Homestead | Goodbye Winter

Winter 2018-2019 You’ve Been Real

I don’t think I’ve ever been more ready for the hustle, mud and lack of sleep that spring brings more than I am this year. I’m sure you can agree.

This winter was a tough one for many reasons. We started the winter three month short on hay due to the incredibly wet summer which meant I needed to buy hay in from other local farms to keep everyone fat and happy. The ice storm in January kept our driveway so slick that getting additional hay in meant either sleds or some sort of miracle. We got our miracle in the form of pot-ash (salt) from our local farm store after everyone sold out of every bag of ice-melt available the Midwest. Two hundred pounds of pot-ash made our driveway somewhat pass-able for the Bobcat. So, as I fed my very last bale of home-grown hay our delivery of additional hay came. Matt drove it down the driveway two by two, literally the very same day.

Due to the poor weather for cropping last summer hay was at a premium. So instead of small bales that are easy for me to hand-feed, we had to buy in large square bales. So, needless to say I’m not going to miss hand-feeding large squares flake by flake and I’m making plans to upgrade our small square baler instead of buying a large square baler when the time comes.

On top of the hay crisis we dealt with some extreme cold. Temperatures that dipped into -55 degrees with the wind-chill. The animals were tucked and fared well even on the coldest nights. We were blessed to be protected from such extreme wind chills here in the valley, and I’d guess we sat somewhere in the -40’s. When we bought our farm I never thought about the benefits of being ‘tucked in’, but I’m thankful we were. It sure made those cold days more bare-able.

The driveway being iced for over a month meant hauling feed, groceries and fuel for our furnace down the driveway. I used tarps to haul salt and feed when we couldn’t get a car out or down the driveway. We’ve decided to never buy a two wheel drive vehicle again.

Spring 2019, thank you for being here

So, bring on the spring. Bring on the crazy hustle. Bring on the mud. I’ve never been so ready.

Homestead - The Name

Naming a business is a hefty task. A business name has the duty of portraying your product and defining who you are in the business world. When creating our businesses we wanted a name that spoke to who we are as individuals and describes the products and services we passionately offer our clients. With our passions and businesses taking place on a rural homestead, Homestead seemed appropriate for portraying our products and services and has a significant tie to who we are as individuals. Homestead describes a place we love, live and work and our offerings can be extended into our client’s ‘homesteads’ whether rural or not.

Homestead also defines who we are as individuals and how we fit into the business world. I am going to talk about myself specifically here. Life on a homestead has taught many generations of my family how to work hard and pursue your dreams, and that was instilled in me from a young age. My father ‘a farm boy’, left the farm to pursue his dreams, and has since created his own business. I am proud to be following in the footsteps of my entrepreneurial father, as well as hang on to the heritage of my grandfather and those before him with raising livestock. I see myself as very blessed to have an opportunity to pursue my dreams with the creation of these businesses. I owe it all to the generations before me that lived life on the homestead.