This is not a book full of stories—it’s a primer on how to start and develop a homestead. It’s your how-to manual for the day-to-day systems that make up a homestead. Tom and Genny are real homesteaders who do it every day—getting up early, pushing forward, and sleeping soundly at night—living the good life in the way it can, in fact, be done. Their homestead is five acres, not fifty, and their lessons learned are fresh and raw, not buried under 20 years of life and toil. This how-to book was developed as it happened with all of the important details captured to be your source for the down and dirty of how it actually gets done every day on a real homestead.
Tom and Genny get you off your butt, out the door, and into your ecosystem—to the soil, plants, trees, insects, and animals that are the living, breathing heart of your homestead. They show you how to put one foot in front of the other to get it moving—no matter the scope of your homestead, no matter your circumstance. With this primer in hand, they strip away the mystery with step-by-step procedures that put you in charge of developing your homestead.
They take you from the most important first steps all the way through managing an active and thriving homestead. They show you what to do first, second, and third. They pull you out of your comfort zone into the day-to-day life of real homesteading in a way that can actually happen in today’s world. They make sure you’ll stay out of trouble, avoid mistakes, and get started with confidence knowing that you’re doing the right things—the right way.
- Evaluating land, water, and weather
- Developing your soil
- Growing, harvesting, and preserving food
- Building the infrastructure
- Managing the systems that make it happen
With boots on your feet, mud on your clothes, and dirt under your nails they walk you through from the initial basics to a fully functioning homestead—step by muddy step.
You’ll find details on everything from how to start seeds to working with animals to building structures. These are the nuts and bolts that make homesteading work. This was gathered from real-life experience—two every-day people who transitioned from modern conveniences to sustainable living. They prove that if they can do it, in their sixties while full-time teachers, anyone can. This is your guidebook—get busy—get started—today. The Green Learning Homestead is here to help. Tom and Genny are now your never-met mentors on homesteading. It’s going to be an interesting life.