Welcome to the blog!

Hi there friend, and welcome to From Home to Homestead!

You have no idea how much joy it brings me to finally start a blog. I’ve loved writing for as long as I can remember, so I’m proud of myself for finally taking the leap to start blogging.

This is actually the second time I've attempted to start a blog. The first time failed miserably- I think I got so in my head about wanting it to be perfect that I got too scared to even try. I paid for my domain and everything, but I completely dropped off after a few blog posts. That was over a year and a half ago!

This time, I'm not letting perfection get in the way and I'm determined to make this work. Dig around my blog site and you'll see that some pages aren't even complete yet! Sure, it probably looks unprofessional right now but if I wait until it "looks good" I may be waiting for another year and a half (and I don't want that).

So who am I?

Good question! My name is MaryRose, I live in sunny Florida, work as a software engineer, am engaged to the best man ever, and in my free time I love to read, play the piano, go line-dancing at a country bar, and spend time with my family and friends.

Even though that's my current life, I strive to be a God-loving, homeschooling, stay-at-home mom who spends her days cooking, cleaning, and gardening on our homestead. I currently have a 9-5 remote job in the software industry, but I know that’s not what I want my future to be. My goal is to “retire” from my corporate job once I have children and never look back!

I know, that seems like a full-180 lifestyle change. Crazily enough I only started thinking about being a SAHM (stay at home mom) within the last year. 2 years ago I had what I call a "wake up call from God"- I don't exactly remember how my journey towards this began but I know it was in His plan.

Throughout my college years I had extreme acne and in 2022 I took Accutane since it was recommended by my dermatologist at the time. Accutane is an isotretinoin prescribed to treat severe acne. It's a pill you take every day, and during that time you become sensitive to the sun, can't drink alcohol, have fragile skin, and may deal with tons of other side effects that I don't remember. You also need to take a form of birth control at the same time, and I blindly started taking the birth control pill (again) without reading into it.

When I stopped taking Accutane and birth control after 7 months, my hair started falling out, my skin was extremely dry, and my period was painful and irregular. As a 25 year old girl back then, I was freaking out! Long story short, after doing some digging I was introduced to the world of holistic health and less toxic living. I knew after reading about this that my life was forever changed for the better.

I have learned so many things after going down rabbit holes in the holistic/less toxic world and I hope to share them through this blog! I went from a fast food obsessed, cardio-loving, frequent alcohol drinker to someone who stopped drinking, lifts weights, and strives to be as healthy as I can be for my future family. Love that for me!

But as I explored those spaces I also started seeing content about homesteading and moms who stayed at home with their children. As someone who had 2 working parents growing up, that was a crazy idea! But when I thought about it more and more I realized the way our current society handles childhood education was actually crazy.

Being away from your children for 8+ hours a day as they're forced to sit under fluorescent lights and have less than one hour of playtime? I'm no expert but that doesn't seem right. But that's just my opinion!

It’s amazing that my fiancé is on board with this idea of me staying at home- he’s actually the one who opened my eyes to this potential lifestyle. I feel extremely blessed that he’s working hard now in order to provide our future family with that life. If you're reading this, thank you and I love you.

So why the name From Home to Homestead?

I wanted a blog name that encompassed the journey I’m embarking on. Do I know any homestead-related skills? Nope. Do I own land? Nope. Do I have any experience whatsoever in the farming/gardening/animal-keeping fields? Absolutely not. Do I know that I have a lot of learning (and failing) to do before I can even call myself a homesteader? You bet.

I was born and raised in Florida and my family lived in a 3-bedroom house in the suburbs. I didn't even think about starting a garden until a year or two ago, and I never thought that I'd want to quit a job I'd work so hard for in pursuit of a slower, intentional life. God had some crazy plans for me! But I'm grateful that my eyes are finally open to what I feel like I'm called to do. So I'm going to go for it.

As this blog progresses, I would love to share about homesteading skills I’ve learned, projects I’m working on, and more! I’d also love to write about holistic health and less toxic living. I feel like the possibilities are endless!

Thank you for reading my first blog post of many. I appreciate your time and hope you’ll stick around. Feel free to leave a comment below, I’d love to talk to you!