Teri Page - Homesteading with Children

sustainablelivin (53)in #homesteading • 6 years ago (edited)

Episode 154

Homesteading with Children - Teri Page

Homesteading with children has been Teri's normal. They were homesteading when their children were born and they continued homesteading after - only now incorporating the children in the daily tasks as is age appropriate. That might mean carrying the baby on the back while tending to the garden and animals or scheduling certain tasks around naptime.

Teri Page and her husband were living on their off-grid homestead for several years without running water. That is quite an accomplishment with little children in the picture. Of course, that is the reality for many people all over the world, but in the US, we are used to having easy access to water.

The Page family recently relocated to a different State, a different town, and a different lifestyle. They now are living in Vermont in a rental with electricity, running water and all that most consider "normal."

I asked Teri about the move and this is her answer:

"We loved living the way we did. We love living off the grid. We loved the simplicity of the lifestyle. It just was time to do something different."

Homestead-Honey

Many of you might know Teri through her blog called Homestead-Honey. Teri has documented her homesteading journey and helped countless newbies to find their way in this lifestyle.

Throughout the years, many people emailed her wanting to homestead but feeling that having young children prevented them from fulfilling that dream. She realized that she had been homesteading all her children’s lives and had lots of experience to share.

That led to the birth of her latest book - Homesteading with Children

Is Homesteading with Children for Everyone?

The answer to the question if homesteading with children is for everyone is one of the most common permaculture ansers: It depends.

If you are already overwhelmed with life - right now is not your season to homestead. However, your time will come if that is truly your heart's desire. Or pick one thing. One small thing to get started with the homesteading life.

How about going outside for walks and starting to identify edible wild plants in the area? Even stepping into the back or front yard and observing what is growing there is a wonderful first step. Most everyone has a dandelion growing somewhere. That is fantastic! Because it is an ideal plant to find out about all the different properties many wild plants have.

Which parts are edible?
Which parts have medicinal properties?
Are there different ways of preparing this plant?
Are there different ways of preserving this plant?

A simple dandelion can bring the beauty and connection with nature into your life that homesteading embodies.

Foraging

Before starting your foraging journey, consider the following:

Do you have permission to be on the property?
Have 100% certainty that you identified the food correctly.
Pay attention to the environment. Dust, road runoff, dogs, herbicides.
If you are on public land, what are the specific rules of the area?

If you are a city forager, it is always nice to ask before you harvest fruit from someone else’s yard. Or see if your local area has a gleaning service you can volunteer with.

The general rules of foraging always apply:

Do not take all!!
Leave for others, for wildlife and for plants to reproduce.

Some of the Topics we Discussed during the Interview

Waldorf education is in tune with nature - festivals
Making Acorn Flour
Preparing a meal with everything being homemade: pancakes, butter, and black walnut syrup.
A good introduction to fermented foods: Fermented carrot sticks.

We highly recommend Teri's Book. The beautiful pictures alone will inspire you to give some of those homesteading tasks a try. Please use this link if you are purchasing it from Amazon (affiliate).