Women's homesteading group to connect DIY-ers

“Homesteading can be kind of lonely because it is a lot of work. You are going, going, going all day,” said Tatia Elizabeth Childers. “It is nice to be able to connect with people doing the same thing who don’t look at you weird because you make your own butter and butcher your own chickens.”

Childers, who is launching a local chapter of the National Ladies Homestead Gathering, said the group isn’t just for women who live on farms.

“We play on the word ‘homesteading’ and say that it is for those doing things at home instead of going to the store,” Childers said.

Childers lives on a half-acre in Waynesville — hardly enough land to raise her own dairy cows. But every week, she buys two gallons of farm-raised milk to make her own dairy products.

“I’ll skim off the cream, and from that make butter, and then culture the buttermilk to make sour cream and cream cheese,” she said.

Most of her homesteading activities revolve around food, including making her own bread for less than 10 cents a loaf.

But as a sustainability consultant, Childers said homesteading is also about reducing your eco-footprint.

“When you begin that journey you are trying to be less of a consumer and be more self-sufficient,” said Childers, who doesn’t even own a dryer. “It’s about being a responsible person on the planet.”

The local women’s homesteading chapter will provide an outlet for comparing notes and learning from one another, as well as supporting each other on the journey.

“It’s about creating community,” Childers said. “And when we learn something new, we can pat each other on the back.”

The group will host guest speakers on everything from beekeeping to herbology to collecting wild edibles, as well as visit each other’s homesteads.

“If someone needs help putting their greenhouse up, we can all chip in and then learn those skills at the same time,” Childers said.

An interest meeting for anyone interested in forming a local chapter of the National Ladies Homestead Gathering will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, June 28, at the Tap Room of the Waynesville Inn Golf Resort. Contact Childers at smokymountainhomestead@gmail.com or 828-550-7573.