Amid global panic and distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, food prices increased 3.9% during 2020, JPMorgan Chase found.
Though food prices were rising due to supply chain issues, consumers like Anita Terranova and her husband, George Gasson, did not feel the food quality justified those prices. So they decided to grow their own.
According to the Kitsap Sun, the couple had kept a garden before the pandemic. However, they did not start seriously gardening until 2020. In addition to their vegetables and crops, the couple began to raise livestock for food.
Their goal was to create a self-sufficient homestead that would provide a majority of their food.
One of the core principles behind the alternative homesteading lifestyle is self-sufficiency — providing for oneself in terms of food, energy, and other resources.
Homesteaders learn to make the most of the resources around them, such as making animal bedding out of fallen leaves or building chicken coops out of scrap wood. Living a low-waste lifestyle helps conserve resources and reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills, encouraging a more sustainable future.
In addition, homesteaders who grow their own food and raise their own meat build a deeper connection to food and nature, establishing dependable food security for themselves and their families. During a global pandemic, this kind of security is priceless.
Together, Terranova and her husband built Terranova Gardens — a homestead born in Kitsap County, Washington, that inspired a whole local community to more self-sufficient lifestyles.
What began as answering a few curious questions about how to process chicken or bake sourdough bread expanded into a bit of a side business — involving elaborate lessons to pass on important food knowledge. These workshops take place throughout the month and range from bee and honey workshops to Super Bowl sourdough pizza lessons.
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Not enough time ⏳ According to the homestead's Facebook page, their mission is to "reestablish the culture of homesteading by teaching how to grow, raise, harvest and process … [your] own food."
As the homestead becomes more established and rooted in the community, their workshops and classes continue to grow. One of the couple's goals for 2025 is to restructure their current classroom space to accommodate larger and more frequent classes.
"It's not about the money, it's about the community. We really need to get people back to growing their own food," Gasson said, per the Kitsap Sun.
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