Natalie

I am a mother of two amazing little girls, Sophie and Graci and my stud muffin boyfriend Jacob. 

I am a "knowledge is power" kind of person. I read every book, magazine and did hours of research online on and about everything nutrition and food intolerance related, because my daughter has food intolerances, hypoglycemia and something called SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) which can be the cause of the other problems. She cannot have any grain, starch or sugar as it feeds & nourishes the bacteria instead of Sophie. Along my LONG quest for more information I slowly gained a new appreciation for how things are made, how they grow, how they are processed and packaged and what that means for our health. As it is now, my use of a grocery store is limited to fruits, veggies, meats and some almonds to make my own almond flour for baked goods and almond milk. After years of information gathering I decided to try my own garden this last summer.  With two little ones and not a lot of space to grow where I lived I decided to have a small 4x12' garden box. Soon after planting it realized that it was not nearly the size of the garden of my dreams. It produced enough to slightly supplement our vegetable needs. We also bought chickens to provide us with eggs and meat.

With all of these restrictions I find myself in the kitchen over the stove making every meal from scratch while still trying to figure out how the heck I was going to work and do all of these same things for them. For what seems like forever my sister-in-law Renee and I have been telling each other about our dreams for homesteading, bountiful gardens and raising our happy children. We found ourselves in discussions about our nations eating habits, unhealthy families and we wanted it to never be a problem for our kids. There are things this country could do about it and they were not being proactive. Knowledge IS power. I think that if everyone took the time to know who made their food, where it was grown, HOW it was made/grown and what really are those 26 letter ingredients they may rethink their choices. 

There was one day that I told my mom about our dreams and she thought that a huge garden would be good for everyone and that if we wanted we could possibly use part of the farm. I talked to my dad and after discussing things with Renee and our significant others we decided that this would be a great way to go. Not just for our dietary needs but for other families. Farmers Markets and maybe someday a CSA. We want to start small. However if we find a need to expand we will.
This years goal....truly back to basics. 

I was raised on a farm, I know this WILL be the hardest work Iv ever done. I will come home with blisters and a "back.. acre" (hehehehe) There may be days that when I get home I cry from exhaustion and pure frustration. I want my children to get dirty and know whats its like to grow their own food, because everyone should know how to grow their own food. I will teach my kids to be self sufficient and what work is. Nothing worth having has ever come easy. 

I am a tree huggin' dirt worshiper... I do believe its genetic.