The Unlikely Homestead

To look at Mike Neir and myself, one wouldn’t immediately think “Oh, they’re the sort of people who would absolutely be interested in living a simple life.” Quite the contrary, really (and somewhat sadly.) Mike is a hard-core computer geek, and we are both fond of technology and toys and modern conveniences. We both like Swedish death metal. I like motorcycles and jumping out of airplanes. We both like pretend-blowing-people-up in outer space, and and Mike loves playing the electric guitar.

However, these last several years, I’ve been longing for a simpler life. A more natural life. A way of living that would be simultaneously more fulfilling and less damaging to me and to the environment. As it turns out, “homesteading” is exactly that.

While we don’t have a forty-acre farm nestled in the middle of nowhere as I might like, we are fortunate to have a house situated on two acres a few miles outside a small town, approximately 15 miles from where I grew up. We have neighbors on both sides. It is a rural, but not remote, setting. What can we do on those two acres to homestead?

That’s what I’m going to try to figure out here.

This our back yard:

There is quite a lot of room to work with here, but it will take work to convert the yard into working space.

This is our small town:

I love how there are still many original storefronts. It has the basic necessities, and The Big Towns aren’t far off when we need them.

While I may secretly (or not-so-secretly) yearn for the Little House on the Prairie times, we won’t be approximating them here. We’ll find a balance between modern life and simple life, I’ll be posting our journey here.

5 Comments

linda says:

August 5, 2011 at 12:51 am

Hey Erin
Started looking at your flickr stream and ended up here on your great blog. Can’t sleep so have been blog cruising. Really enjoying yours and intend to read more!
Linda’s Angus
erin says:

November 16, 2011 at 9:11 pm

Hey Erin- don’t know where you are in Michigan, but I’m Erin and I’m here, too, attempting to homestead in small town MI. Like your writing : )
Erin
Erin D. says:

January 13, 2012 at 9:14 pm

Hi Erin! Thanks so much for the kind words, and I’m so sorry I didn’t reply to this sooner; I was taking somewhat of a hiatus from blogging and whatnot for awhile. I’m in central Michigan, about 15 miles outside Lansing. Where are you? I wish you all success with your homestead!
erin says:

January 14, 2012 at 11:01 am

Oh wow- we are in Alma, 1 hour north of Lansing!
Erin D. says:

January 23, 2012 at 10:16 pm

Oh wow, Linda! I haven’t talked to you in ages. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope the pups are well!