Our Homestead Story

The beginnings of our homestead story…

I guess you could say that I grew up pretty country, but homestead wasn’t exactly in my vocabulary. My family owned a cattle ranch in the coastal mountains of California. I spent my childhood riding horses and quads, hunting, raising 4-H animals, and working cattle. My mom had a garden that I think I noticed in passing, but I was very comfortable with my black thumb. The problem was that I took all of this for granted as this was just our way or life. And at that point, homesteading was something that wasn’t talked about, we were ranchers. As I reached my teens I had so much going on, I spent less time ranching and more time focusing on other passions.

What Was Next?

After high school I wasn’t sure of the direction that was right for me. So I settled for small town life working as a dispatcher for a trucking company and guiding hunts on the weekends. A couple of years later an opportunity to go to college came up and I took it. With a year of business classes under my belt I started my third semester with, what turned out to be, two of the most pivotal classes of my college career. 

My turning point!

The first on was a Biology class. This class opened my eyes to the fact that I have a knack for science! Not only did I do well in this class I felt a passion in me that I had never felt before. I wanted to know everything that I possible could on each topic. I studied and took notes in a way that I never had before. And I know that this was because Biology and the structure of science just flat our made sense to me. Now, this class alone did not change my course of thinking. I just felt like I had a class that I really enjoyed. Surprisingly enough, the class that ended up changing not only major, but the entire direction of my life was English 200. 

Sometimes it Only Takes One Person

Although, I guess that I should clarify that it was actually my professor that enlightened me about myself. He told me that after reading just one of my papers that I had a way of writing that pained a picture in his mind that was so clear, it was like he was there. By the end of the semester, he also told me that I had no business majoring in business because agriculture was where I should focus. 

Agriculture?

Like what I did in 4-H? I though all ag majors were there to become farmers and that wasn’t something that I could even consider. I needed a farm to be a farmer, and that cost money that I didn’t have.

What’s Next? (Am I a homesteader now?)

Several aptitude tests and lots of research later, I had decided I wanted to major in Agriculture with a focus in Animal Science. I had a goal of becoming a USDA inspector (let’s just say I don’t, nor have I ever worked for the USDA). I spent a year at another community college getting my undergrad ag classes in. Then I got accepted to the Agriculture Department at California State University – Chico. I had never been happier in my life! This was where I was meant to be. My mind was constantly exploding with ideas and the next thing that I wanted to learn about. I explored so many ideas, but honestly owning a homestead wasn’t one of them. What I did know was that I was 100% in my element.

Finding the Right Career

My first summer while in college I found an internship with a quality assurance manager at a nearby organic almond processing plant. I had no clue what a quality assurance manager did. I read in the job description that I would be helping the company prepare for a USDA inspection. So I figured this was right up my alley. This job ended up being a major piece of my future career. I worked there for the next year while focusing on food safety on farms and in processing plants while in college.

I spend the next several years prepping large food processing plants for every food safety inspection and audit that there was. After feeling confident in this element I began consulting for small farms that were now being required to meet the same level of inspections as the large plants. This was something that made me feel more alive. I got to be outside, innovating, creating, and learning again!

All the Romanic Details Before We Bought a Homestead

At the peak of my career, I met who later became my husband. Both of us were single parents who were ready for a partner and a start of a life that we had only previously dreamed of. Shortly after we met we left California to move to Oregon. We hoped that Central Oregon would be the rural, small town life that we knew was right for our family. We loved many thigs about where we ended up. This was the home where we had our wedding and brought home our baby boy. This was the place where our kids fist did 4-H and we started our small scale homestead. Unfortunately,  it never felt like a complete fit.
That is when my husband was diagnosed with his digestive disease that required us to change to an all natural diet, which you can read about in Our Story. Our small homestead (and the lack of fertile soil in Central Oregon) was in no way ever going to be enough to feed our large family. So our search for greener pastures began.

Idaho it is!

After a short search, we knew that North Idaho was the perfect location for us. My husband found his dream property literally on the Canadian border 27 miles from that closest small town. And, an hour from the closest Walmart! I protested some, but after seeing the view, I knew that we had found our home!
Now, full disclosure, this property had previously been a homestead and came with all the amenities, including; a large barn, pens, a chicken coop, pastures, livestock wash rack, a meat cutting room, a walk in cool, a root cellar, two garden spaces and an orchard, The downside was that it hadn’t been farmed in several years and was a lot of work to get going again! Especially, because I was pregnant when we moved in.

I guess we are homesteaders now

I’m not going to go into ALL the details here, because then I wouldn’t have anything to write about on the rest of my page. But turns out we weren’t all that bad at being homesteaders. We started Cedar Ridge Ranch in honor of the ranch I grew up on, Oak Ridge Ranch. My black thumb was now a nice shiny green as I have need able to sell plant starts and grow very productive gardens. We are successfully raising pigs and quail for profit, and chickens, goats, and a milk cow for personal use. The ranch is officially turning a profit and we have virtually wiped out our food budget That in itself is a win in my book!