We live on a small acreage in Iowa. There, we raise all of our own meat including beef, pork, and chicken. We also have chickens and ducks who give us eggs, as well as a couple of dairy cows who allow us to make all of our own dairy.

Our goal isn’t necessarily to be self-sufficient. Of course we have to buy food from the grocery stores. While we do have a garden, we purchase a lot fruits, oils, and vegetables.

It was my love of animals that led us to getting dairy cows. I grew up riding horses and continued to ride into adulthood until I became a mom. My interests began to shift after I became a mother. Spending long hours at the barn or with my horse took a backburner. My focus changed because it had to, but I still longed for that connection with animals. As the years went on, our daughter began having issues with dairy which eventually led us to get our own dairy cow. I trained the cow (Brew) just as I would train a horse. Today she is pregnant with her fourth calf, listens to voice commands, comes running when called, and is a beloved member of our family. With her milk, I make all of our butter, yogurt, and both soft and hard cheeses. Having a dairy cow has allowed me to combine my love of animals with caring for my family and utilizing my culinary skills. It is the best of all worlds.

My upbringing was rarely dull, and much of what I do today was directly shaped by my childhood. I grew up in a log house surrounded by woods in Iowa. Most people think of cornfields, cattle, and hogs when they think of Iowa, but we do have some wooded areas! Both of my parents had different interests than most other parents. My mom has a deep love of history and has studied our family history for most of her life. She also collected primitive colonial antiques and filled our home with them. Our dining room table was from the mid-1700’s, along with the chairs around it.

Both of my parents loved to play old music, and by old music I mean Traditional Appalachian Music. The past was not only surrounding me history and antiques; it was reverberating around me everywhere through the music my parents played. My mom played the hammer dulcimer, which my dad made, and my dad played the banjo and the fiddle. Our house was alive with live music and seemed to have a heartbeat of its own.

My dad also loved tracking and learning survival skills. Through these interests he developed a deep connection to the earth and all of its creatures, instilling in us to give thanks for all of the gifts the earth and Creator provide us. Through these passions came weekend projects often consisting of hide tanning, butchering a deer or the occasional buffalo for meat. My mom cooked from scratch almost all of the time, so our food was almost always pure and without hormones or other mysterious food additives. She also made medicines from herbs and plants such as plantain, comfrey, and yarrow.

All of these things left me wanting to fill our lives with whole and rich food. I wanted to be able to consume food from animals who were treated with kindness and respect. I also wanted our kids to know where their food comes from; how to work hard and put other living things before themselves.

Today, I continue with many of the things my parents taught me and have expanded my own interests. We use as much of the animals we can when they are processed. I cook and bake from scratch and make all of our own dairy from milk from our own jersey cow, Brew. We consume food from our own garden, and make a lot of herbal remedies from our medicinal herb garden and surrounding area.

I hope this lifestyle is something our kids will look back on fondly. I hope it teaches them the importance and the value of good whole food; to treat animals with love and respect, and to work with the earth. In a world where we are so focused on ourselves, I hope our kids learn that we are just a small part of a larger picture. While we are tiny in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t mean we can’t make an impact on our surroundings. My goal is to live a life caring for and nurturing the animals, land, and people I love so much.