Do you currently have access to land you can actively use (own, lease, or steward)? I’m finishing my upcoming book on buying land without relying on banks or perfect credit. To ground it in real data from this community, I want to understand where you’re actually at right now.

Hello! I'm super excited to be here. I'm a retired homeschool mom and a homemaker. Once upon a time, when my husband and I were rehabbing our house, I tumbled down the rabbit hole of composting toilets and really wanted to do them in our house. I did not present a compelling enough argument and we kept the septic system, maybe I'll get to try it out in a van to camper conversion. I'd heard the chickens were the gateway animal to homesteading, but all they did for us was show us that we're not actually interested in keeping up with poultry, especially when a mama fox started feeding her kits with our flock. I love goats and thought for sure that I'd end up with a small herd, but after the chickens, goats were not in our future. In my dreams I'd love to be be growing lots of food and filling my basement shelves with home preserved goods, but I'm doing good to keep up with a little garden of 7 raised beds. I get really excited at the beginning of the growing season, and then lose interest, struggling to regain it when it's time to harvest. This year I'm planting white and red sweet potato slips grown from last year's harvest, a couple of tomatos, and flowers. Sweet potatoes are my favorite to grow because they produce prolifically in the hot humid Northern Kentucky summer and they store really well all winter through spring with very little effort on my end.

What hardiness zones are you all growing in? What are some successful plants? Any good companion plant duos that are thriving? ☺️ I am in Zone 7A