Today I'm talking with Kendra at Tryna Homestead. You can also follow on Facebook.

If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment.

Or just buy me a coffee

00:00
You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Kendra at Tryna Homestead in Wisconsin. Good afternoon, Kendra, how are you? Good, how are you? I'm good, and I'm not gonna lie. When I looked at who I was talking to today, because I have it in my calendar, I saw Tryna Homestead and I was like, you know,

00:28
I hope that's trying to, you know, a play on trying to. if your name is Trina and I've been thinking it's Trina, I'm going to sound really dumb. How is the weather in Wisconsin? Did you guys get all the snow that we got on Sunday? We were supposed to get 12 to 18 inches, but we're right up against the river. And so it kind of buffered us and...

00:53
I think we only got about eight. It's hard to tell though, because we had the blowing snow and the blizzard conditions. So we have spots where it's fair and then other spots where we have two feet there. we definitely got snow. Did it start for you Monday night? No, we, started Saturday night while we were actually outside boiling sap. Oh. sitting in it as it started. And then it went, it was still snowing through Sunday night. And then

01:23
uh Yesterday and today have just been cold and sunny but cold. Okay. Where are you in Wisconsin? We're in Western Wisconsin, Northwestern. We're right on the border with Minnesota. Okay, because I'm in Minnesota and it started for us about nine o'clock Saturday night. Yeah, think it ended about, it really ended about seven Sunday night. But

01:54
The wind was so bad that you couldn't see anything. All day. insane. Yeah. Yeah. It was so loud. Like all Saturday night and Sunday night. was so loud. The wind was just whipping. Oh yeah. My Australian shepherd, she sleeps downstairs and my husband and I sleep upstairs. And about every couple hours Saturday night, I would hear, Arf! Just one Arf every couple of hours. She was barking at the wind.

02:23
I believe it. I was just like, there's nothing you can do about it sweetie, go to sleep. It's all good really. The house is not going to collapse, I promise. So yeah, it was some wild weather and I don't know about you, but it's the first real snowstorm we've had all winter. Yeah, it's the first we've really had in the last three years, be honest. Yeah, it's been so bizarre and

02:49
when I talk to people who don't live in the general Minnesota, Wisconsin area, they're like, oh, it's, been a real winter for you. I'm like, we're having a real winter at least five years. Right. Yeah. I, I love winter. It's actually my favorite season and I love the snow, but March snows are actually my favorite because at that point I'm done with winter. I'm focusing on spring.

03:15
But when we get snow, I know it's not going to last, it covers the brown for a little bit. uh Saturday morning before the storm hit, we had green grass showing. Yeah. I was like, we don't need a foot of snow. This is ridiculous. So the reason I open the podcast every time with how is the weather or did you get the same weather we got is because weather is a big freaking deal for people who grow things.

03:46
and you have a homestead. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. Yeah. So we, my husband and I, we've been homesteading in a rental for seven years and we just bought our property last fall in like middle of August and we're just on four acres. And so this is our first year really getting to do the things that we've done on a really small scale in our apartment for the last

04:15
seven years. um We raised chickens down at my parents place, but I'd have to drive 45 minutes to go take care of them. And I would garden in containers and fill our tiny little patio. And now I'm actually getting to have chickens right in our backyard and a large in-ground garden. So we're really excited. And all the things that we have dreamed about doing, we're finally able to start putting those plans into action.

04:44
now that we have our own space. You sound like me five and a half years ago when we moved from our tenth of an acre lot with a house and a four car garage on it to a 3.1 acre property. That's about we are just shy of four acre. We have 3.98. They couldn't give us the point oh two. Yes, exactly. em

05:09
So I have a question. When you moved and you actually realized that you've done it, did you step outside and look around and go, oh my God, we did it? Oh, we walked around this property so many times and we're just looking at each other going, is this really ours? Someone needs to pinch us. Is this real? we actually do this? Because with the way the housing market was every year,

05:37
Our five-year plan turned into a six-year plan, turned into a seven-year plan and it was feeling less and less likely. And the day that we closed, we just stood in the backyard looking at everything going, is this really ours? Like, is it really, really what we have been dreaming of is actually here and happening. And it was such a surreal moment to realize that all those years of hoping and praying for this property is actually happening.

06:06
Yep. I love it when I talk to somebody like you, who is like me five and a half years ago, because I, my son and I had to come down and spend the first night in the new place by ourselves because my husband had to work. And where we lived at the time was an hour drive for him. And if he had had to stay here with us, it would have been an hour and a half drive for him to work.

06:33
So he stayed up at the old house and we stayed at the new house. We had to be here overnight because early morning they were gonna be a brand new gas stove for cooking, because the house didn't have a stove. And we had to be here for the internet to get hooked up because Lord knows you need internet. I made it a point to get up before sunrise, it was August of 2020.

06:59
And I made it a point to get up before sunrise because there's a beautiful, huge window above the kitchen sink. I did not have a window above the kitchen sink in the old house. And it looks out over, it was an alfalfa field and it's all wide open sky out that window. And I was like, I have to see the first sunrise the first morning I'm here. And I stood there and cried, Kendra, I cried. I believe it. And I was like, oh my God, I have.

07:27
hot coffee because the first thing you put in a new house is the coffee maker if you're a coffee drinker. And the sun is all cotton candy pink and coral orange. Beautiful. And I'm just standing there tears dripping off the end of my nose and I'm like, I'm so freaking happy. Yeah, it was ridiculous. And it was the best happy cry I think I've ever had except when my kids were born. Yeah, it it was such an overwhelming feeling. And it's funny because you mentioned having a

07:57
big window over your sink. Yeah, we did not have one in our rental either. And that was one thing I always wanted. And we have one now and it looks out over it has an eastern view. And so I get to see the sunrise every morning from the kitchen as well. And it like, to this day, we've been here eight months now, almost nine. And still every day, we just were like, is this really ours? And it's

08:25
so overwhelming to know that what you've worked so hard for, what you've dreamed for, for so long is finally here. Yes, it's so hard to explain the feeling to someone who hasn't achieved a dream like that. I mean, you can say it a billion different ways, but until the person has something they want so badly come true, they don't understand that big feeling in your chest and in...