It’s a picture-perfect summer morning amid the rolling green hills of southwest Ohio, and Melissa Renee settles into her chair on the deck of her two-acre homestead. Drinking a cup of coffee, she takes in the sites and sounds of horses neighing, birds singing, hens cackling, and the hoot from a solitaire owl. She waves…

MILLERSBURG, Ohio—In a warehouse outside of this village in Ohio’s Amish Country, Brenton Wengerd walks along aisles of shelves stocked with 700 varieties of seeds that range from fruits, vegetables, and herbs to flowers, ancient grains, and cover crops. A day earlier, his company—Berlin Seeds—co-hosted the second Food Independence Summit, where gardening and homesteading enthusiasts…

WALNUT CREEK, Ohio—Amid the rolling green hills of eastern Ohio, Amish and Mennonite farms dot the landscape along roads traveled by horse-drawn buggies and automobiles. Here, self-sufficient living is a way of life. This is a reason why the Food Independence Summit has already become one of the country’s largest sustainable living events where experts…

VINTON COUNTY, Ohio—People from all walks of life flocked last weekend from 25 states and Canada to the Old School Survival Boot Camp, a three-day event in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio where they gathered to learn skills that teach self-reliance. More than 140 classes taught by instructors from around the country included butchering,…

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught the American people anything, it’s that the institutions and systems we have held up and relied upon for decades are deeply flawed. This fact became painfully evident when grocery store shelves emptied, when farmers had to kill excess livestock due to supply chain interruptions, when conveniences that had been taken…

A mysterious diagnosis can be daunting on its own. Add to that the demands of money and time needed to search for answers—and then treatments—and it quickly becomes one of the most grueling tribulations a person can face. That’s exactly where Justin Rhodes found himself in 2015 when he developed mysterious groin pain. It took…

Start with a bright October sun and a blanket of blue sky. Add nearly 150 vendors and their wares, 50 speakers, and more than 5,000 participants, including several hundred children. Throw in a few dogs, some chickens and goats, enthusiastic volunteers, lots of smiles and laughter, the scent of popcorn, freshly brewed coffee, and handmade…

Before moving to her 15-acre Minnesota homestead with her family in 2011, Amanda Rettke jokes that she thought food grew at the grocery store. “I had zero knowledge about raising chickens or feeding your family off of a garden, but we dove right in,” she said. Diving right in is a habit of Rettke’s. As…

Urban and suburban residents have a newfound interest in backyard chicken keeping. Though this interest has seen a gradual rekindling over the past decade, it was accelerated by the pandemic, supply chain issues, and a growing general desire for more food security and self-reliance, and is now moving full steam ahead. Raising backyard chickens is…

After last year’s lockdowns and food shortages, a trend to be more self-sufficient has grown. Throughout the country, more and more people are moving away from cities to start homesteading. The term homesteading in itself can be confusing. In 1862, The Homestead Act was created to distribute public lands for private use. The definition also…