We do not believe that a homestead should be a thing of the past.

As we were renovating and repairing our own homestead, it became more and more apparent that a homestead’s history provides the answers for how to thrive.

The land that is Sentry Hill Homestead was first settled in the 1850s by a family that would have traveled to the area by horse and wagon. They not only cleared the land to farm, but they built a small house to live in as they established themselves. They built their farm first – clearing patches of forest to become field, acquiring livestock, building an orchard, and establishing a large garden and water sources. Once established, they set out to build a large barn (which still stands) and a farmhouse.

The point of the simple origin story is that the “home” in the word “homestead” actually comes after “stead”, which means “place” or “site”. Past generations did not buy land and build a house. They bought land, built the land, and then built their house. As you can imagine, this is a far cry from the 21st century standard practice of ultra-convenience and zero patience.

This origin story was unearthed through the process of learning about Sentry Hill Homestead, but with further research we found that most all past homesteads were established this way. It was the normal path, not the exception. It is a path that we stand by at Sentry Hill Homestead, and a path we follow ourselves as Sentry Hill continues to grow.

We use this outlook to plan for the future. Someday, our children will hopefully pick up where we leave off in our homesteading journey. We believe they will appreciate the orchard we grew while they were young versus the vacation we took that they don’t remember.

Reading biographies of past generations reveals that folks in the formative years of the United States had professions and trades, in addition to being able to run their homesteads. We strive to preserve this tradition. Being able to do basic homesteading tasks like maintaining an orchard and growing a garden was just part of life. Learning and maintaining a profession or trade was in addition to being a homesteader.

Can you imagine living in a world where you and everyone you surround yourself does more than just go to a 9-5 job? Our modern world lends itself to a life of ease. Too many people go to work, come home, and sit on the couch for the remainder of their time. Life is meant to be more than that. 100 years ago, people went to work and then came home to find themselves taking care of themselves. They tended their garden, checked on their animals, maintained their homes, and spent quality time with their families. Modern humans have lost the sense of self-reliance.

We believe that in the 21st century, it is necessary to be able to go from a conference room wearing a suit-and-tie to a garden sowing seeds. We live in an increasingly complex world, and having the knowledge to the navigate the 21st century is the type of adaptation that our ancestors would have pursued. The difference being, in the centuries past – our ancestors did a better job at preserving their way of life and the previous generations’ wisdom while embracing the future. Our 21st century world has rapidly lost the way of the past; namely, growing and preserving food, raising animals, stewarding land, fixing things for ourselves, and being self-reliant and self-sufficient.

In short, things got easy and we, as humans, followed right along.

Sentry Hill Homestead seeks to be different. We seek to preserve our remaining knowledge of the ways of the past when early Americans were carving homes out of the wilderness. While we do more preserving and conserving than we do carving, the idea is the same – use the knowledge of homesteading to carry on our ancestor’s legacies to create a more self-sufficient world.

A world full of people who can take care of themselves and help others through their professions and trades is a safe world. That is the world we are striving to create.