The Coop

Rory Groves has spent fourteen years on a southern Minnesota homestead building a practice of resilience. He’s made his mark asking questions like “How do you build a life that still stands if the job, the market, or the news goes sideways?”

He and his wife, Becca, homeschool their six children and run Gather & Grow, a homestead and ministry devoted to the family economy. He is the author of Durable Trades, The Family Economy, and First Gleam of Dawn.

In Episode #31 of The Coop, Homestead Living Editor-in-Chief Anna Sakawsky talks with Rory about what resilience actually looks like at the kitchen table: building income that’s hard to knock over, the kind of work a family can do together, how to build community (if you are currently working on your own), and the faith that keeps the whole thing aimed at something sturdy and lasting.

In this episode, Anna and Rory discuss:

• What a resilient life and family look like in today’s world
• Why Rory’s move to homesteading was about living a more human life, not building a bunker
• How long it actually takes to leave a conventional job and replace your income
• The “family economy,” and what it looks like in practice
• Why several streams of income are harder to knock over
• The most durable trades that have stood the test of time
• The threats we’re currently facing, and what we can do about them
• What to do if your spouse or kids are not on board
• Why finding and building community is an important part of a resilient life—especially if you’re single
• The role faith plays in building a life and family that can sail above the floodwaters

If the headlines have you a little anxious and short on ideas for your next steps, this conversation will definitely help you start building your own style of resilience.

Episode #30 of The Coop is for anyone standing at the edge of a bigger life … and wondering if they have to leap overnight.

Homestead Living Editor-in-Chief Anna Sakawsky sat down with Jason Contreras (Homestead Living contributor and the voice behind Sow the Land) to talk about the long road from a standard modern life outside Los Angeles to a working homestead in North Carolina.

Jason shares how a Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis at 30 started the questioning … and how the last thing his oncologist said after chemo (“go back to your normal life”) is what made him and his wife refuse to. They didn’t sell everything the next week. They grew one tomato. Then they canned. Then they hosted a food swap. Then they sold the kitchen table. Six years later, they moved.

In this episode, Anna and Jason discuss:

• What life looked like before the diagnosis: 17 years at a drafting desk, fashion-industry hours, two cars, four bedrooms they didn’t use
• How “go back to your normal life” became the turning point
• Starting with one backyard tomato, and why you can’t go back to the store-bought kind
• Homesteading in the city: raised beds, pickles, tomato sauce, living with one car, and a no-money food swap at the park
• Why the move took six years (2016), not six months
• Learning to process chickens at Primal Pastures before they owned land
• Trading a day of weeding for a CSA box to learn a new climate
• Treating 1.5 acres like a college course to find out if they even liked the work
• YouTube’s first year: about $80, and why the skills came first
• What he’s most proud of: a family that harvests and cooks together, and a daughter who doesn’t remember the old life
• Why you have to dare yourself to fail, because the next vision is better than the first

Whether you’re still in a backyard, still in a job you’re questioning, or already on the land and wondering if you started too fast, this conversation is proof that the leap can be slow, deliberate, and still count.

In Episode #29 of The Coop, Anna sits down with Anne Briggs (Anne of All Trades … homesteader, woodworker, teacher, and Homestead Living contributor) for an honest conversation about getting things done when your brain, your time, and the farm all pull in different directions.

Anne didn’t grow up on a farm. She grew up “farm adjacent,” lived abroad as a missionary kid, and picked up her first four chickens on the way home from her honeymoon … then dug up a suburban Seattle backyard after her husband had already said no. 

That first garden failed. But the next season, it worked! Fifteen years later, she and her family are in Tennessee with a raw dairy, a large garden, multiple kinds of livestock, and a beautiful baby boy.

Anne opens up about the struggles she’s faced too: severe dyslexia, not really learning to read until she was 22, ADHD, time-blindness, and years of being called lazy despite working harder than others to achieve the same outcomes. When reading finally clicked, learning became Anne’s superpower … especially when she turned around and taught what she was practicing, first in a garage, then on camera.

In this episode, Anna and Anne discuss:

• How Anne went from a suburban Seattle backyard to a working homestead in Tennessee
• Why being called a “Jack of all trades” is a compliment
• How learning disabilities shaped the way she learns, teaches, and has built a life
• Why tracking time and data makes hard decisions easier
• Frameworks for removing friction, implementing systems, and knowing what to prioritize
• Building margin before adding anything new
• What a “successful” life looks like in retrospect, and how to measure any task against what’s truly important in life

The point of productivity, they agree, is not about checking everything off your list. It’s about creating margin for the things that truly matter: family, friends, good food on the table, and building a life you’ll look back on with pride.

In Episode #28 of The Coop, Anna sits down with Larry Littrell … urban homesteader, specialized real estate agent, and author of Fresh Starts Old Roots. They have an important conversation about one of the biggest decisions many homesteaders face: whether to stay, move, buy, or sell.

Larry brings a rare dual perspective. He lives the lifestyle on a third of an acre while helping families find (or sell) properties that actually work for producing food, raising animals, and building a life of greater self-reliance. 

He walks through the practical realities that set homestead real estate apart from ordinary home sales … water access, soil, sun exposure, existing infrastructure, zoning, and the often-overlooked covenants that can quietly restrict livestock or gardens.

He also speaks honestly about the emotional side. 

Leaving a place you’ve poured years into can feel like abandoning a legacy. Larry offers a different lens: sometimes the next chapter of your legacy is simply passing the work on to someone who will love it. At the same time, he encourages people not to wait for the “perfect” property before beginning. Bloom where you’re planted (build the beds, plant the trees, learn the skills) because those lessons travel with you.

Whether you’re dreaming of your first piece of land, considering a downsize, or wondering if your current quarter-acre is enough, this episode of The Coop delivers clear-eyed advice and quiet permission to make the decision that fits your season of life.

In this solo episode of The Coop, Homestead Living Editor-in-Chief Anna Sakawsky reflects on more than ten years of living this homesteading life and shares the 10 biggest lessons it has taught her.

Rather than focusing only on practical skills, Anna digs into the deeper truths that shape a sustainable, meaningful homesteading journey: why mindset matters more than acreage, why starting before you’re ready is essential, and why perfection is never the goal.

She talks about the dangers of taking on too much too soon, the value of treating “failures” as lessons, the myth of complete self-sufficiency, and the quiet power of regularly checking your actions against your real priorities.

If you’ve ever felt behind, overwhelmed, or unsure whether you’re doing this “right,” this honest conversation is for you!

In Episode #26 of The Coop, Anna sits down with Cassidy Cornell (suburban homesteader, backyard farmer, author of The One Acre Homestead, and McMurray Hatchery team member) for a practical, encouraging conversation about raising food (and livestock) on a smaller scale.

Cassidy shares her journey into homesteading and how she’s been able to raise chickens, meat birds, ducks, quail, rabbits, and goats on a modest property. She offers clear, experience-based advice on choosing the right animals, managing limited space, and avoiding the biggest mistakes new small-space homesteaders often make.

Anna and Cassidy dig into breed recommendations for high egg production versus efficient meat birds, the unique needs of ducks and quail, whether rabbits and goats make sense in tighter spaces, and how to design systems that maximize food production without overwhelming your time or property. They also talk about the importance of community sufficiency (sourcing what you can’t raise yourself from local producers) and the value of staying realistic about your current season of life.

Whether you’re working with a quarter-acre suburban lot, dealing with zoning restrictions, or simply want to get more from the land you already have, this episode delivers practical ideas and genuine encouragement. You don’t need a large farm to start producing real food.

In Episode #25 of The Coop, Anna sits down with Abey Scaglione (a farmer, writer, and the author of Radical Farm: Animals, Food, and Our Future) for a thoughtful conversation about food, farming, and what truly nourishes both people and the land.

Abey shares her journey from becoming a vegetarian at age 13, through trying out veganism and even raw veganism and “fruitarianism,” to embracing a diet centered around nutrient-dense animal foods … especially when she wanted to start a family.

She describes feeling constantly hungry and preoccupied with food on plant-based diets, and how adding high-quality meat, dairy, and eggs brought satiety, better energy, and a renewed relationship with eating.

Now living on Salt Spring Island, Abey and her family raise sheep, cattle, turkeys, and chickens while growing vegetables, fruit, and medicinal plants. Through her hands-on experience, she has come to see the vital role animals play in regenerative farming … building soil health, increasing biodiversity, and creating truly sustainable systems.

Abey doesn’t shy away from the bigger questions facing our food system today. She explores why animal agriculture is often demonized, while pointing out the environmental and health costs of large-scale monocrop agriculture and ultra-processed plant-based foods.

Whether you eat meat or not, this episode invites you to look deeper at where your food comes from, challenge popular narratives around animal vs. plant-based eating, and consider what truly nourishes both people and the planet.

Where to find Abey:
https://www.radicalfarmbook.com/
https://www.instagram.com/abeyonthefarm/ 

In episode #24 of The Coop, Anna Sakawsky sits down with David The Good to discuss survival gardening: practical, low-input ways to grow abundant, calorie-dense food that truly feeds your family.

David shares his journey from a childhood gardener to author, YouTuber, permaculture gardener, and nursery owner in South Alabama. He emphasizes that survival gardening isn’t about panic mode or doomsday prepping, but about building the skills and systems so you can reliably produce food when it matters most. 

The core principle: suit your garden to your climate. Don’t force plants that don’t belong, look at what traditionally grew in your area, what commercial farms grow successfully, and what thrives with your rainfall, soil, and conditions.

He stresses focusing first on high-calorie staples suited to your region … whether potatoes and corn farther north or plantains, cassava, and yams in warmer climates. David encourages experimentation, saving seeds from what performs best in your backyard, and using simple, durable tools like a good machete, broad hoe, and broadfork. 

He also shares his “compost everything” philosophy, including burying animal remains and using weeds and waste to build soil fertility through compost teas and direct application.

Throughout the conversation, David reminds listeners that gardening success comes from observation, adaptation, and steady improvement over time rather than perfection or complicated systems. Whether you’re just starting or scaling up, the goal is resilience: growing food you can count on while enjoying the process.

This episode is packed with grounded wisdom for anyone wanting to move beyond hobby gardening toward real food security and self-reliance.

In Episode #23 of The Coop, Anna Sakawsky sits down with longtime friend and fellow homesteader CeAnne Kosel of Farmhouse Teas to talk about creating delicious, better-for-you drink alternatives at home.

CeAnne shares how her journey began with growing calendula flowers and expanded into making teas, salves, and eventually healthier replacements for coffee and soda. 

After developing a sugar allergy that caused her throat to swell and becoming sensitive to caffeine, she started experimenting in the kitchen. What began as personal necessity turned into a thriving business creating healthy, flavorful herbal tea blends and flavorings for homemade sodas, kombucha, and more.

In this conversation, Anna and CeAnne discuss:

• How CeAnne developed her popular “Not Coffee” alternative and a wide variety of soda syrups (vanilla cream, root beer, fruit flavors, and more)
• The basics of making kombucha, water kefir, and ginger bugs as fizzy drink options
• Practical tips for busy families … including how to store ferments when life gets hectic
• Why homemade versions can be more budget-friendly and taste better than store-bought options
• The importance of starting simple and finding what works for your family’s tastes and schedule

If you’ve been wanting to move away from conventional sodas and coffee without feeling deprived, this conversation will give you the inspiration and practical starting points you need.

Homesteading can feel incredibly rewarding … but it can also feel lonely when you’re the only one in your neighborhood growing food or raising chickens.

In Episode #22 of The Coop, host Anna Sakawsky reflects on why true self-sufficiency has always depended on community, and how we can start building stronger local networks today.

Drawing from real-life examples (like neighbors helping clear snow, friends with excavators stepping in, and the power of sharing garden extras) Anna shows how investing in relationships with those around us creates resilience that no lone homesteader can achieve on their own.

She also shares practical encouragement for connecting with like-minded people, whether through online groups, local events, or simply reaching out to neighbors with some offerings from the garden or chicken coop.

This episode is a timely reminder that homesteading was never meant to be done in isolation. The strongest, most resilient homesteads are the ones surrounded by good neighbors and a supportive local community.