A woman has revealed how she ditched city life working as a fire dancer and pole fit instructor to become a ‘homesteader’ eco mum living off the land.
Megan Strabley’s world has changed entirely in the last decade since moving out of the city with husband Shawn to raise their children on a rural farm.
The 38-year-old now enjoys a peaceful life on her farm, harvesting her own food, making bread from scratch, and even eating meat from the livestock she keeps.
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While she is “thriving”, she says it’s a far cry from her previous lifestyle.
Megan and husband Shawn were previously typical city dwellers, going out to eat and shopping.
“Some of my friends and family think it’s interesting, some seem to admire or even romanticise what we do, and others think we’re crazy,” Megan, who now lives in West Virginia, US, told What’s The Jam.
“My more citified relatives can’t imagine why I would want to work so hard, or deal with things that they consider dirty or gross.
“Even I have to admit that butchering and castrating your own animals isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea!
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“[But] I am the happiest and most fulfilled I have ever been.
“On our homestead, I make an effort to be as self-sufficient as possible, which is an ongoing work in progress.
“We were suburbanites, living in Cincinnati, Ohio, and even though I loved the work I did there, I wasn’t really thriving living in a city.
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“I missed seeing green.”
Megan first started learning self-reliance skills when living in the city, and embraced the change fully when they purchased land for their home.
The mum, who is a farm intern at Triple E Farms in Romney WV , lives on her homestead with 43-year-old Shawn and their three children: Asher, 12, Remi, eight, and seven-year-old Jack.
The entire family has embraced the more traditional lifestyle, mostly ditching processed foods and all getting involved in the upkeep of their home.
Megan said: “I grow fruit trees, berry bushes, and have an ever-expanding vegetable garden.
“For dairy, we have Nigerian Dwarf goats.
“I also raise chickens for eggs and meat which are pasture or forest-raised.
“I raise hogs for clearing brush and for meat – we will be harvesting our first hogs this fall.
“Some folks don’t see how I can raise an animal from a baby and then dispatch it myself when it’s full grown and ready to go in the freezer.
“For me animal welfare is very important.
“By raising my own animals from chick or piglet to harvest means I know what every day of this animal’s life looked like.
“I know they had fresh air, room to roam in open grassy fields or forest, and lead happy comfortable lives.”
Megan is now aiming to grow enough vegetables to last the family an entire year, and has several methods she enlists to preserve food.
She explained: “My go-to is freezing – it’s the easiest and fastest way to put food up and preserve as much flavour and nutrients as possible.
“My next choice is canning. I do both water bath canning and pressure canning.
“I can eat fruit as jam, veggies, salsa, and chicken stock mostly.
“I freeze veggies, and meat.
“I also dehydrate and hang dry herbs for cooking and for making tea and herbal remedies.
“We do use the grocery store, but the ultimate goal is to not need it.”
The mum says she first started this approach to cleaner living for health reasons, but it has now become a celebrated lifestyle choice for the family.
She said: “We are thriving in a more physical and outdoorsy lifestyle, and we are grateful to be able to make a positive environmental impact.
“And of course, getting to feed my family the most delicious and nutritious food possible.
“It’s also a really fun and challenging way to live – it’s rewarding.”
All members of the family get stuck in too, with her son and daughter taking joy in raising animals.
Megan said: “My oldest son raises guinea foul and bantam chickens as a hobby.
“My daughter is interested in raising angoras for wool in the future.
“My youngest son, who’s seven, doesn’t have any animals yet, but he is my helper and expert egg collector.
“I tell the kids the moment we bring any new animals home what their purpose on the homestead will be, and whether or not to get attached.
“The kids are involved in raising and processing the chickens as well.
“At first my older kids were apprehensive about watching how I clean and dress out a chicken, but they quickly became curious and it turned into an avian anatomy lesson.
“For my youngest, he doesn’t think twice about it since he was raised with it from the beginning.”
The family has big plans to continue their homesteading journey and to become even more self-sufficient.
Megan said: “Our water is city water at the moment, but we are putting in a rain catchment system in the next year, which will allow us to be water independent.
“Our solar is grid-tied as well, but in the next year we will be adding some batteries so we can be grid independent when the power is out (we currently use a generator).
“In the next five years we will have enough batteries to be completely off the power grid.”
But the goal is not to become ‘purists’ – and they still lead a balanced life, using grocery stores when needed.
Megan added: “While I would love to live a totally independent, rugged, off-grid, self-reliant lifestyle, my husband and kids would not.
“Even if I grew and hunted enough food for the family to live off of, we would still want to buy chocolate and go out to dinner and things like that.
“I am not a purist, and if I was, my family would mutiny.
“This lifestyle has had a tremendous positive impact on my mental health, the physical activity, time spent outside, the consistent working towards long term goals.
“It is a deeply rewarding way of life, and I hope to do it for a long time and pass on some of the lessons of homesteading down to my children – even if they choose a more conventional path.”
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