Hello, I am Ann, a once-suburban housewife turned homesteader/farmer. A wife, a mother to 7, a grandmother to 5, and a lover of all things old and discarded. I am a truth teller, a spitfire, and an advocator for a free world.
I come from no background in homesteading or farming, nor did I grow a garden until I started this journey. The skills I have gathered to live this life have all been self-taught, years of research, successes and an equal amount of failures, and quite a lot of do-overs. Isn’t that what this life represents? Success, failure, and do-overs are a part of the homesteading life. Families will not grow in this journey without experiencing them.
Consider me a transplant into the movement of cooking from scratch, growing food, clean eating, livestock raising, preserving the harvest, natural living, and the art of living simply.
I advocate for all to raise a handful of chickens and maintain a garden. I want families to take control of their food source and fight for a more natural, chemical-free protocol for our health.
I seek to encourage as many people as possible to become free thinkers and question everything that does not make sense.
I believe in a quiet life that allows you to enjoy God’s work and word. I also encourage others to minimize our footprints left behind and buy used and sustainable materials. Wool, cotton, recycled material, and thrift store finds are the way of our life.
Fast forward ten years into this journey. The one-time student has now become a teacher, a servant, an encourager, a community cultivator, and an author for those who desire a more sustainable life.
My family and I farm 42 acres in middle Tennessee where the topsoil is sparse, and the churt and clay are thick. A farm where overgrazed pastures grew invasive weeds thrive. Where beef cattle and horses once grazed, now house Jersey cows, sheep, and goats. A farm where chemicals are not allowed to irradicate the weeds, but instead, pasture rotation is.
I created this website to be an online presence for homesteaders worldwide. In partnership with the website, my book, The Farm Girl’s Guide to Preserving the Harvest, helps those new to food preservation be comfortable during their journey. Of course, my YouTube channel and podcast provide additional avenues of learning, though nothing beats an opportunity to learn hands-on and everyday experience!
If you are ever in Tennessee, stop by the farm! Unlike A Farm Girl in the Making, an online teaching platform, Acorn Creek Farmstead is a teaching farm that feeds the community. We offer hands-on workshops teaching valuable homesteading skills to individuals new to this life.
In addition to the hands-on workshops, we raise pasture-raised chickens, seasonal turkeys, forest-raised pigs, eggs from free-range chickens and ducks, and raw milk from our a2 Jersey cows and Nigerian goat herd. All to feed our local community and ourselves.
I am blessed to live a life many individuals dream about, and more importantly, I am thankful to have the opportunity to help families reach their goal of living a sustainable life.