Our Journey to Homestead(ing)
2020 - do I need to say more?… Well, yeah I’m going to.
Things got weird, really weird - you remember.
We were new empty nesters and getting ready to jump into the next chapter of our life to experience more fun stuff.
We were already motorcycle adventurers: riding the Baja off road, any Rocky Mountain pass we could find, and determined to find roads to nowhere - the curvier the better.
Then we decided to build a tricked out camper van. Had some fun and interesting adventures in our Van-asaurus Rex (lovingly named Rexy).
Mainly fighting off hungry and horny porcupines, but that is a story for another time.
As 2020 increased in oddity, we found that we wanted more space than our home in Durango, CO had and to not be trapped by supply chain craziness. The house hunt began. Luckily our best friends were realtors, so we twisted their arms to show us a ridiculous amount of homes. We wanted some land, at least 2 acres and it had to have views - mainly ones without other homes in it. After about 45 showings (sorry about that Bobbi & JR), we decided to build a small modern home on a piece of land so we could get what we wanted, where we wanted it. The search for land began along with a home builder. Yup, that didn’t go as expected either. Then, CUE clouds parting and angels singing - or some 80’s hip hop…
The universe opened up and sent us a lil’ farm. Trapper found it online and we jumped on our motorcycle and scooted several miles outside of Durango to check it out. The view was jaw dropping to say the least! Toured it the next day, and made an offer.
So in a very short period of time, we went from van life, to buying a home, to building a small home, to buying a farm with a hacienda. Thank you universe!
It needed a lot of work, but that is not something that we are afraid of. Trapper grew up building homes with his father in Northern Wisconsin, and is an ingenious problem solver. If he doesn’t know how to do something, he researches it until he figures it out. Plus, he is super handsome while doing it!
We said “NO Animals” - we are going to keep on with our adventures. Yup, you guessed it - that lasted about 1 month.
Sold the van since we needed a farm truck and a tractor… AND a puppy. Buddy was a rescue, and the perfect addition to our lil’ family. We thought he was a Weimaraner from what he looked like, but after a quick DNA test, found out he was 50% Pit Bull, 30% Beagle, and a mix of other stuff. To us, he was the perfect pup.
Having a single animal lasted about 1 month. Then came the chickens. But FYI, if you want chickens, you need a coop. The research for the perfect coop began, but we will go over that later. We bought 8 baby chicks from Tractor Supply and got them situated in our entryway. Yes, we snuggled them everyday and named them all. Veronica, Moira, Betty, MC (Motherclucker), Jolene, Red, etc… SO CUTE!
So we obviously broke the seal on the animal thing and it spiraled out of control from there.
Buddy needed a best friend. FYI, the best friend for a Pit Bull is supposedly a German Shepard. So in comes Bella to our lil’ herd.
Then came:
The Honey Bees (Queen Latifah & Queen Nefertiti and their colonies), plus a 5 year old red-footed tortoise named Chica,
15 more chickens (after having a few cocktails),
THEN 5 Scottish Highland cows,
and, of course, surprise surprise…more chickens.
In between growing our circus and our day jobs, we started to build - and build we did!
1st building project was a studio apartment in the hay loft to help pay for our farming habit
Then built our first greenhouse
Expanded the chicken coop for the new additions
Fenced in the “Henitentiary”
Fenced the new orchard from the gang of a million deer
Built the 2nd greenhouse - because 1 was not enough
Then came the next rental in the barn - because farming is still really expensive haha, actually that is not a joke!
Fence-pacalypse began when we realized we were getting cows
In our free time (that is a joke) we built out another super awesome camper van for Trapper’s parents
Now, we are expanding the chicken coop again (yes, I know what you are thinking- are getting MORE chickens?) (Yes)
After that, we will be designing and building a root cellar for all the veggies, fruit, wines, and other yummies we grow and make here
To top it off, we will be embarking on building an underground greenhouse (a walipini) so we can grow avocados, lemons, and limes YEAR ROUND at almost 7500 ft.
In between all that, we have managed to grow: sweet corn, tomatoes, onions, kale, cabbage, peppers, a variety of squash, potatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, pumpkins, pinon trees for pine nuts, and lots of herbs. For fruit trees, we have 3 cider apples, 3 eating apples, 2 peaches, and 3 cherries. We have also planted 150 pine trees - only about 25 have survived regardless of what we did. Short of ‘mouth to pokey limb’ tree resuscitation, it is just really hard to grow at this elevation without much water.
With the produce, we have made: the best sauerkraut ever - not kidding, I almost cried when I tasted it, cherry wine, peach wine, mead (honey wine)- because you can’t grow tequila here, kombucha, sourdough bread and baguettes, organic bone broth, jams, tomato sauce, salsa, lavender mint bath salts, and a truck load of dried herbs.
We did not embark on this adventure thinking we would become homesteaders. Living a more sustainable lifestyle really just felt like the right path. Our grocery lists have shrunk, the convenience of having organic/home grown food at our fingertips, and brewing our fav adult beverages - pretty flippin cool!
The world has gotten weird. It feels that people have lost touch with the natural world, the preciousness of resources, and how to authentically connect with each other. For us, this is our way of holding onto our sanity while being more sustainable.
Don’t get us wrong, IT IS A LOT OF WORK, but so much fun!
We have made more mistakes than I can shake a stick at, a really BIG stick. Seriously, growing and building stuff can be hard!
Hopefully, you can learn from our wins and losses and find your happy place wherever you may be.