I am a wife, grandmother of six, with the seventh on the way, Paramedic Supervisor, Christian, proud American, animal raiser, teacher, and a lover of all things natural and primitive.  I’ve spent years developing ways to mesh the ways of yesterday into my hectic, modern life, that includes a job away from home 24 – 48 hours at a time, and a family that is growing and always busy with various activities.  My house is never spotless, and my yard is not manicured.  My clothes are not the latest styles, and my hair is usually in a ponytail–or it was until I recently got it cut into a shorter, but easy style.  I do not live off grid and enjoy my electricity and all the modern conveniences it brings to my life.  I still go out to eat when I am too tired to cook, I have modern appliances and enjoy an occasional evening out.  I do not believe you have to live off grid and deprive yourself and your family to enjoy a wholesome life full of basic pleasures.  I believe I can provide the basics to my family and still enjoy a modern life.  I can help YOU begin to change, a bit at a time, and help you bring the ways of yesterday into your life today. Read about us to learn more about my background and the things I have done that will help me to help you begin your journey into a simpler, more productive and satisfying lifestyle, where old ways are made easier with new technology.

Grab a cup of coffee or a tall glass of iced tea and head over to our blog.  You will find posts about many different areas of Modern Homesteading and ways to implement the old ways into your modern life.  Follow along as we go from farm to table with vegetables, fruits and meats.  Learn to make your own dairy products from fresh, wholesome, raw milk.  Explore a variety of gardening techniques and learn many methods of food preservation.  I share an honest, and sometimes raw, view of what life is like on a modern homestead.  I share my failures as well as my successes.  Keep chemical products purchased to a minimum with posts instructing simple ways to make cleaning supplies, from kitchen to bathroom to laundry.  Watch our family grow, the Grandkids learn, and suffer our losses.  We are open and transparent, as there is no trait more important than honesty, even when it is painful.  Share all this and more in our Blog posts.

At the start of 2021, I decided it was time to mix things up a bit and try something new.  2020 was filled with challenges of all types; world-wide pandemic, local disasters, loss of loved ones, and the list goes on.  Since life is full of challenges that can sometimes lead to a focus on the negative, I decided to give myself a purposeful challenge.  I challenged myself to keep a diary of life on the homestead.  Not only did I challenge myself to write daily as much as possible, I also challenged myself to focus on the positives.  This way I can go back and read about all the blessing and positives in my life when times are hard.  I invite you to read about some of our adventures, mundane daily activities, and special times on the homestead.  It is hoped that while I am focusing on the positives, I may actually say something interesting and teach you something you may not have known as well.  So hop on over to read then entries in Diary of a Homesteader.

As I build the recipe files for Modern Missouri Pioneers, I am looking to provide you with basic recipes, and build to more elaborate feasts.  You will be given recipes for basic mixes.  Recipes that allow you to make your own home-made convenience foods.  Basics like pie crust, taco seasoning, basic bread, gravy mixes.  My recipes help keep your pantry stocked with convenient products without the preservatives that drag us down and make us ill.  We will build on those basics and learn to use them to put together meals fit for kings and queens.  After all, we are the kings and queens of our worlds, we deserve live like such and be treated as such.  Make Pantry Staples like powdered sugar, brown sugar, and seasonings to avoid last minute trips to the store.  Not only will your meals taste better, you will be the envy of all who know you..and they need not know how simple it is to live like you do.  Hop on over and check out the recipe section.  I would love to know what you try first and how you like it.

Papa’s Projects is the section you where you will see the projects that Papa built, usually in his wood shop that helped make things on the homestead run more smoothly…at least most of the time.  You will see projects that Papa built to make food storage easier and better, tools created to make jobs easier, and various projects around the place.  You might even find a few thrown in just for the fun of doing them.  Just like with the Blog posts, we shared failures as well as successes.  We learn the most from the projects that don’t go as planned and you will benefit from that same learning without having to experience it yourself.  This area is small and was cut short after Papa became ill and died in the Spring of 2020, but I am still finding pictures of him working on various projects so may be able to add more projects even though he is no longer with us, so check back occasionally to see what if I have added something new at Papa’s Projects.

Chicks from the Sticks is an area where I can share the antics of three close friends.  We are all at different stages of life, and are at different points in our homesteading lifestyle.  I introduce each of us and give a bit of background.  With our busy schedules, we aren’t able to get together as much as we would like, even for fun things, much less to do the projects we love to do.   We do still try to get together and will continue to try to create some projects and posts, so keep checking back to see if we have had time to create something new for Chicks from the Sticks.

We will continually work to build resources full of useful information, products we love, and sites to share.  Some will belong to friends, others to friends we haven’t gotten to know yet.  Some will be purely to share and some may be affiliate links that will pay us a small amount for sharing.  Whatever the case, they will be here for you to use, as you wish.  Learn from them, share them, enjoy them.  As they are gathered you will find them all on our Links page.
In addition to what we offer here on the website, we also host local Gatherings.  At these events, we find people willing to share and teach areas of interest that have something to do with the homestead and old ways.  From butchering to herbal medicine to gardening to food preservation to beekeeping and more.  If you live in the Southwest Missouri, you may want to sign up to receive emails about the local events.  If you plan to vacation in the Branson/Joplin/Springfield area, you may want to time your vacation so you can attend one of our local events.  If that does not work out, and you want to come for a visit, and maybe a personal lesson or two, contact us and we will do our best to help you out.  Our prices will be reasonable and we love teaching about the way we live.