Farm fit girls to homestead mamas

The rocking chair quietly creaked as Russ rocked back and forth, eyes rapt on Kelli as she nonchalantly talked about her high school job. My back ached from sitting on the floor, but I was too stunned to notice as I stared wide eyed at this blonde haired, Nebraska farm girl telling me how a hoe crashed into the back of her leg muscles when she jumped into the back of a pick-up truck after picking rocks from a field. They were new KBM day camp counselors and I was their

houseparent. I could not relate. My childhood in Mid-West suburbia Ohio was far from her experiences she was proudly and happily sharing.  To her life was good on the farm but it seemed miles from the truth in my mind…. getting paid to pick rocks out of a field and having a garden tool suddenly become a weapon that could slice open your leg muscle! Fast forward 25 years …Kelli is still the energetic, Nebraska, farm girl…homesteading, farming, running an amazing micro dairy, working a full-time job as well as being a boy mom of three, and devoted wife.  She is an amazing Homestead mama.

I am not a homestead Mama. I do live in a cabin in the woods on a remote island in Alaska. I love to bake. I am a mom of three adult children, a wife, teacher, hiker, researcher, explorer, Christian. Knowing where my food comes from is important to me. I love being in nature and building community. I am not a homestead Mama but am friends with amazing women who are and more than anything, I think it is passion that connects us. My passion about education and brain res

earch may be different than the passion that drives Kelli but when I read about women doing what they love and they wholeheartedly believe in, it inspires me.  I view myself as a lifelong learner. I am passionately curious, and I am passionate about sharing that with tiny humans. This passion drives all that I do, how I teach, how I view children. I see daily the passion that drives Kelli to do all that she can to make life for her family and community more sustainable. 

I have previously written about the holistic approach that the Kodiak Compass Classroom embraces.  We meet the needs of the mind, body, and spirit through our four cardinal points.  Author Wendell Berry wrote a lot about farming, life, and agriculture. When asked for his advice back in 1983 about how people can improve their lives he emphasized the benefits of community, staying in one place, and living as part of the greater world of nature. A great example of those three benefits exists in life on the farm and inspired me to start Farm Fit Girls, a preteen youth group starting at age five. Farm Fit Girls embodies a holistic

approach. A holistic approach, by definition, integrates the parts of something as intimately interconnected and referenced to the whole.  It means, in a sense, getting back to the basics, following a bit what life used to look life on a farm. We will meet the needs of the mind, body, and spirit by getting to know our place in this world, exploring nature, and deepening our relationship with Christ. These opportunities…. sharing my passion with friends like Kelli, learning from other homestead mamas, teaching in my ideal learning environment, sharing and inspiring young girls to enjoy nature, to know where our food comes from, and to build community…. may set me on the journey to being a homestead mama and it is one where I see life IS good on the farm.