September 26, 2018
Many eggs and one basket
Family builds homestead from the ground up
By Amy Venn
Time tangibly slows down when driving down the windy dirt road to Season Parlier’s house. Sounds of modern life fade away as clucking chickens and moos of a milk cow take over. Inside her home on a gloomy Monday morning, Parlier was baking two loaves of bread while her teenage daughter sat painting a canvas at the kitchen island. Even with the modern stove and iPad that instructed her daughter’s art project, it was reminiscent of a simpler time.
“Dakota Homesteading” is more than the name of Parlier’s lifestyle blog. It’s a little world she and her husband Shane have created nestled in the hills outside of Garrison. With a large garden that grows tomatoes, melons, potatoes, cucumbers and squash, a milk cow, a few dozen chickens and a bull or two, Parlier has created a self-sustaining haven for her family and her animals. In addition to farm life, she also dabbles in essential oils and makes her own soaps and lotions.
“It’s mainly just a lot of friends and family that buy it, but I did try it out at the farmers market,” Parlier said. “I like making soap, but it’s not my number one favorite thing.”
That spot is reserved for a couple other hobbies.
“Dakota Homesteading” is more than the name of Parlier’s lifestyle blog. It’s a little world she and her husband Shane have created nestled in the hills outside of Garrison. With a large garden that grows tomatoes, melons, potatoes, cucumbers and squash, a milk cow, a few dozen chickens and a bull or two, Parlier has created a self-sustaining haven for her family and her animals. In addition to farm life, she also dabbles in essential oils and makes her own soaps and lotions.
“It’s mainly just a lot of friends and family that buy it, but I did try it out at the farmers market,” Parlier said. “I like making soap, but it’s not my number one favorite thing.”
That spot is reserved for a couple other hobbies.
