The Story of Our Mobile Homestead

When we got married we were told, in the most loving and sympathetic way, that the farm and homestead life we yearned for would have to wait. It would be too hard with Ben being in the military; considering the frequent moves and limited means or availability for us to purchase land, these things would not be possible. I researched online to find others who had homesteaded while serving in the military, to prove that it had been done and that I could do it, too. It was disappointing. Save a few articles about military members or spouses bringing their horses along with them, and just one blog about homesteading in the military that dives into from-scratch meals and backyard gardening, I came up empty handed of military families pursuing more than that.

It can be done. I know it can be done because we’ve seen it, just in other forms. If you can have a dog or a cat and pick your kids up and move them across the nation, you can put chickens in the back of a truck and haul a cow in a rusty little trailer. That’s the story I’m going with, anyway.

We have a limited background in this. I grew up riding horses, but that is the extent of my real-life experience with livestock. Ben once played tag with a calf that my friend had for a time (he lost), but his familiarity ends there. What little we know, we learned by reading articles, watching YouTube videos, and listening to countless podcasts by amazing and inspiring creators such as Jill Winger, Lisa Bass, Mandi Pickering, Kate Schatt, Justin Rhodes, and others.

As my childhood passion suggests, I have dreamt of having a farm for years. I’ve been talking about having chickens, cows, sheep, gardens, and whatever else I can think of for quite some time. I have grown tired of waiting for the “right time.”

I never imagined I would start a blog. It was actually something my husband Ben encouraged me to do – very persistently, at that. As the idea festered and more and more ideas piled up in my “Topic Ideas” spreadsheet, it became something I had to try. If I looked for inspiration from people who had done what I wanted to do, maybe others are searching, too. I know our story can’t be unique, but I couldn’t find anyone sharing about it, so maybe I can fill that gap. We could fail miserably; hauling a cow and rearing chicks while not knowing where we’ll be living next year could be too much. But we can’t know if we don’t try, and I think it’s worth a shot. Hopefully, if we have any success, we can inspire others in this pursuit as well. We hope you join us in our adventure of creating this mobile homestead life!