Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Cowan.
Hi Rachel, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Our homesteading journey started in the infamous year of 2020. My husband and I had both worked at a school in South Dakota and through several circumstances, we ended up moving our 5 children to the state of Michigan to a small suburban lot where, like many, we started a small container garden and making our own bread. But our dreams of having a bigger garden, becoming more self-sufficient, and wanting to invest generationally in our children continued to grow. There were then situations that happened in our neighborhood that made it unsafe for our children to play in our front yard or hang out at the local playground without constant worry. We began looking for a place out in the country and by God’s grace, the property just like we were looking for, suddenly dropped in our laps and in 2024 we moved an hour north to a 9 acre homestead. Our kids were just as excited as we were to have all this beautiful land to explore and call our own. We got chickens first and had never expected how quickly these feathered friends would win their way into our hearts – especially for our kids. They inspired our oldest to start hand sewing plush chicken toys, to the point that she now sells them. Our second-oldest (who is the identical twin of our first – they’re 10mins apart) started a live mealworm farm to supply our chickens and other animals with treats and also sells them to a local pet shop. This child also wrote a children’s book which she published in February and is about to publish a second. Learning the skills of how to get schoolwork, chores, and maintaining a small business with plenty of time to snuggle with chickens, have been very important. We all work together to care for our free-ranging chickens and pasture-raised pigs (who love belly rubs, just like our puppy!), and have been increasing our garden even more. Watching our kids grow and thrive in the fresh air, work on things they love to do, and dream of the future in a peaceful, family-oriented, God-centered home no matter what is going on in the world has been such a blessing – and something we want to continue as we hope to pass these skills and experiences on to future generations.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing in life is easy. Often, the biggest dreams come with the greater sacrifices. Through terrifying illnesses, we almost lost our first twins at 5 years old and then our second set of twins when they were 20 weeks in the womb. We learned quickly that life is precious and family is the greatest blessing. We only get one life. We only get a few years with our children. We want them to be able to eat the best food and live the most thriving, healthy, peaceful, loved, and God-honoring life we can possibly give them. We want them to have big dreams and learn how to work hard and push through trials, to not give up, and to lean on God through everything. In a world of chaos, we want them to have hope and know that even where a tornado has blown through, a fire has burned, a flood has washed away – life can still grow and even carry on with more open sky, fertile soil, and stronger roots. Giving up our full time jobs, then a home with a much lower interest rate and investing in our homestead have been sacrificed we have been willing to make, not just for us, but so we could invest more actual time with our children and give them a life in the open air.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Our homestead provides live mealworms as treats for chickens, food for geckos and other reptiles and aquatic animals. Mealworms that are live, have their probiotic and high hydration benefits in tact that dried mealworms could never have.
We are working on getting our MDARD license to sell pasture-raised pork and chicken while we sell our farm-fresh eggs.
My three oldest and I also sew and make useful products, as well as the plush toys our oldest creates that we see at vendor shows and farmer’s markets and will be adding to our website soon. We also make baked goods that we sell using freshly milled wheat under a cottage food license through those avenues as well.
Last year we grew two luffa gourd plants and had such a great success with them that we are growing 30 plants this year. These provide organic, sustainable sponges you can use to wash dishes as well as yourself.
Though our homestead’s journey has just started as a LLC business, we are working hard to bring local, organic, sustainable products to our community and beyond.
What are your plans for the future?
Currently, we have 3 pigs that are being raised on pasture and woods but we plan to get 20-40 pigs. We also plan to raise meat chickens and rabbits.
This summer we will be doing a Friday and Saturday Farmer’s Market almost every weekend from June to October. We want to be able to teach our children to invest in their own future while also investing in their future ourselves. Our children all want to live on a homestead as close as they can to us and have chickens and a garden, and land to put their names on.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.9pineshomestead.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DitVwguMr/?mibextid=wwXIfr
