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May 7, 2025

Happy Wednesday, Reader!

"Are you a prepper?" the man asked me.

I looked at him quizzically, and he burst out laughing. "You don't know what a prepper IS, do you?"

I shook my head, "No," and asked him, "What's a prepper?"

He didn't really answer because our real estate agent drove up just then. He and I had been waiting outside the tiny off-grid cabin Joe and I were getting ready to purchase, enjoying the beauty of the mountain property.

This was back in about 2013, and we were moving about an hour from Las Vegas, NV into the Spring Mountain range. The home sat at about 6,500 feet, if I recall, and we had all the seasons there, ensconced in the pinion-juniper belt that sat just below the aspens and ponderosas, then timberline above that. This was our first homestead.

The man was the home inspector, and he obviously thought that everyone who chose to live out there in Cold Creek must have been preppers (now I know what that word means, and yes, we became a LOT more prepared because it's a bummer when you're an hour from any supplies and find you need something).

When I first began the Healing Harvest Homestead website years ago (back in 2017), Joe and I were years into homesteading off-grid on almost an acre. We had a garden with plants for food and medicine, a little goat herd of three, our horses, which gave us green gold (manure), and a flock of various poultry that included chickens (of course), turkeys, and ducks.

Please don't jump to conclusions about how small the property was for all of these goings-on...the house was TEENY tiny and only took up a small corner, and Joe is a master at utilizing space. Everyone had plenty of room.

We often had a couple of elk that loved to jump the fence in there, too.

As the daughter of a man descended from the old Swiss pioneers of Southern Utah (Santa Clara), I grew up learning how to do many homesteading things, even though we called the city of Las Vegas our home when I grew up in the 60's and 70's.

Our family lived far out in the desert, stayed off the Strip (thank heavens), and had a massive family garden and horses on an acre in the hot, rocky desert of the Mojave.

We canned and preserved. (These days the old pioneer ways I learned from Grandma and Dad are now considered "unsafe," hence I never taught many of my chosen canning methods)

We made bread and baked, and my mom cooked from scratch, with most vegetables and fruits from our garden and orchard.

My mom even grew edibles indoors on the countertops--lots of leafy greens and sprouts.

We hiked often and foraged for edibles in the mountains, too, and that's where my love of being in the mountains began.

We learned to hunt food and to field dress the animals.

Fermentation: We did some crude ferments, and I remember the cucumbers bubbling away in a 5 gallon bucket in Dad's study before we canned them up. Later on, I really got into this traditional skill quite heavily, making meads, real vinegar from scratch, home-brewed ales, lacto-fermented veggies and fruits, and kombuchas. You can find lots of my recipes at the Healing Harvest Homestead website. They're delicious!

Dad taught my brother and me to live off the land on overnight trips on our horses in the Southern Utah mountains.

Later as an adult, I added the skills of natural skincare formulation and soap making to my repertoire, too.

Is this prepping?

I call it being blessed to know some skills that could keep a person alive!

The one homestead thing we did NOT do when I was a child was make our own medicine from medicinal plants.

To be honest, this was not my parents' faults, nor my grandparents' either. Or mine. Or yours. Or any of us, other than who I collectively call the Powers that Be (PTB).

You see....the history of herbal medicine in the West is a modern tragedy...much like the misinformation regarding sugar as a "healthy" ingredient in foods, while fat has been denigrated mercilessly. Sick, but not dead...that's how the PTB likes us now.

Big Pharma, the AMA, the health insurance industry, the FDA/government, and "elite" entities have had a strong hold on our society for years now, for some of these, well over 100 years. It's interesting, horrific, and frankly makes one want to cry.

Now, these days, we're all just trapped....and this is because very few know what to do for our health that involves the plants God gave to us to use for our health....

That is, unless we have the courage, the desire, and the tenacity to break those chains and start re-learning the herbalism skills we have all (sadly) lost.

If you're here reading my notes, it's likely that you're ready, willing, and wanting to learn the missing skill of our ancestors---herbalism---making medicine and improving health with plants and their extracts.

Stay tuned for more big news coming soon! And feel free to take a great course from the School of Botanical Arts & Sciences (SOBAS) in the meantime!

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I have some exciting news to share!

Our little turkey mama has been sitting on a large nest of eggs, and they are hatching under her! I guess this is what prompted my homestead musings today....

We're moving to our next (and hopefully last) homestead and medicinal herb farm in just two weeks, so all of this is a bit stressful, and we'll have to figure out how to move the nest (which may STILL be producing new hatchlings).... But WOW! It's been crazy fun to watch baby turkeys emerge.

We've lost a couple to temperature fluctuations, and her being a brand-new mama, but it looks like she's figuring things out now:

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I would show you her eggs, but I'm trying really hard not to disturb her too much. Isn't that baby sweet? See below for a picture of the proud papa...

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Why I Don't Teach Homestead Skills Much Anymore

I DO all the homestead things, but I'm not talking about it like I used to a decade ago....

Some things happened along the way, as Healing Harvest Homestead has grown up:

🌿 There are SO many others talking about sour dough, gardening, prepper pantries, and all the things that I felt my words weren't needed in these areas.

🌿 I do NOT like the "jack-of-all-trades" vibe of many modern homesteaders. It's definitely good to know how to do a lot of different things, but the truth is, homesteaders in the old days relied on community and not insisting that they knew how to do ALL the things at an expert level---like herbalism, especially, or other things that require a specialized education.

🌿 Quite a number of people wrote to me years ago and told me they only wanted me to teach about medicinal herbs and herbalism. One lady told me she could find information on ALL the other things easily, but she couldn't find good Christian sources for information on medicinal herbs from a trained herbalist. That's me.

I listened to those who shared their opinions, and I listened to my gut and heart.....

So that's why Healing Harvest Homestead has become mostly herbal as far as traditional skills go, and it's why I created the School of Botanical Arts & Sciences (SOBAS). And I do hope I'll see you inside soon if you're not already there!

We're opening the doors to Ditch the Drugstore and the Family Herbalist as soon as we get settled into the new place, so stay tuned! And...I'm doing my best to give you a big surprise before that, if I'm able.....

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You may be interested in.....

I thought I'd pull out some older updated articles from the archives! You can find hundreds MORE articles on various herbalism and homesteading topics on the Healing Harvest Homestead site too.

1) Lacto-Fermented Red and Green Tomato Salsa Recipe

This recipe I created has become the stuff of salsa parties! It's easy. It's delicious. It's healthy. I know it's not tomato season yet (unless you're in Florida), but this recipe will be wonderful for when you have delicious, ripe tomatoes at your fingertips....

​Fermented Red and Green Tomato Salsa Recipe​

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2) 21 Necessities I Never Buy at the Store Anymore, and What I Do Instead:

I wrote this a long, long time ago, and it's still very relevant today. Enjoy some great ways and recipes to start your self-reliance journey, and I'd love to know if you have other things to add, too!

​21 Necessities I Never Buy at the Store Anymore, and What I Do Instead​

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3) When to Harvest Herbs and Plant Parts for Most Potent Medicinal Strength

This is GREAT information to know if you're going to be growing, foraging, or otherwise harvesting any medicinal or culinary herbs. Even if you're not, you'll find information here that will help you determine if the herbs you're purchasing are quality or not. Enjoy!

***I can't remember if I shared this recently or not...if I did, please forgive my over-full brain.....

​When to Harvest Herbs and Plant Parts for the Most Potent Medicinal Strength​

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A little inspiration from 2 Kings 20:7---

"Then Isaiah said, 'Prepare a poultice of figs.' They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered."

God meant for us to use plants, and to know how to minister in this way. You can find out more in my course, Healing Herbs of the Bible, (and yes, figs are discussed there, too!)

That's all for today! I feel like I went down this homestead memory trail, and besides medicinal herbs, my heart is 100% in this realm, and so is Joe's. I'd love your thoughts on any of this---just hit "reply" and let me know what you think!

Hugs, Health, and Herbs, (and Self-Reliance),

Heidi

P.S. Have you downloaded my guide on 26 easy only TWO ingredient diffuser blends for a happier home? ​

P.P.S. I'd love if you'd share with a friend by forwarding this along....

P.P.P.S. I don't talk about clothes much (I'm not a fashionista by any means, LOL), but I found a company with "naturalish" clothes that are so cute if you like a kind of "Boho" style like I do. It's called Natural Life, and the prices are actually reasonable! That link will get you 20% OFF your first order, too!

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