In late 2006, we started taking a class called Seven Weeks to Wellness, featuring the book, The Great Physician’s Rx for Health & Wellness by Jordan Rubin. The very first chapter of that book opened our eyes to the toxicity of much of the food we were consuming at that point.

Right away we altered our diet, removing identifiable toxins and consuming primarily whole foods (organic, if possible). The health results from our dietary change were remarkable.

Our First Steps into Homesteading

Within the next few years, we purchased a grain mill & began to make our own bread, and we started to learn how to grow our own tomatoes. We didn’t know anything about gardening at that point. We were very green.

Given that we were living on 16+ acres of land in the country — having recently moved from the city in 2004, we had to figure out how to manage it all.

After several years of mowing and fighting back poison ivy, we acquired some grazing animals.

Thus began our journey into homesteading.

While we didn’t have a particular desire to homestead, we desired good health, well-being and a long life — for ourselves & our budding family. Therefore, we knew we needed to have more control over our food supply.

Our First Steps into Homeschooling

Thankfully, early on we were able to employ ourselves in a home-based business, enabling us to raise our children 24/7 and eventually homeschool them.

Our journey of truth-seeking at that time caused us to be more mindful of what it was we were teaching our children. So, while they were learning their ABC’s and 123’s, we were learning how to navigate a whole new world of understanding than the one we had grown up in.

It was a challenge, to say the least.

Our First Steps into Community Living

Having lost the community support we previously experienced, we began to develop other circles of fellowship online. In time we started conducting annual campouts on our homestead, physically gathering those within our cyber communities around us.

And from time to time, we were also able to take in those either in need of temporary shelter or in want of a homesteading experience to live with us.

Doing so enabled us to live in community with others on a daily basis.

Then, when our children grew to be 12-15, we explored another avenue of life, acquiring a second home in the mountains, immersing ourselves into its small-town community environment, and engaging within it. It was an exciting & hopeful endeavor.

[ENTER March 2020]

2020: The Great Upheaval

In March 2020, the world all around us was turned upside down. Fear of a pandemic spread. People were told to self-quarantine in their homes. And social distancing & masks/muzzles became a thing.

Given that everyone around us decided to comply with the madness being unleashed and the bulk of our resources were back on the homestead, we moved our family back to that location and rode out the storm.

Thankfully, we were able to bring in another family or two to stay with us. And while the outside world was coming apart at the seams that year, we were enjoying the uniquely customized way of life we had created for ourselves — in the company of others — healthy, happy, & mask/muzzle-free.

What Life Could Be Like

We’ve had a taste of what life could be like when people who share the same values — for life, truth, freedom and the natural world & its natural order, willingly come together, cooperating with one another on a daily basis to meet their individual & corporate needs — for a good life. It’s a beautiful thing.

This gives us hope for the future.

Recap of some of what we have personally experienced…

• Self-employment
• Homesteading
  • Gardening
  • Caring for livestock
• Self-education
• Homeschooling & unschooling
• Hosting guests
  • In our home
  • On our homestead
• Work exchanges
• Relationship building
• Cooperative living
  • Working to:
    • Produce, prepare and preserve our own food.
    • Construct, repair and maintain sheltering structures.
    • Implement & improve water & sewer infrastructure.
    • Maintain positive waste management.
  • Engaging in:
    • Supporting one another (emotionally & mentally).
    • Sharing & learning from one another.
    • Leisure activities & social events.

These experiences were not utopian by any means, but they were both satisfying and rewarding.

What About You?

Are you on a path to health & wellness and beyond? Have you considered living outside the System, cooperatively with those around you, who share your same values, on a daily basis?

If so, tell us about it. We’d love to hear from you!

If not, I encourage you to consider adjusting your course towards that aim.

Check out some of these resources we have found helpful in our journey towards what we believe to be a better way of life.