“But in reviving some of these timeless skills, I hope I can honor the legacy of those who came before and paved the way for us all.” Path to the Homestead “None of the things I teach or share are new,” Winger said. Winger bonded with her now-husband, Christian, over a shared dream of having land and cattle-and made it a reality. She’s also written one cookbook, “The Prairie Homestead Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Heritage Cooking in Any Kitchen,” and is working on a second. Through blog posts, e-books, a podcast, and YouTube videos, she shares about subjects as varied as saving tomato seeds, finding a good detangler for a horse’s mane, and planning for the upcoming homeschool year. ![]() … It’s about making life better,” Winger said. As the creator of the website The Prairie Homestead, which has some 530,000 page views with 325,000 unique visitors per month, Winger has become a voice and mentor for budding homesteaders across the country-or simply anyone looking to live more sustainably. ![]() We knew we weren’t going to inherit that, and we wanted something different.”įast-forward more than a decade, and they now homestead on 67 acres in rural Wyoming and have a thriving, home-based business at the forefront of the new homestead movement. “We were talking and we knew for sure that we wanted land and cattle. “We were on our second date,” recalled Winger, in her early 20s and living in the city at the time. Jill Winger and her husband, Christian, were on the same page from the very start. The Wingers purchased a neglected farmstead on the Wisconsin prairie and transformed it into their nowthriving homestead. Often city slickers who left for the country, their decision to reinvent themselves and create a different lifestyle, combining the old way of doing things with contemporary conveniences, has created its own, if unconventional, kind of resiliency. ![]() These modern-day pioneers share the same entrepreneurial spirit, guts, and enthusiasm-perhaps standing on the shoulders of past trailblazers-but they have a distinct advantage. They’re younger, better educated, and, realistically, more tech-savvy. History tells us that while some succeeded, many failed due to inexperience, lack of money to buy equipment, and the environment.īut today, there’s a new breed of homesteaders. Thousands took advantage to claim the government’s offer of 160 acres. It’s been 160 years since the Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged folks to head west for a chance at a new beginning.
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