The Big Picture

Here at Haven Homestead, The Big Picture is very important to us.

We want to build a thriving Homestead by doing the following:

~Get out of debt, and never get back in.

~Grow and produce as much of our own food as possible.

~Live in a sustainable, healthy, and efficient manner.

~Be prepared with food storage, a healthy savings account, and a stable emotional environment.

~Educate ourselves, and as many people as will listen; Education is the key that will open the doors to success.

Why?

Our motivations are so numerous that it would take a novel to share them all with you. In short, we are trying to live our lives in such a way that we have a legacy worth leaving to our children and grandchildren.

Where we are at:

Debt-Free Goal: We are living on our land, which we own outright. Our house is a borrowed RV. We are doing our best to minimize utility costs and to live as cheaply as possible, so we can save and build our house debt free. I once heard that "You should live like no one else now, so you can live like no one else later!"  We have also created a plan for paying off all other debts, like student loans and credit cards, and keeping them paid off! The key is to stick to the plan.

Food Production Goal: We started our garden preparations this year by building a cold frame, and starting seeds. We are planning on "Spinning Straw into Gold" (see our page about gardening...), we are planting a food forest, and more. Lindsay is taking a Master Beekeeping course so that we can learn how to keep honey bees and produce our own "sugar."

Living Healthy/Sustainable/Efficient Goal: Right now, we do our best to keep lights turned off when we don't need them, we run a super efficient electric heater, and we are conservative with our water usage. We are trying to eat healthy, organic, natural foods, and trying to cut out as many of the processed foods as we can. The no-processed-food things is a step-by-step process for us. First we started by raising chickens for eggs and eating only farm-raised eggs if we need to supplement. (We eat a lot of eggs!) Now we make our own tortillas and buy farm fresh eggs. The next step is to bake our own bread. We are also training to run a 5k this fall. All of our gardening and forest building techniques are permaculture techniques and will be highly sustainable.

Be Prepared Goal: We are gathering canning jars, lids and rings, and other canning supplies to get prepared for a productive garden this year. We are trying to be proactive about learning proper canning, freezing and drying techniques. Chris is building us a solar dehydrator out of scrap materials. We are getting out of debt so we can afford to save money. As for the family emotional preparedness, I think this is one thing that we do really well! We spend a lot of quality time together and we communicate well with each other, and we regularly check-in with each other (even the little ones!) to make sure we are meeting each other's needs! We are also establishing traditions and family routines that will help us to weather the trials of daily life.

Education Goal: Lindsay is taking a Master Beekeepers course, and Chris is signing up for Geoff Lawton's Online Permaculture Design Course on March 29th.  We are working on gaining more skills and knowledge, and we will offer more classes as we gain new skills!. We also have tutorials, tips and tricks, and other information on our blog. We are also working on creating videos and podcasts, though those aren't quite ready yet! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us! We are always open for questions!


All in all, we have a dream. We are going to achieve it:)