A Homesteader Introduction

in introduceyourself •  7 years ago  (edited)

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After 100 plus posts on Steemit, I thought it would be time to do an introduction.

My name is Tim, and with my wife Joann, have been living off-grid for about five years. Our journey began together when we were married in 1971 when I was serving in the Air Force. The next 10 years, I worked in private industry and Joann was a stay-at-home mom for our two daughters. For the next 24 years we served as missionaries until we retired.

My grandfather’s name was Hans Jurgen , which is my user name on Steemit. He left Germany and came to the USA by himself at age 16 in the late 1800’s for a better life and married his wife Fredricka. To me he represents a spirit of adventure and a willingness to take a risk. This has been a driving force in my life to not always take the safe path, but to experience life as an adventure.

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Joann and I were born in southern California, but over the years we have lived several times in Florida and Texas, and as missionaries we lived 10 years in Papua New Guinea.

When we decided to retire, we were faced with the decision of what we were going to do. I could not envision sitting at home and watching television all day, so when my son-in-law proposed the idea of buying land and moving off-grid we jumped at the idea. It was the kind of risk that appealed to us so we bought a mountain in the Ozarks to begin our off-grid lifestyle. (Our mountain is in the distant center).

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Today, five years later, we live together with our son-in-law, Zac and our youngest daughter Jaimie, and their two sons Joshua and Kaleb. We have 56 acres homestead in the NW Arkansas Ozarks, raising sheep, chickens, turkeys, one cow, a big garden, and have various ventures to making our homestead pay for itself and being self-reliant.

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Thanks for following us and we appreciate every up vote.

Cheers, Tim and Joann

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Our “An American Homestead” family on Steemit:
Grandpa and Grandma: @hansjurgen
Daughter, son-in-law: @mericanhomestead
Grandson #1: @thehomeschoolkid
Grandson #2: Someday

For more articles and videos on off-grid homesteading and our on-line store visit https://anamericanhomestead.com/ also
https://www.patreon.com/AnAmericanHomestead

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It is so great to hear your story. Like a good many people on here, we are very familiar with your son-in-law and daughter through their former YouTube channel, and hear about you a bit through that, but it is really good to read about you in your own words. I can't imagine moving to a new country alone at 16 years of age - that is true courage (or a love for adventure). Looking forward to more from you!

Maybe check out this contest, it is made to try and connect the members on steemit, make it more inclusive, get people exposure and to give people a chance to earn some SBD.

https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@zephy/story-time-introduce-yourself-contest-free-sbd-and-get-exposure-making-steemit-more-inclusive-and-welcoming

Great intro! I have watched many videos with you in them on youtube, and I was curious as to why you picked the name 'hansjurgen'. Now I know!
I love the lifestyle you have chosen and wish you many years of happiness doing so.
Thanks for the interesting post! Now, off to make more coffee... ;)

Excellent introduction! My favorite line:

we bought a mountain in the Ozarks

Talk about an adventure! Mountain survival! Off-grid living. Resteemed for exposure. Many people would be blessed by following your blog. Steem on! @ironshield

This is great, PERMACULTURE!
Don't forget to plant a million fruit trees! :)

Welcome to steemit!
I am a bot built for the purposes of welcoming new users! I know that steemit may seem very overwhelming to you right now but don't worry. There's a learning curve to everything so just be patient and you'll be churning out posts and becoming a part of something great in no time!

Also if there are any questions that you may have, then just ask your questions on any of my blog posts or in a reply below and I'll be more than happy to assist you with whatever questions you may have! I will also be creating a basic starting out guide for all minnows and newcomers on my blog so do give it a read as that might help answer many of your questions!

Have fun and I wish you LOADS of success on here! :)

Also. you can call upon originalworks whenever something you post is your own content like this: @originalworks

Regards
@welcome-to-steem

The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @hansjurgen to be original material and upvoted(1.5%) it!

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To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!

Welcoem to the platform - you'll find many many homesteaders here to connect with! Kate

Great Introduction Tim! Your place is looking better and better. Blessings

You are welcomed Tim :-)

Very inspirational. I've been thinking about doing the same thing but I'm still praying on it because I'm not sure if it's God's plan for me even though I would love to jump in head first :) I'm middle aged so I'd like to get moving but I need confirmation from the LORD. Any advice? I would love to know how you knew to do it. God Bless. Will follow :)

Great Story!!

Best of luck to you and your family!!

Love the off-grid idea, would love to follow that path one day..

Peace!

@jskronos

This is amazing! It really does seem like a dream, living off the land, and farming your own food. I am not sure how long i could do it though, i would probably miss a stable internet connection after not too long :)

That being said, i love being in nature, and it seems like you have the perfect oppurtunity to do that :)

What a fascinating story. I'm glad you found a place where you can retire self-sufficient. Beautiful photos. Welcome to Steemit! Followed!

Great intro and I love that all your family (all the way down to the grandchild) is involved in homesteading AND steemit!

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Thanks for the intro post Tim...been following you for awhile now, of course through @mericanhomstead but nice now to be able to talk to you directly! Also thanks for sharing the story on how you came to the username you picked!

Nice to meet yall

again!

What a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing! It was a blessing to me! God Bless!

I saw you don’t have a Steemit Profile Picture I made a story post to make it simply to do. Here

Well hello there! I follow a lot of homesteaders on Youtube. I grew up being frugal - butchering, canning and working the land but got away from that type of living when I married. Looks like you have a beautiful place.

Loved watching your family on Fb and now look forward to seeing you on Steemit

I love what you folks are doing. I have followed American Homestead since their Youtube days. Best wishes to you and your wife sir. I resteemed, followed and upvoted. Looking forward to following your journey.

Wow! Now that’s impressive! I’m looking forward to following your story... I’m far from off grid, heck, I’ve just now started gardening but am interested in living more independently and minimally. Nice to meet you!

Hi,friend. Welcome to Steemit. It's great to have you here. I wish you good luck as you blog in our community. @greatness96

Welcome to Steemit, Tim. Glad to have you here. Thank you for sharing your story with us about how you end up living off the grid with your family. I will look forward to seeing more from you. Steem On!

I admire those who can live off grid! There are times when I think that it would be great, but then I remember how much I enjoy the luxuries of life like central heat and air.

How fantastic!!! I loooove what you and your family have created for yourselves!

I haven't jumped in as full on as you, but I did sell all my stuff and take on the gypsy life in a 26ft rv with my 3 dogs, haha! The simplicity is so liberating! 3 years and counting!

I'll definitely be following as I'm always looking for tips and tricks on more sustainable living. Thank you for sharing!

it is so nice to read your story, and it is encouraging , thanks dear Tim and Joann.... Respects

Great introduction. So many people settle for a cookie cutter retirement. I’m inspired by your adventurous spirit. Looking forward to following you and your journey! Welcome to Steemit!

Really amazing post!!!

This is great to hear your story! The world needs to hear more about people that aren't afraid to really get to the roots of living such as you and your wife! I commend you all for making such a great and daring decision. I have thought about going off-grid maybe a couple decades from now, but it is refreshing to know there are people out there living, surviving and thriving off of their own means. :)

Hello Tim, very nice story.

Hi! Welcome to Steemit and enjoy

That’s my idea of retirement! I would love to be able to jump at the opportunity to move somewhere new and start over being self-reliant.

Loved reading your story Tim! the pictures were so great and accompanied the story so very well! thank you for this post..

Welcome aboard Tim and Joann. I know I don't speak for myself when I say we look forward toward seeing your future posts.

Hello @ hansjurgen best regards, You look very fit in this picture,
With a very loyal couple accompanying me, I am so amazed you are so great, the ideal couple makes me jealous of seeing her. Live peacefully and harmoniously in fostering the ideal household of every person.
Regards esteem,by @gomess

very lovely <3 off grid- homesteading life is idyllic, though I am trying it out right away in my life and not at the end :P

10 years in Papua New Guinea! That is A W E S O M E

Hello Tim and Joann! :)
Warm greetings from the Philippines!

There are very few things on this planet that bring joy to the core of my very being; seeing people living free is one of them

Great little introduction, and nice to see it's not all twenty-somethings on here. Interesting that you mention off-grid living; do you have any recommendations for using batteries?

That's great! Nice to meet you! We are also a homestead family in the Ozarks :) following!

I have to learn more about off grid lifestyle. City life can be draining some of the times :)

Hi @hansjurgen, I just followed you and I am very happy to hear your story. Keep healthy and enjoy the life. Have a good day!

welcome to steemit!
i hope you can get success here :)

Nice to meet you dears
Please enjoy steemit and the history about homestead.

It's great the way you and Joann support Zac and Jaimie and the boys! Tim your a real handyman the way you build stuff around there and make life possible.

That is so cool! I love that you bought a mountain and you all live on the same mountain. :D Is that a windmill for power above the building on the right (left side of the roof)? Oh many, those are some fabulous looking porches. :D Some day we are going to have a porch like that. :D Great post, thank you for sharing your wonderful story. :D God bless you and your family. Have an awesome day! :D

Hello neighbor. Nice story. I am following in your footsteps. I agree with everything you are doing. I am right behind you.

Most interesting to read your backstory.

Welcome to Steemit! Glad to have you here

I've watched Zach and Jamie for many years. It's great to hear from you! I just can't imagine going to a foreign country, alone at 16! Look forward to hearing more from you!

Your also an amazing carpenter!

Love this story! Thank you for sharing!

What a lovely post! I particularly appreciate it as we have children and 3 of our 4 parents also living with us on our homestead, here in South Africa. (My baby boy's name is Zach ;) Blessings to you!