Hello and welcome to our website! Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are a simple Christian family born and raised in the hills of Missouri. My husband, Buddy, and I, Shana, got married in 2003 when I was just 18 years old and are still happily married. God has blessed us with two amazing children here and one in Heaven.

We cook from scratch using just a few basic ingredients for all our cooking; have gardened since 2004; have cleaned with homemade cleaners since 2008; have homeschooled since 2009; have used herbal remedies since 2010/2011 and make our own; we have a small orchard started, an herb garden, perennial berry garden, an annual vegetable garden; we can, ferment, and are learning to root cellar in a mock way. We hunt, butcher, and process our own game. In the past we have raised chickens, goats, a couple cattle, and meat rabbits; we hope to get back into meat rabbits. Currently we raise chickens and honeybees and do some wild foraging.

Now that you know what we do or have done and how long we have done it, you will be better prepared to put our articles into context.

The fun part of who we are. As stated earlier, we are a Christian homeschooling family. My mom, younger sister, and I lived with my grandparents on their farm until I was 10 at which time my mom remarried. Side note, the man she married, who I lovingly call Dad, is a truck driver and preacher. You’d never know we weren’t his own flesh and blood as he treats us no different than his son they had later. I wish every step-family could say this.

Even after she remarried and we moved out of my grandparents, my grandparents still remained a huge part and influence in my life. Most of my best childhood memories are sitting around snapping green beans or digging for sassafras roots or throwing hay off the back of a moving trailer with the cattle mooing behind. I miss those days. *sigh

When I was in junior high, each day during summer break at day break, my sister and I would go work in an older man’s garden. This was a massive garden. He grew enough for not only his own needs, but also the community, and even enough to sell to local grocery stores! Those were hard, long, sweaty days, and we worked with a large variety of crops in the garden, but the thing I despised the most was picking green beans. They seemed to be never ending. As soon as you were certain you got all the beans off of one plant and moved to the next, you’d see more on the previous bush! I laugh now when I can green beans because it is one of my favorite things to can; it’s quite rewarding.

My husband grew up with hard work as well and while he didn’t grow up on a traditional farm, he did have all sorts of animals such as chickens, ducks, a pot belly pig, and his friend had a bear that they would wrestle. Yes a bear. Country life. You never know what you’ll find and be doing.

The area of Missouri we came from was one of the poorest in the state. There were simply no opportunities of any kind. However, it was growing up in this area and growing up with hard work that developed our character and work ethic. Even though the area and people were poor, they were honest, hardworking, and generous people with integrity and grit. They may not have had money to loan, but they would be there to help you out. It was because of these people, the area, and the hard times that influenced us and caused us to think outside the box, to think for ourselves, and to try and test out methods the world said couldn’t be done only to find…they could be done. In other words we naturally tended to go “against the grain.”

It was never intentional to go “against the grain” it just was something that happened naturally and instinctively. In our neck of the woods, we relied on God, family, and the community to learn from, not the world and not outsiders.

While we were growing up, there was no internet or You Tube to learn from. We learned by using the common sense God gave us and having ideas and testing them out.

FUN FACTS about Shana:

*I remember having a black and white tv

*I remember that black and white tv having no remote (I was the remote) as it had only two knobs

*I remember the tall TALL antennae outside that I had to turn in order for the tv to get a clear picture. My hands would be a rusty color as I hollered in the window, “How’s that?!”

*I remember the home phone being on the wall with a rotary dial

*I remember the party line on the phone

*I remember only having to dial the last four digits of a local number

*we had no air conditioning until I was ten once my mom remarried and we moved out because Grandpa said, “air conditioning will make a person lazy”-he was right

*my grandparent’s truck had air conditioning though, Grandpa said it had 260 AC. That is 2 windows down at 60mph.

*I remember riding in the back of the truck going to church or to the river

*I remember never knowing the radio could switch stations until my mom remarried. I was shocked to learn there was more than country music as no one was allowed to touch Grandpa’s radio.

*I remember the community coming together to clean up and do repair work to the community cemetery or the church. I remember the ladies cooking up a big feast and us all eating outside after working so hard

*I remember cassette tapes and VHS tapes. Although we never played them, I do remember a record player and vinyl records in the house

*I remember staying out until past dark, you’d have to put your hands in front of you and walk slowly to the light

*I remember falling asleep with the windows open while listening to crickets and whippoorwills

*I remember discipline, real old-fashioned discipline

*I remember being taught respect, no back talk, obedience, a strong work ethic, character, morals, values, integrity, honesty, faithfulness, compassion, generosity,  independence, critical thinking, rational logic, and all others that come from a Christian raising.

We love sharing and teaching others, so we hope you find this site helpful, encouraging, and inspiring.