To be honest, I still haven’t read the books or watched much of the TV show. Maybe it isn’t the best title considering. But, I hear so often how Laura Ingalls Wilder’s stories inspired people to homestead.

Sometimes I think about what everything looked like before it was developed. As a Midwesterner, I imagine sprawling prairies and woods where subdivisions and intersections are now the landscape. One of our biggest monocrops is now grass that not only harms the biodiversity of our environment, but increases pollution and water waste. And if it doesn’t look perfect? Well, you can even paint that grass the “perfect” “natural” shade of green with sprays. 

Meanwhile, it’s become a special interest hobby to grow your own food. Our yards are more often ornaments than habitats for life and provision. Because, within the last 100 years, the general population has traded an anesthetic and convenience for healthy longevity and sustainability. Where it was once more common to have a garden and raise small livestock than not, we now have restrictive HOA’s that ban such efforts for self reliance. You can find countless articles guiding you on how to hide food and functional plants in your landscaping so as to not upset your neighborhood. 

So, I imagine this as the last little homestead in a sea of tract houses subscribing to HOA ordinances. Shining as an example of what could be.