Advanced Search
Home
  Introduction




Audio Downloads MP3
  Living On One Income

Archives
  The Mother's Companion
    Cover Letters
    Volume 1 (1995)
    Volume 2 (1996)
    Volume 3 (1997)
    Volume 4 (1998)
    Volume 5 (1999)
    Volume 6 (2000)
    Volume 7 (2001)
    Volume 8 (2002)
    Volume 9 (2003)




Correspondence
    Children's Health
    Child Training
    Esther's Diary
    General
    Parenting Young Adults
    Pregnancy and Early Years
    Rachel's Diary
    Shelley
    Sonya

Extras
  Sample Articles
    Woman to Woman
    Titus 2 Mentoring
  Meet the Family
    Family 2001
    Update 2004
    Update 2005
    Update 2006
    Update 2007
    Update 2008
    Update 2009
    Update 2010
    Update 2011
    Update 2013
    The Aardsma Weekly
  Homestead
    2001
  Videos
    Videos
  Election 2016
    Election 2016




Dr. Aardsma's
Educational Products

  Dr. Aardsma's Math Drill
  Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Drill
  Dr. Aardsma's Saxon Math Checker

Helen's Farm Journal
  More Info

Store
  MC Vending Machine

  Mulberry Lane Farm
    Canning Supplies & Bulk Foods
    


About
  The Author
    Helen Aardsma
  Editor
    Helen's husband
  Aardsma Five 
    Aardsma Five
  Jennifer (Aardsma) Hall's Blog 
    Treasuring Home
  Our Family Tree
    Family History

Contact Us
  E-mail us

         


The Aardsma Homestead (2001)

We live in the beautiful midwestern prairie, near the small town of Loda, Illinois. We have just over an acre, surrounded by corn and soybean fields. I love where I live! It's a great place to homestead and raise our large family.

We have a one-acre garden and grow everything from strawberries to potatoes. We garden strictly organically, avoiding the use of any chemicals. We market our produce to local folks from a stand in our front yard. Gerald, my husband, is the master gardener, and the brains behind the homestead. We do most of the garden work by hand, and also use a Troy-bilt Horse tiller. David, the oldest son at home (14) is the homestead manager, and does most of the hard labor.

We raise about 125 meat chickens every year. We get the baby chicks in the spring, raise them in a large portable coop, and butcher them in the fall. We move the coop to a new section of the garden every year, so we have natural fertilizer! We also have a Jersey milk cow which we milk twice per day. I make butter, cream cheese, mozerella cheese, ice cream, you name it! Boy, that stuff is delicious! It's hard work, but so rewarding. Right now we are raising one of her calves for meat.

Yellow iris in my perennial bed.

We have a unique barn that my husband planned and our family built. It is made of straw bales and covered with a large tarp. This has worked very well, and saved us a lot of money. The barn has a stall for the cow and storage for hay and straw. We don't have pasture for our cow, but we'd like to some day.

Rachel watching the new calf.

Living in the country has many joys, but it requires a lot of hard work and discipline. We have no romantic ideas about farm life. Cows have to be milked at 6:30 a.m. and at 6:30 p.m. every day. When the strawberries are ready to harvest, there's no time for a picnic. Canning beans on 100-degree days isn't a picnic either! But the work keeps us all occupied and out of trouble. When winter comes and I see the bounty in my pantry, I'm thankful for God's blessing and for life in the country.

Much more information about the Aardsma's homestead can be found in Gerald's "Homestead Notes" column in The Mother's Companion.




            

Copyright ©1996-2017 Aardsma Research and Publishing. All rights reserved.