Jennifer Sartell

Selling a Lifestyle My husband is a blacksmith. His talent and strength astound me at times. He takes a bit of modest metal, heats it, bangs on it with a hammer and shapes it brutally into something beautiful. Blacksmithing is a work of passion. It can be physically demanding. Years of standing over an anvil […]

Lots of Little Incomes; 8 Tips to Help You Do a Lot with a Little. Sometimes on a homestead it can be difficult to find one source of income that will sustain you for the whole year. Unless you have a large piece of property and can devote acres and acres to a mono crop […]

When I first heard the word blog, I thought…what the heck is that? I thought it was a weird name for what I later learned was an online journal/collection of articles. It sounded like a combination of “blob” and “grog”.   I’m sort of resistant to new technology and always about a decade behind when […]

Tractors are just cool, plain and simple. Nothing quite embodies the spirit of the American farm like a jolly, rumbling tractor. The puttery, “flap, flap” of the smokestack, the larger than life tires…the bright colors; Farmall Red, Allis Chalmers Orange, John Deer Green…a tractor is the perfect combination of whimsy, nostalgia and power.   For […]

Honor System Stands One of the challenges that many homesteaders face is that they are not self sufficient enough to quit their day job. This can make it difficult if you have a product to sell at your farm location. You can’t be two places at once unfortunately. I know…I’ve tried. For many homesteaders, their […]