I honestly can’t tell you how many drafts of this post I’ve built over the last couple of years, but I felt it was time to just “pull the trigger” so to speak and get the ball rolling!

Hi, I’m Valerie. My family and I recently “escaped” suburban life and moved to a one-acre blank slate in northern Nevada. Because we have big dreams (or are just suckers for punishment – it could go either way), we have also purchased 10 acres of raw land nearby and are building our “forever home”. Do millenials even have “forever homes”? Is that even a thing anymore?

Anyhoo, I digress…

I wanted to start this blog because I noticed that there was a bit of a hole in the mini-farm/mini-ranch/homesteading blogging world – there didn’t seem to be many voices speaking for anyone without extreme political, social, or religious beliefs. I’ve seen blogs from folks wanting to go full hippie, and those from religiously devout families who feel the world is too toxic for their families. I can definitely agree with points on both sides, but I take a moderate approach in all or most of my beliefs except for one: it’s not my place to tell anyone what is right, so long as you’re not negatively affecting me or others. That’s it. You do you, Boo! That being said, you won’t find any religious references (I believe my personal religious beliefs are just that – personal) or political rants. If politics ever do come up in my discussions of various topics, I will do my level best to take a nonpartisan and unbiased approach.

So what can you expect to see here?

My husband and I moved out of the ‘burbs so we could raise our kids in an environment where we could have plenty of safe space for them to play outside, and to start using our land to help fill our pantry. He was nearly born with a green thumb and has always loved gardening; I have a black thumb a long history of being able to air plants, but I’m determined to improve my gardening skills. Over the year that we’ve been here, I’ve had some wins and losses in the garden, which I’ll be celebrating and lamenting here on the blog.

When we moved out to our little slice of peace (we’ll call it RHR Pt. 1) one of the first things I wanted to add to our household was chickens. You’ll see lots of blog posts, videos, and photos of our flock of feathered ladies on here! I never thought of chickens as pets, but those tiny little feathered dinosaurs grew on me quickly. We only have laying hens and don’t intend to harvest any for the freezer – unless they get too big for their britches and come after us or the kids.

The first summer we were here, a series of circumstances led me to decide to bring my lovely horse Joe home from the barn at which he’d been boarded. I absolutely loved the facility, but between work and a toddler, I wasn’t able to make the hour-long drive out to the barn to see him more than once a month… if I was lucky. So, after a little bit of nudging Hubs (and outlining how much money I would be saving every month by having Joe home), we moved an old horse shelter over from my parents’ house to RHR Pt.1, set up fencing, and home he came. It’s been lovely having him here and I’ve definitely had a lot more time with him. You’ll be seeing him make several starring appearances on the blog as well.

I should also tell you that my father, Jeff, will also be posting some blogs about his gardening and apiary projects. While he and my mother live in a different county, they’re only about 45 minutes away (nothing in rural drive time, amIright?) and experience pretty similar weather as we do here.

Now that I’ve rambled on for a bit, please feel free to leave a comment and tell me a bit about anything you’d like to see here on the blog! I have a lot of ideas and spurts of ADHD energy, but not a lot of actual time, so any feedback is appreciated.

See you soon!

Valerie