Show Notes
Episode #30 of The Coop is for anyone standing at the edge of a bigger life … and wondering if they have to leap overnight. Homestead Living Editor-in-Chief Anna Sakawsky sat down with Jason Contreras (Homestead Living contributor and the voice behind Sow the Land) to talk about the long road from a standard modern life outside Los Angeles to a working homestead in North Carolina.
Jason shares how a Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis at 30 started the questioning … and how the last thing his oncologist said after chemo (“go back to your normal life”) is what made him and his wife refuse to. They didn’t sell everything the next week. They grew one tomato. Then they canned. Then they hosted a food swap. Then they sold the kitchen table. Six years later, they moved. In this episode, Anna and Jason discuss: What life looked like before the diagnosis: 17 years at a drafting desk, fashion-industry hours, two cars, four bedrooms they didn’t use How “go back to your normal life” became the turning point Starting with one backyard tomato, and why you can’t go back to the store-bought kind Homesteading in the city: raised beds, pickles, tomato sauce, living with one car, and a no-money food swap at the park Why the move took six years (2016), not six months Learning to process chickens at Primal Pastures before they owned land Trading a day of weeding for a CSA box to learn a new climate Treating 1.5 acres like a college course to find out if they even liked the work YouTube’s first year: about $80, and why the skills came first What he’s most proud of: a family that harvests and cooks together, and a daughter who doesn’t remember the old life Why you have to dare yourself to fail, because the next vision is better than the first Whether you’re still in a backyard, still in a job you’re questioning, or already on the land and wondering if you started too fast, this conversation is proof that the leap can be slow, deliberate, and still count.
More from The Coop
John Bush has spent years teaching people how to move toward greater freedom and autonomy through his work with Live Free Academy and the Exit and Build program.
Rory Groves has spent fourteen years on a southern Minnesota homestead building a practice of resilience. He’s made his mark asking questions like “How do you build a life that still stands if the job, the market, or the news goes sideways?”
In Episode #29 of The Coop, Anna sits down with Anne Briggs (Anne of All Trades … homesteader, woodworker, teacher, and Homestead Living contributor) for an honest conversation about getting things done when your brain, your time, and the farm all pull in different directions.
In Episode #28 of The Coop, Anna sits down with Larry Littrell … urban homesteader, specialized real estate agent, and author of Fresh Starts Old Roots. They have an important conversation about one of the biggest decisions many homesteaders face: whether to stay, move, buy, or sell.
In this solo episode of The Coop, Homestead Living Editor-in-Chief Anna Sakawsky reflects on more than ten years of living this homesteading life and shares the 10 biggest lessons it has taught her. Rather than focusing only on practical skills, Anna digs into the deeper truths that shape a sustainable, meaningful homesteading journey: why mindset matters more than acreage, why starting before you’re ready is essential, and why perfection is never the goal. She talks about the dangers of taking on too much too soon, the value of treating “failures” as lessons, the myth of complete self-sufficiency, and the quiet power of regularly checking your actions against your real priorities.