They went from living in a cramped basement apartment to working to live on 5.6 acres. It wasn’t much land, but Ohio couple Codi and Michelle Knox proved—by growing their own healthy, organic food for themselves and their four children—you don’t need vast tracts of land to be self-sufficient.
He started out working in a woodshop in North Carolina, not caring much about leading a healthy life until his health deteriorated sharply. She grew up on a small farm, gardening therapeutically while she “stumbled” through her teenage years. Somehow, after they married, that combination led to their interest in becoming active homesteaders.
“He was constantly exhausted and spending thousands of dollars on dentist bills,” Mrs. Knox, 33, told The Epoch Times, recalling her husband’s days woodworking.
Mr. Knox, 34, then read the book “Cure Tooth Decay” by Ramiel Nagel and vowed to change his life to get better, she said, adding that they “dove headfirst into the world of raw milk, grass-fed meats, and organic produce,” though they had not become landowners yet.
Both saw huge improvements in their health, but eating this way was expensive. Being young and broke, they knew it wasn’t sustainable. Living in their tiny apartment, expecting their firstborn, and desperately wanting a better life for their child, they felt stuck.
Until a private loan from a generous community member offered them the chance they needed, and when they found a dilapidated property with land in 2014, they snapped it up.
Going from being apartment dwellers to homesteaders proved a steep learning curve. Sharing her top advice for others wanting to do likewise, Mrs. Knox says: “Start small. Give yourself space and time to learn a skill well before moving on to the next skill. In my opinion, overwhelm and burnout are the greatest threat to beginning homesteaders.”
The Ohio native should know—their foray into farm life wasn’t easy. By buying the rundown property, the Knoxes now confess, they had bitten off far more than they could chew. They lived in a camper with two babies while he built them a small house. They got chickens and a milk cow and started selling eggs.
“Codi was working a full-time job all while running a homestead and finishing building a house on the side,” Mrs. Knox said. “It’s easy to look back now and laugh, but in the moment it was really stressful.”
Soon, knocked out with chronic stress from keeping up with the farm and taking care of the babies, she developed adrenal fatigue. “After the birth of my third child,“ she said, ”my health completely tanked, and we were forced to reevaluate our goals.”
But despite the daunting challenge of hand milking and dealing with “a flood” of milk (their cow producing 35 gallons each week), tending 150 chickens, and washing and packaging hundreds of eggs a week, they never let go of their dream of Mr. Knox quitting his job to homestead. They’d learned the hard way about taking on more than they could manage and set about changing things.
Married life entered rough waters for the couple, who had no time to spend with each other. They made some tough decisions: selling their egg business, ceasing their selling of excess produce at the local farmer’s market, and only growing food for their family. Mr. Knox focused on his job, and they attended marriage counseling.
“Within a few years, we were much healthier and happier people,” said Mrs. Knox, who now harvests berries and vegetables from a thriving organic garden. A far more manageable number of pastured hens provide eggs; a year’s worth of pastured broiler chickens are raised each spring; a beef steer fills the freezer with grass-fed steaks and roasts.
The milk cow they’ve had for almost a decade is still in situ, contentedly grazing on green grass—“All our animals have access to green grass, sunshine, and non-GMO feeds,” Mrs. Knox said—but the couple wants to switch to dairy sheep for milk instead.
To navigate the stress of farm life—homeschooling all the while—their strategy now is to work smarter, not harder.
By doing all the gardening in spring and summer, growing more roots like white and sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, and squash that can be cured and stored, Mrs. Knox is saved endless hours of preserving. Other produce like green beans, broccoli, sweetcorn, tomatoes, and zucchini are blanched and frozen. Herbs are dried to be used as seasonings and remedies.
Early on, soil quality was a major problem, as the land had been farmed conventionally for years. Now, rotational grazing keeps pastures healthy. Nurturing good soil in the garden guarantees fewer pests and diseases, keeping fewer plants but with higher yields.
Everything that can be automated is made so. Chicken coop doors and lights operate themselves, helping streamline work and cut down on stress.
Their four kids, aged 3 to 11, were drafted to help with chores like gathering eggs, feeding and watering the animals, and helping in the garden—proving to be a win-win by teaching them valuable life skills.
They don’t produce all their own supplies just yet. They still buy provisions like grains and fruit, since their apple, pear, and cherry trees are still young.
Yet the rewards have been huge.
When asked to name her favorite aspect of homesteading, Mrs. Knox doesn’t hesitate: “I have the opportunity to partner with God and nature to put wholesome food in front of my family,“ she said. ”The feeling that I get after tending to my soil and plants for weeks and then having them give back to me is addicting.”
After many trials and seven hard years, in 2021, the couple recorded their first YouTube video with the intent of teaching others how to live off the land while avoiding the pitfalls they fell into.
“We were—and still are—so passionate about teaching how to homestead with as little overwhelm and burnout as possible,” she said, adding that their mission is to show that living off the land is possible. “It doesn’t have to take up every moment of your time. It doesn’t have to completely consume you.”
It’s all about streamlining, efficiency, and simplicity.
“We’ve come to a place in our homesteading journey where we have time to go on adventures with our kids,” she said, “camping, kayaking, picnics, and social gatherings. You can eat all the right foods straight from your land but still be an incredibly unhealthy person because your stressful lifestyle is killing you from the inside out.”
One of the biggest errors, Mrs. Knox says, is thinking you need a ton of land to grow food.
“Some may think 5.6 acres is a huge piece of land, but in the homesteading community it’s considered quite small,“ she said. ”No matter where you are, in the city or the country, there’s always something you can do to connect more deeply with your food, whether that be potted herbs on your windowsill or buying food from local farmers. Use the space you’ve been given to do great things.”
Don’t dive in headfirst, she says. Build a few skills first. Practice and master them. Let the success of those few motivate you to take on more. Better to do a few things well than many things poorly.
