Maine Homestead Life | Farmer Sam👩‍🌾🐑🌱 | Substack

You don't need a farm to start living differently.

🏡 Homesteading

Let's Talk About Homestead Finances

the heart of the matter

Feb 11

From Consumer to Creator: What Homesteading REALLY Is

the heart of the matter

Feb 5

Your First Year Homesteading Action Plan

Your first year homesteading will be humbling but rewarding. A realistic action plan with clear expectations and monthly goals is the key to success.

Jan 29

I Chased Chickens Out of Trees Until I Learned THIS Homesteading Approach

The Complete Beginner's Roadmap to Homesteading - Part 2: Skills VS Projects

Jan 21 • Farmer Sam👩‍🌾🐑🌱

How to Actually START Homesteading

A Complete Beginner's Roadmap to Homesteading - PART 1

Jan 13

🌱 Gardening

The Newbie's How-to Guide to Cultivating Your First Garden Plot

Nature doesn’t care if your rows are straight...

Apr 22, 2025

Soil 101: Building Rich, Productive Soil for a Thriving Garden

Feed the life within the soil to create a bountiful homestead garden

Mar 20, 2025

The Rookie's Roadmap to Planning a Thriving Garden

Getting started planning your first garden...

Feb 17, 2025

Viva la Resistance Garden!

Turning the Victory Gardens of World War I and II into a method of civil disobedience—a way to resist corporate greed and government oppression.

Feb 15, 2025

What the Heck is Regenerative Agriculture?

As far as labels at the supermarket go, "regenerative" is one that has yet to be twisted to advantage by corporations

Jan 24, 2025

Get the skills, the recipes, and the real-world know-how to do it — free, every week.

🐑 Animal Husbandry

Things "Ewe" Should Know About Raising Sheep

All the basics on how to get started with sheep

Apr 9, 2025

How I Became a Shepherdess

Sheep changed my life in a subtle but powerful way, as I was forced to learn and grow as both human and farmer...

Mar 30, 2025

Good Luck, Better Charlie!

Releasing the opossum, I bade her farewell and watched as she scampered away across the snow covered landscape.

Mar 11, 2025

Clearly the little 'possum was hoping if he didn’t move I wouldn’t see him...

Mar 2, 2025

Things No One Warned Me About Sheep

With the ewe sitting on her rump, her back resting against my son’s legs, I picked the manure from her toes and trimmed each cloven hoof. There are a…

Jan 23, 2024 • Farmer Sam👩‍🌾🐑🌱

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Matters

Raising Capable Cooks: Why Kids Belong in the Kitchen

Imagine returning home after a long day to find your child in the kitchen cooking.

Jul 14, 2025

No, You Don't Have a House Elf

How to Raise Capable Kids With Work Ethic

May 10, 2025

It's Not "Men's Work" vs "Women's Work": It's Just "Work"

Teaching "life-skills" and fostering work ethic in the home not only sets our children up for success in adulthood—it shifts the cultural outlook toward…

May 2, 2025

World's Okayest Mom

The relentless wind drove into me as I carried the half-a hay bale in a stack against my shoulder, for it was about 20 pounds of dried grasses and…

Feb 9, 2025

Maine Homestead Life

Maine Homestead Life

Teaching self-reliance from a Maine homestead. Learn the skills to challenge industrial systems through growing your own food, stewarding your land, and reclaiming independence in the kitchen and garden.

Learn More

Official Runamuk Website

Garden & Homestead Consulting

Member Resources

How to Make Homemade Dog-Food

👩‍🌾 Farm-Blog

Choose Your Hard

Feb 8

Chocolate Cake and Sheep Kisses for What Ails You

Tears pricked my eyes as I thought about what might have been...

Feb 2

Pedal to the Metal

When family calls, timelines change. Fast-tracking our sheep move, navigating empty nest anxiety, and merging two lives in middle age.

Jan 24

The Doldrums of January

This time of year brings its own challenges—not toil, but tedium's embrace

Jan 18

The Sam & Dan Show

Four months could hardly be enough time to get to know someone....

Jan 6

A New Season of Farmish Existence

There’s something deeply grounding about this shift, something that feels like coming full circle...

Dec 14, 2025

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