Hey y'all! Welcome to our blog! I'm so excited and humbled that you've decided to join us. For those of you who do not know, my name is Ashlee and I'm the founder of Growin' Strong Homestead. My husband, Nick, and I live on a 1/2 acre urban homestead with our 3 kids in the middle of Southwest Oklahoma. My sister, Bineche lives right down the road with my two adorable nephews!
I have been very blessed to be able to get to know so many of you and hear so many incredible stories about how people have overcome impossible situations to accomplish their homesteading dreams. So, I figured it was just about time that I shared our story as well! So lets jump in.
Our story started a long time ago when I was a little girl. I have always been drawn to nature for as long as I can remember. But, the biggest influence and supporter of my love of nature was always my grandmother. Grandma Jean was my hero and my favorite person in the whole world. Her and my Pawpaw lived in the middle of nowhere in the backwoods of Missouri on 80+ acres where they had a small homestead. They raised Beagles and German Shepherds, had a stocked catfish pond, grew a garden, and hunted their own meat on their property. Their home was my heaven. I ran around in the woods with my best friend, Cody, the kindest and most protective German Shepherd I've ever met to date, and my Grandma would take me down to the creek to pick wild peppermint every evening. In the mornings, we would eat persimmons right off the tree and fish off the bank of their little stocked pond in front of their home. Their home was my refuge and I always spent as much time there as I was allowed. Until one day when everything changed.
My Grandma was diagnosed with cancer when I was 6 years old and passed away a week before my 7th birthday. Our whole family was devastated. She was a cornerstone for our small family and her death left a hole in our hearts that we could not seem to fill. But, even though she was gone, the spark she had started in my heart for nature continued to grow into a flame.
I spent the rest of my childhood years learning everything I could about animals and plants. I would read for hours in informational books from national geography and sought after any and all opportunities I could find to be around animals. I grew up riding horses, helping my family breed Schnauzers, and feeding the wildlife in my backyard.
During my middle school years I fell in love with music, playing saxophone and eventually going to college for music at a local college in Oklahoma City. During my first year of college, I had a
traumatic experience that left me with severe PTSD and because of circumstances revolving around that trauma, I became pregnant with my twin daughters. I was now a single mother with TWO babies who depended on me. To be honest, I was a hot mess and my mental health was at an all time low. But, I knew that I needed to do whatever I could to support these sweet baby girls God had given to me. When my sweet girls were two years old I bought them a little peppermint plant to put on our window sill at our tiny rent house... a sweet reminder of a great-grandmother they would never be able to meet.
I got married while I was back in college that year and was
divorced a year later. But in the midst of the craziness I had my sweet baby boy. He flipped my whole life upside down because now not only did I have my toddlers who depended on me, I had this sweet little boy with a vigor for life and I was doing it all by myself. It was then that I decided that I needed to give my children more than what I had previously. I needed to give them something wholesome and good. I needed to give them more than store-bought food and indoor play. I wanted to give them the experience I had when I was little on my grandmas farm.
We lived in a rented house that my parents owned after the divorce and I started paying attention to the food we were putting in our bodies. I learned how to cook small meals from scratch and we got two chickens for our suburban backyard! Their names were Big Mama and Little Red. I will never forget the look on my daughters faces when they got to go collect the eggs in the morning
or the giggle from my two year old son when Big Mama would "growl" at our new little yorkie/maltese puppy, Prince. There was so much laughter and so much sunshine. I never wanted it to stop. But, the next year was painful. I had cultivated so many dreams of running through the hills of wildflowers and chickens with a wooden, white coop. I was lonely and sad. Then once again, it all changed.
A second marriage. A second divorce. New trauma and this time my children were all old enough to feel the impact. I was broken. I stopped cooking from scratch. Our chickens passed away because of unforeseeable circumstances. I threw away the peppermint plant that sat dead on my window sill. It was too painful to look at because I felt ashamed.
Once again I was alone and became the most depressed I have ever been. We moved into a rented home with the help of my parents that was very different from any home I had ever lived in on my own. It was brand new, beautiful and felt like a farmhouse. We loved our neighborhood and our friends on our small culdisac. We felt like we were in the middle of nature because the back of our home bumped up against a protected forest area that was teeming with wildlife.
I specifically recall wild turkeys that would come to drink in the little creek right behind our back fence every morning at 6am. It took that whole year to heal mentally, physically and spiritually. But by the end of my lease on that home.. I had a peppermint plant on my windowsill once again.
I moved back in with my parents after my lease was up and started an herb garden on their back patio on a $20 plant rack that I picked up at a garage sale. I also bought three bigger tomato plants and put them in planters against the back fence. That year I killed 7/8 of my herb plants and 2 of my tomato plants. But I was happier than I had ever been. I got a handful of cherry tomatoes but those tomatoes were little tastes of freedom for me during that healing time in my life. I went all in on my dream to live more simply. That summer I bought 4 rabbits that we raised out of hutches that I built by hand for them. I had literally never picked up a drill or a saw ever in my whole life... but I figured out how to build these and it was one of the proudest moments of my life. This is when Growin' Strong Homestead was born.
A lot happened that year (including covid) but the most notable thing was meeting the love of my life, my husband, Nick. From day one Nick supported my dreams. He told me they werent silly and that he thought we could do these things together. Even though a farm or homestead was not his personal passion in life, working for himself and building a future for his, then, future children and wife was so important to him. He reminded me how capable I am and how I am able to do anything I put my mind to. We have now been married almost 2 years and have had many adventures together! He is my favorite person and my best friend. We got married fast but our relationship has flourished and thrived through respect, honesty and tenderness.
When I was a baby I was adopted by my parents. My birth mother was an amazing woman but she was still in highschool and wanted to let me find a place where I could be loved and supported and grow up with all the things she wanted for me. I grew up an only child, but I have 6 biological half-siblings (3 on my moms side and 3 on my dads). I am blessed enough to have incredible relationships with both sides of my biological family! I am the oldest but my sister who is a year and a half younger than me are extremely close and she even moved to southwest Oklahoma to be closer to me and to have some special opportunites for her and my two precious nephews.... and that is when she joined our Growin' Strong team!
Together, we have combined the dreams that we have built for ourselves separately and built an even BIGGER and more productive and beautiful dream together! We are taking control of our future and our families together are building something incredible with each others help. We have found that we compliment each other quite perfectly in many ways and we are so incredibly tuned into the dream we are growing!
Those dreams take a little bit of time. So in the mean time, I will take the time to learn and grow my skills. I grow a small container garden in a suburban neighborhood at our home here in Southwest, Oklahoma. I have tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, peas and an assortment of herbs and spices here on our property! I also have pots with beautiful flowers to help attract pollinators and some even to help keep away bad bugs. I am also trying out new techniques for cooking from scratch and even some small canning projects. I am learning everything I can about permaculture and farm animals that I haven't had the opportunity to raise yet so that I am ready for the day I can get land and bring them onto the farm. I am learning day by day and still honing my gardening skills and homesteading skills. But, I am working hard every day to learn my craft and soak in as much information as possible for when it is my time to stand in the sunshine on our own farm. I am so incredibly blessed and so incredibly happy and fufilled. I am excited to see where this dream is taking us!
I hope you all enjoy our website! We have this blog, our homestead community forum and farm shop that we are filling with all the best smelling and exciting products from right here on our little homestead! I am excited for the growth that is happening and grateful for all of you in joining us in our journey. Thank you so much for your support!
Keep Growin' Strong, friends!
Much love,
Ashlee