It was March, 2020. I was 7 months pregnant standing at the window of my beautiful suburban home and a deep knowing swept over me. It was time. My husband Joe and I had talked for years about becoming more sustainable, growing our own food and raising animals - but that’s all it was. Just talk and pipe dreams. Plus, we were comfortable, our house was beautiful and we lived near all our family and friends. Ours was an easy (fairly typical) middle class suburban life - we weren’t complaining.
Like everyone in 2020 I was at first confused and maybe a teeny bit scared when they announced a pandemic. However being pregnant I felt closer to my center and intuition was right there for me to access easier than at other times in my life. So, as I closed my eyes and breathed with the sun on my face standing by the window of my bedroom… well… I just knew. When I opened my eyes the answer was right there: it’s time to sell our home, buy property and begin the process of becoming sustainable.
I had no idea that we would end up leaving Oregon and landing in Northern Idaho by the time our baby was 3 months old. To say the least it was a whirlwind few months. A dear friend of mine always says she just keeps “praying while moving her feet”. I feel like that’s what I’ve been doing since the day I stood pregnant at that window in my room.
So, we did it. By September of 2020 we had rented a house, were living in Idaho and our home had just sold. So, we began the process of trying to find a house with acreage to buy, which seemed like it would be easy enough. I don’t have to tell those of you reading this about how insane the housing market was then, needless to say we spent 6 months looking at everything we could afford (and making offers that weren’t accepted). There was one piece of property we didn’t look at that was on the market the entire time, it just didn’t seem like good homesteading land from the listing, but one day I was so desperate to find something I decided to drive up to that piece of property. What I ran into was enough snow to cover my head, but I got out of my car and walked the long snow covered road down to the 5 acres that was for sale. The view was stunning so I went home, told Joe and we came back together. We ended up buying those 5 sloped and forested acres on top of a mountain to build our homestead on. Have I mentioned we like a challenge and are just a little bit insane?
Here is the very first vlog we made shortly after we purchased the property. We didn’t really even know what the land looked like until the snow melted later in the spring of 2021.
Here we are now, it’s winter of 2022 and we’ve spent every day since we bought this land praying while moving our feet. Are we moving towards our goal of being sustainable? Yes, we are but the journey has not been one for the faint of heart. We still aren’t living on our land yet because construction costs and timelines have all been insane the past year. We do however have goats who give us milk, chickens and ducks who gives us eggs, poultry, and pigs who will provide meat for our family. We're planning a big greenhouse full of aeroponic towers to grow produce year round and we will be offering our first CSA this summer. There is beauty in it all, the struggles and the wins.
Realizing this dream and answering the call of our hearts is more work than we have ever had in front of us - but we are staying the course. Every day is an exercise in trust and faith. I go back to the feeling I had while I was standing with my eyes closed and the sun on my face while still living in the comfort of ‘ease’. That was the deepest knowing I have ever had - which means that this path is for us. No matter how challenging or uncomfortable it may be I will continue to pray while moving my feet until it’s time to take my shoes off, put my feet up, and have a glass of wine while looking out at the homestead we have built.
If you’d like to follow our journey you can find us on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/c/IrishAcresHomestead and on Instagram @irishacreshomestead.
Wild Blessings,
Missy