Homestead Ministry

As part of our mission to educate others about homesteading and edify the Saints, we offer the following FREE resources and services.

FREE Book for Beginner Homesteaders

FIND LAND NOW – A QUICK GUIDE FOR HOMESTEADERS
Also available for purchase on Amazon

FREE Lodging for Ministers of the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST

As part of our homesteading ministry, we offer 3 consecutive nights of free lodging to those in ministry, such as evangelists, Christian podcasters, street preachers, traveling pastors, children’s ministers, worship leaders… Our homestead is located in Barnesville, GA, about 60 miles south of Atlanta, GA and about 60 miles east of The Bible History Center in LaGrange, GA. We have a humble basement room with a queen bed, a full bathroom beside it, and a futon/sleeping bag area for children. Pictures of the guest room are included in the collage below.

If you are interested, please email us at evangelizegeorgia@gmail.com with the following:

-A brief statement of faith and description of your ministry
-Your reason for travel (leisure, ministry, visiting family, homesteading interest)
-How many travelers will be with you, including yourself, and the ages of any children
-Any interest you have in homesteading
-Good contact information for you

All About our Homestead

Our Homestead Progress So Far

When our family of four first moved onto our property in 2020, everything needed an overhaul. We remodeled the house, reopened the well and created a system so we could use the well. We built housing for our chickens, established a food forest, and cleared about 20 acres of land. My husband did much of the work himself, hiring workers as needed.

Ten of our 30 acres are still wooded and contain a spring-fed creek, near which we occasionally find Native American artifacts. We are continually learning about the plants and animals on our property, and we work hard to maintain our food forest garden. We also spend a lot of time maintaining the cleared land, making our own medicines, and keeping about 40 chickens and several ducks and geese. We have 2 indoor cats that add character to our homestead, and we recently became beekeepers and are hoping to produce our own honey soon. We are also in the process of raising cover crops for bee food and green manure.

Our Biggest Project

Clearing the land has been no small task. We cleared about 20 acres with the least amount of disturbance to the land as possible. After clearing, my husband spent about a year burning tree stumps so he is now able to mow the land with a tractor. We hope to eventually install fences and get livestock to maintain the land.

Our Biggest Challenges

The transition from being luxury-loving city folks to becoming homeschooling homesteaders has been difficult and has strained many of our relationships. The journey has been humbling, but it has also been rewarding. Through much toil and tears, we have overcome the temptation to go back to a manicured lawn and a perfectly ordered (and completely outsourced) life.

This winter, we had a fire on the land that made us seriously reconsider our homesteading endeavors. But YAHWEH has given us the strength to endure. We’re here on this land to stay…until YAHWEH tells us otherwise.

Our Food Forest Garden

We established a large food forest when we first moved onto the land. Many of our fruit trees are still young, but we hope they will yield fruit soon. Right now, we get most of our produce from our berry bushes, annuals, and perennial herbs that we have planted or forage from the wild. We also like to transplant wild plants we find on the land into our garden.

We have tried every gardening technique we’ve encountered, everything from woodchip gardening, chop and drop, seed saving, hügelkultur, harvesting soil, composting, rain catching, and various irrigation solutions. We are still far from our goal of being totally sustainable, but we’re getting closer to being able to feed our chickens and ourselves from the land. We hope to turn some of the cleared land into fields for sunflowers, wildflowers, grains, and potatoes.

Our Flock

We have finally reached our goal of getting broody hens to hatch out chicks, and we are getting closer to having a sustainable chicken flock. We have been successfully using geese to protect our chickens, and we recently started keeping ducks to add variety to our fowl. We primarily harvest eggs from our flock. We have processed chicken meat before, but it’s not our favorite.

Our Faith

We are committed Christians who do not adhere to a specific denomination. I (Alicia) follow Torah as best as I can. My family is not ready to follow Torah with me yet, so Sabbaths and holidays are interesting for us. Occasionally, we attend one of the Messianic Congregations near us in the city of Macon, GA.

Our family also runs a nonprofit organization called EVANGELIZE GEORGIA, through which we schedule evangelism outings and help followers of YESHUA to do the same.

Our Homestead Before Our Homestead

About two years before moving to the country, YAHWEH spoke to us through visions and dreams and moved us to make a mini-homestead at our suburban home near Atlanta. On 1/4 acre, we grew a dense food forest, maintained a small flock of hens, and grew a front-yard garden for our neighbors to enjoy. Feeling convicted to fulfill YAHWEH’s command to be fruitful and multiply, we began searching for land.

Because of YAHWEH’s faithfulness, by the time COVID hit, we had already found our current property in Barnesville. While the world was in a frenzy, we were able to leave the city and begin our journey toward a more sustainable lifestyle.

Future Homestead Plans, YAHWEH Willing!

In the future, we hope to use our land for Sukkot camping, retreats, medicinal garden tours, educational workshops, and possibly even a medicinal teahouse.

We hope to build the following:

-Safe, level campsites sites
-A common area/bathroom for campers
-A shed for check-in and a shop
-A large barn for farming that can double as a meeting space for prayer and worship
-Permanent fences for livestock
-A pond
-Cabins or Tiny Houses

YEHOVAH bless you!!!