Cooper and I met over a decade ago at the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield, Kansas. If you get the chance mosey on down to that spot. In September, people from all over the nation travel there every year to jam and spectate some of the most remarkable bluegrass music I’ve personally ever heard.
Well long story short, we fell in love and have been chasing each other around ever since. Over the years we dreamed about having ourselves our own slice of land. Swooning over the milk cow, the chickens, the children, the wood mill, the canning, the woodstove and whatever else a piece of land had to offer. All we knew at that time was that we had to get out of suburbia to create such dreams, not only for ourselves, but for any small people we were to bring into this world. Creating a life of richness, grit and ultimately – intentional & humble joy.
Fast forward to where we are now. The Lord has certainly blessed us with a strong partnership and that little slice of land we now get to call home. A full year living here, after 3 years of hardship to build what we are now enjoying today.
Last year we enjoyed getting a pup from Shalah Hills and a handful of cats from different litters. For protection and mouse control of course. Our first animal introduction to the land.
This spring, 2026, we were able to kickstart our first major garden and wa wa wee wa it has PRODUCED!! This July, I’ve began exploring marinara sauce grown from my own tomatoes & basil, pickling okra, gathering my own special bouquets, snipping calendula & comfrey for salves…and so soo soon will our family get to snip our first melon from the vine.
The cats from the year prior both had litters and for the first time in my adult life, I got the honor of being a part of newborn animal life. And golly, I pray it sobers me to the core about the existence of life every single time I get to experience it. The Creation of life itself never fails to amaze me.
Later, we introduced our first flock of chickens to our land, and a few short months after bought a second flock to add to. Taking part in an abundance of eggs has been a delight! Just this week we harvested our first chicken from our land and our chickee chicks hatched in the incubator. A back and forth of drying little chunky cheeks of tears from a life ended and coaching my two children’s excited and sweaty fingers that get to tenderly hold newborn life. The expression of pure joy from those sweet little eyes makes me tear up recalling back to moments together just this morning. A complete cycle of life experienced.
And finally, a favorite aspect of caring for all of this life is that we get to encounter, indeed a great joy that I was not expecting… we get to share that abundance with many others.
Our hope is that we can continue to share our abundance with many and that it spreads a sliver of that same joy into homes surrounding our local community. We aren’t exactly sure how that will look in the coming months and years, but we humbly hope you tag along with us and share in our journey here. Thus, the creation of “Walnut Hill Homestead”, because we aren’t in a valley to recall our days spent at the festival, but we have many walnuts climbing our hill. In the meantime, cheers!
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