We left suburbia for a homestead

Last Updated on June 20, 2024 by Michelle

She’s a novice, but already quite knowledgable. As the frigid winter months trudged along, my teen daughter, Kayla, taught me most of what I know about the topic of homesteading.

–Did you just stop in for my Great Grandma’s Cheesy Egg Souffle recipe? You’ll love this! Just scroll to the bottom and enjoy!–

While fascinating facts about the ease of feeding range-free chicken and the nitrogen content of rabbit manure filled the short, dark days between Christmas and Easter, as well as filling dozens of hand-written pages in her Homestead Planning Notebook, the details also helped Kayla keep a positive eye on the promise of spring. And while she is an avid reader about homesteading, in reality she learned more than a book could ever teach by watching the gardener nearest to my heart. The gardener whose summer hands I always remember as having dirt caked under the nails and dryness surrounding the knuckles.

She inherited her homesteading passions from my father, a down-home country boy.

In fact, both of my parents grew up living a rural farm life. So I guess I was already indoctrinated into the homesteading lifestyle, I just didn’t know it until my 14-year old reminded me, with her youthful excitement the day we brought home the first of our livestock.

{Read this next, if you’d like to know more about my down-home country-girl side.}

And now that we are blessed with delicious fresh eggs daily, we love making homemade egg soufflé the way Great Grandmom used to make it. For that amazing recipe, read on.

The next morning, gifted with her first-ever farm-fresh egg, well, she was beyond ecstatic.

Crazy enough, Kayla’s fascination with rural life started when our family of 6 lived on a tiny plot of land shaped like a lopsided, narrow canoe that felt like it was beached in the middle of suburbia. Indeed, it was almost tipping over from the height and depth of the home placed on it that left no land for gardens.

Kayla’s homesteading fascination reached full velocity, and she was reading tomes on the subject–from title page through to index–when we announced we were leaving the congested life for the rural life. Mind you, we had always loved our location, 30 minutes south of the city of brotherly love, and only a few hours outside of our nation’s capital, and–most impressively–a short walk in either direction to both sets of grandparents.

We had no plans to move. No plans to leave our convenient life, where we were very blessed. No plans for change whatsoever.

I never dreamed I’d someday live in a 200-year-old New England farmhouse, but boy did we have some projects once we got here. Most of them hard, expensive, and kinda boring. But my favorite was a simple one–repurposing an old door into a message center. You may be interested in a free copy of my ebook, Give An Old Door New Life, if you’d like to take on a new project, or just check out how I did.

But our hearts told us otherwise. When we ignored, and tried to continue as normal, with our own version of what we thought was right for our family, my husband and I had no peace, either collectively or individually. When we followed what we knew to be God’s leading, as crazy as it sometimes seemed, we had peace. It was an arduous, long process; it was complicated enough that when it all fell into place after 6 years of (sometimes reluctantly) praying and (painful, confusing) waiting, we had no doubt it was all of God.

None of us had ever known any other lifestyle. But He was leading us to a new one. And He gave us comfort and assurance every step of the way.

So we followed. We moved from a new-addition suburban home to a little 215-year-old New England farmhouse with an old red barn that is almost bigger than it. We moved from 1/4 of an acre to a stretched-out, pie-shaped land that sits where the lake spills over the dam. Fourteen acres that meander up a rocky, wooded hill by the bend in the river.

I never wanted to forget our journey that led to this new, amazing homesteading life. Read this post if you’d like to know what I made to hang in our new home to document our unique story.

Read this post about my favorite gardener, if you’d like to know where our homesteading desires really started. And you might like to snag a free copy of my book, Beautiful Gardening, over in my Resource Library.

The move has been a blessing. While not all 4 daughters are avid students of homesteading topics, they all love the intimacy we now have with New England’s nature.

Bike rides, hikes, swimming, and walks are enjoyed more, in our new rural life. And, from kayaking to snow shoeing, we’ve added a few new exercise options to our days.

We’re also constantly unearthing really cool “treasures” here on our old homestead.

So many of you all have reached out to me over the years and asked where you can find something similar to some of the found treasures I’ve shared in old posts… like my dove-tail chocolate box, or my old pendant light, or my enamel pans that I planted my succulents in. Usually the things I’ve shared on SoulyRested were rustic finds around our homestead.

I hated never having a good answer to your questions, since I dug my treasures out of my backyard midden or rescued them from my town’s give-and-take room. (Gosh I LOVE that room!)

I can’t tell you how happy I am that I’ve found an online source for you all to unearth similar treasures for yourself! I mean, just look at these treasures pictured here! Just click the images below and peruse for yourself!

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We’re not happily ever after. We’re not problem-free. And we’re not living a perfect life. But my daughters are happy to rise early and care for their three beloved hens. (For 10 Fowl Facts that we’ve recently learned, definitely check out this post.) And we are blessed every day with delicate, miraculous reminders that God provides.

And we know we are exactly where God has placed us. And that is perfect enough for us.

So You Think You’re Ready to be a Homesteader?

Take this little quiz…

Grab a piece of paper and write down “yes” or “no” to each of these questions. After you’ve answered all 8, see the directions below:

Can you handle the idea of being a 45 minute drive to town?
Do you get upset by mud, mess, and creepy crawlies?
Have you ever raised an animal as a source of food for your family & do you know how to process an animal such as a chicken, rabbit, or pig?
I prefer working outside, in any season, over sitting behind a desk.
I hate book work, things like keeping lists and inventory and budget information. I’d rather just be working with my hands.
I can prioritize tasks pretty well.
I like being tired at the end of the day.
I’m a good long-term planner.

Now compare your answers to the ones below.

Give yourself 1 point for each answer that matches:

Both Yes & No. You may be surprised to know, contentment living far from civilization is not a requirement for homesteading. While many folks do get into self-sufficiency because they long to escape suburbia and learn to live off of the land, to some degree or another, there are even more folks who are learning to be self-sufficient right where they are, even in suburbia.
No. Good. Because you are guaranteed to run into a lot of all of the above if you decide to run a homestead, whether it’s in your small suburban backyard or on a 100-acre rural farm.
Both Yes & No. In some ways it will definitely be easier for you to jump into a traditional homesteading lifestyle if you are familiar with the processes of butchering your own meat, you can certainly be a homesteader and not even eat meat at all (although you would, of course, not be the “norm”). You can also raise your animals and find a local resource for the processing. I will say the whole process was much easier for me to embrace than for Bill and I credit that to the fact that, unlike Bill, I have a family heritage of farming.
Yes. If you’re leaving suburbia to start a farm you need to be prepared to be outside, in the elements, in every season, carrying for your livestock and your land.
No. This question is a little tricky, actually, but the point is that even if your passion is to be outside and working with your hands, you need fair warning that your homesteading efforts will never succeed if you’re not also being purposeful and if you don’t keep records and budget your spending closely.
Yes. This is an invaluable skill to have on a small farm. No matter what the season, there are always many important things vying for your attention. If you don’t prioritize well (and often!) there will be waste and loss and unprepared for
Yes. If you enjoy the satisfaction you have after hard day of physical work then, obviously, you may be a good fit for homesteading.
Yes. While some folks may be able to just dive into this homesteading way of life, for others–our family included–it’s a long road of learning, pursuing, waiting, and planning.

What your score tells you…

6-8 correct? You have what it takes to be a true homesteader. Buy your chickens and plan your gardens now!

3-5 correct? There is true potential in you to run a homestead in your future, if you spend some time learning what you need to know now.

0-3 correct? Sorry, but you seem more like city slicker than a farming kind of person.

btw, take a quick second to subscribe to my Resource Library, filled with useful printables and ebooks to inspire you on your road to a more simple life. There you’ll find a complete list of 54 things to do every season on a homestead that I think you’ll love, for inspiration.

Great Grandmom’s Cheese Souffle

Now that we are blessed with delicious fresh eggs daily, we love making Grandmom’s Souffle.

4 slices bread, cubed * 1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese * 4 eggs * 2 cups milk

Put 4 slices of bread cubes in ungreased pie plate. (We keep all our older bread in a bag in our freezer to use for this purpose.) Grate 1/2 lb. cheese over this. (We like playing with different kinds of cheese, whatever we have on the homestead on any given day. We like sharp or mozzarella the best.) Beat 4 eggs slightly with 2 cups of milk. (We only ever have skim on hand, so that’s what we use and enjoy it.) Pour eggs and milk over bread and cheese. Cover pie pan and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or better yet, overnight. Remove cover and stir before baking at 350 for about 1/2 hour, until it puffs and turns a pretty light brown on top.

If you’re considering getting chickens but you have a beloved pooch who may not find your hens as lovable as you do, definitely read this post.

If you’d like be “in the know” on the 10 “Fowl Facts” that everyone should be aware of before they decide to raise chicken, read this post.

Those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Psalms 34:10