The Homestead Diaries
A speckled stoneware mug of tea and a journal titled The Homestead Diaries on a wooden table, beside a basket of daisies in late afternoon light.

Learning to homestead from scratch, one skill at a time

Welcome, friend.

I’m Michaela. I don’t have a homestead yet — just a small kitchen, a windowsill crowded with seedlings, and a notebook I fill up every week. This is where I write down what I’m learning, while I’m still learning it.

I’m so glad you’re here.

Start reading the diaries

The journal

Latest from the diaries

View all entries
    home is something you build with your own two hands

    A little about me

    Nice to meet you

    I live in South Africa, in a flat with a north-facing windowsill that gets exactly four hours of good light a day. No land. No animals except two very opinionated rabbits. Certainly no barn.

    For a long time I thought that meant I had to wait. Then it occurred to me that the waiting is the apprenticeship — that I could spend these years learning to bake, to grow things, to preserve a season, to mend and keep and make do, so that when the land comes I arrive already knowing how.

    So that is what this is. Not a manual from someone who has arrived. A diary from someone still very much on the way, written down each week while it is still fresh enough to be honest about.

    Let’s learn and grow together.

    More about me
    Do not despise the day of small beginnings.
    Zechariah 4:10

    Where to begin

    Wander through

    The letter

    Let’s stay in touch

    One letter, most Sundays. The new diary entry, whatever is happening on the windowsill, and the thing I got wrong that week. Nothing else, and you can leave whenever you like.

    No spam, ever. Unsubscribe with one click.