The Sustainable Homestead Institute

The Sustainable Homestead Institute Non-profit committed to inspiring leaders in sustainable development through regenerative design

The Sustainable Homestead Institute is a non-profit organization committed to sustainable development, ecological land design, and nature reliance education. Since our inception, students have transformed barren hay fields into a research farm producing honey, rotationally grazed beef and mutton, free-range eggs, pastured meat poultry, heirloom apples, timber products, and biodynamic vegetables st

arted from seed in our commercial greenhouse. The Sustainable Homestead Institute showcases regenerative design to provide an immersive experience in the skills of our ancestors to understand how relevant those skills still are to the modern homestead and living with the land.

06/02/2026

One of the first mistakes I see new chicken keepers make? Buying whatever looks good at the feed store without knowing what they actually want from those birds. Are you raising for eggs? Meat? Both? That answer changes everything. On our farm we've had great success with Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks for eggs, Cornish crosses and Freedom Rangers for meat, and Salmon Faverolles when we want something that does well on pasture and pulls double duty. Get clear on your goal first then pick your breed. It sounds obvious, but most people skip this step and end up frustrated.





Comment SEVEN to avoid the biggest mistakes new chicken owners make.

06/01/2026

Our compost system cost us almost nothing — and it works better than most setups I've seen with a lot more money in them. Four pallets, two ratchet straps, done. Two pallets on the inside, two on the outside, strapped together in sections so the whole thing holds its shape under weight. We've used cattle panels before too, but pallets are hard to beat when you can get them free. The point isn't the materials — it's having something that actually contains your greens and browns and lets you build a real pile. Start simple. Compost the rest.





Comment FARMER if you want to learn how to build systems like this.

05/31/2026

Most people don't realize how much they're spending on chicken feed — or how much of that cost they could cut by using what they already have. Table scraps that would've gone in the trash become feed. Feed costs drop. Egg quality goes up. And those birds are out there fertilizing your pasture with nutrients that came straight from your kitchen. That's the cycle that makes this lifestyle sustainable long-term. You're not just raising chickens — you're running a closed-loop system that feeds itself. And it starts with what's already on your dinner table.





Comment FARMER if you want to learn how to build systems like this.

05/30/2026

Young bushes, first real harvest, and I'm already in a race with the birds. The blueberries started off green now some are deep blue and ready to go, and the purple ones in the middle will be there in a couple days. That progression from green to purple to dark blue is one of my favorite things to watch in the garden.


Everything loves blueberries. The birds know it. We know it. So every morning it's a question of who gets there first. These bushes are just getting started, and honestly even a small harvest from a young plant feels like a win.


I did drop one though. That one hurt.


Comment SPRING to see how we're building out the fruit side of our homestead. 🫐


05/29/2026

Dino kale check-in and it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do. If you ever hit a salad bar and noticed that dark, curly green stuff used as garnish, this is what it was modeled after. Except that version was fake. This one you can actually eat.


Here's the thing about kale I didn't expect to love: Koko the gorilla the one who learned sign language came up with his own name for it. He already knew the sign for lettuce, so when someone showed him kale, he called it "slow lettuce." Because it took him longer to chew. I think about that every time I walk past this bed.


Slow lettuce. Growing right on schedule.


Comment SPRING to follow along with our full garden setup this season. 🌿


05/28/2026

No greenhouse, no transplants, these cucumbers went straight into the ground once the soil warmed up in spring, and they're already giving us our first harvest. That's one of my favorite things about cucumbers. They don't need a complicated start. They just need warm soil and room to run.


And run they will. The vines spread out fast, so we keep pulling them back into the bed to hold the shape of the garden. But every flower on these plants is going to turn into a cucumber you can already see the tiny ones forming right behind the blooms.


We'll eat some fresh in salads, soak others in vinegar for quick pickles. Simple food from a simple system.


Comment SPRING to see how we're laying out our full garden this season. 🥒


05/27/2026

Ants are not the problem. They’re the alarm. If you see them climbing your plants in the greenhouse, look closer. You almost certainly have aphids underneath the leaves. Aphids produce honeydew. Ants farm them for it. That’s the relationship. The fix isn’t a stronger pesticide. It’s catching it earlier. A horticultural spray, applied to the underside of the leaves, breaks the cycle without wrecking your soil life. Read the signs. Treat the cause. Comment SPRING to learn how we set our gardens up for success.

05/26/2026

Homesteading is not a vibe. It’s a plan. The romantic version sells the sunset. The real version is the morning chores in the rain. You don’t return to nature. You learn how to read it. Water, soil, animals, weather, time all of it talking at once. The people who last aren’t the ones who hated their jobs. They’re the ones who fell in love with the work. Show up daily. Plan honestly. Let the land teach you. Comment FARMER if you want to learn how to build systems like this.

05/24/2026

Urban living and growing food are not opposites. For a lot of people, the city is the easier place to start. Less land to manage. Everything within reach. A balcony, a few containers, some built beds that’s a microfarm. It won’t feed you completely. Be honest about that. What it will do is change how you see food. You learn soil. You learn timing. You learn what fresh actually tastes like. Small space. Real skills. Real food. Start where you are. Comment FARMER if you want to learn how to build systems like this.

05/24/2026

Most people think you need land to raise chickens well. You need a coop that moves. A mobile coop turns your flock into a soil-building tool. Every move drops fresh manure exactly where the ground needs it. The chickens scratch it in. You get compost without lifting a shovel. Big pasture? Move it across the field. Small backyard? Move it a few feet at a time. The land size never changed the method. The coop did. Comment CHICKEN for our full chicken system guide.

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190 Eastridge Road
Ridgeway, VA
24148

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(276) 226-9104

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