System
6. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Chain of Spirit-led decisions
7. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 3: Education
8. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Aliens and Strangers in the world
9. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Freedom
10. Simple, Abundant Living as a family wherever you are
11. Called to the Land
12. III. Land – “Inheritance”
13. Land – “Inheritance” (continued)
14. IV. How (resources)
15. Resources
16. Conclusion
3rd Culture Living 
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