Lifesteading

Lifesteading brings together personal health, shelter efficiency and a preparedness mindset. It includes the raising of livestock and the importance of soil health on your farm. Living the Life Steading way allows you to connect with your community. It’s a great way to live and create a future for your family. You can limit waste and negative effects on the land you live. The goal is to be good stewards of your land.

The Concept of Lifesteading

The concept of Lifesteading came to me this year following the changes that have recently taken place in our world. As we have begun to see a shift in perspectives from status to sustainability; from consumption to self sufficiency. Lifesteading was built on the idea of providing resources for ourselves on our own land, whether 1 acre or 20. While this is not a new idea, it is one that can be brought back to life today. Take a holistic approach to raising food or living in efficient shelter, while finding a healthy balance in spirit with the intention of decreasing your ecological footprint.

Join Us For Our First Lifesteading Virtual Event

April Release

Times and a link will be sent out soon once you register.

This virtual event will host several knowledgeable speakers on the aforementioned topics, teaching you how to create the life and farm/ranch that sustains not only your family but your lifestyle as well. In addition, we will teach you how to make your farm/ranch profitable so that you won’t feel tied to it year round.

*Personal Health – The interconnection between us and nature from a Physical, Spiritual & Mental perspective.

*Gardening with a Twist – Grow the plants that feed your animals that you will consume.

*Goats – Raise Meat Goats, Dairy Goats and Pack Goats.

*Chickens – Egg layers, Meat Chickens/Guinea Hens.

*Shelter Efficiency – Learn the Passive House design and how to build or modify your home.

*Hydroponics – A short glance here and how it ties into your home.

*Hunting – The importance of hunting to fuel your family.

*Prepping – Learn how to prepare for some unexpected occurrences by building kits.

*Financial Land Planning – Possible government programs to improve your land.

*Power – Hydroelectric, Wind & Solar.

*Land Optimization – How to use your space in the best way possible.

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Lifesteading Event Speakers

Jason Strebe

Jason Strebe will be sharing sustainable energy options for your farm.

Mr. Strebe is an accomplished Electrical Power Engineer with 20 years of experience in various aspects of generating and distributing electrical power. Born and raised in Idaho, he gained valuable experience as an electrical operator in the Naval Nuclear Power program before becoming a licensed Professional Engineer and earning an MBA from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). With his extensive knowledge and skills, Jason founded Deer Flat Energy to provide expert support for the homesteading movement and promote sustainable energy solutions.

Shanna Bernal-Fields

Shanna will be speaking on the importance of soil health and how it affects what you grow on your farm. In addition, the ladies will speak about carbon drawdown, microbial activity beneath your feet and soil nutrients.

Shanna Bernal-Fields joined the NRCS about 18 years ago. Her degree is from Oregon State University with a major in Soil Science and minor in Biology. She spent several years on soil surveys and mapped just over a half million initial acres in this region. She has provided over 400 instances of technical soil services in Eastern Oregon and SW Idaho while working with federal partners, tribal nations, state agencies, and private landowners. She is currently a Resource Soil Scientist in the Boise state office. Check out her story map at Idaho Soil Health (arcgis.com) to learn more about soil health practices and projects happening around Idaho.

Kenton Clairmont

Kenton will be speaking to the importance of physical exercise as it applies to being fit for hunting and fit for the daily routines on your farm.

As the founder of Train to Hunt, Kenton Clairmont has spent 25 years helping people overcome obstacles on their way to the best versions of themselves. Former four sport athlete, professional baseball player and CrossFit owner, he feels called to help people go further, hunt longer, or just finally lose that extra weight. He is the proud husband of Heidi Clairmont and dad to three incredible kids, Jett, Harper and Ryder. Kenton will be speaking to the importance of physical exercise as it applies to being fit for hunting and fit for the daily routines on your farm.

Tasha Paul

Tasha will be speaking on the importance of soil health and how it affects what you grow on your farm. In addition, the ladies will speak about carbon drawdown, microbial activity beneath your feet and soil nutrients.

Tasha Paul is a Resource Soil Scientist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. She assists with projects related to updating soil survey data, studying hydric soils in the arid west, and sharing about soil health to different audiences. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Soil Science from the University of Idaho.

Tristian Bounds

Justin Schwartz

Tristian will be speaking to the importance of home or shelter efficiency and the ways in which to build or improve your structure. Efficient structures decrease bills and our ecological footprint on the earth. Tristian will also have information on no-waste water systems.

Over the past 20 years, Tristian Bounds has traveled all over the world working on water/wastewater projects. Those experiences – in many different cultures and climates – have given him a unique and broad perspective on the challenges we face and the solutions available to solve those problems. He believes that water is our most precious resource, and also one of our most vulnerable. Tristian’s seen how waterborne diseases and poor waste management practices affect not only the health of individuals, but the security of entire communities.

He’s an environmentalist who strongly believes that we have the ability to engineer our built environment so that it’s regenerative in both design and function. We have to continue to improve our relationship with water through innovation, policy, and design to secure the future of our planet for our children and for generations to come.

Tristian is a professional engineer (P.E.), licensed in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Utah. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering at Boise State University. Tristian and his wife, Juliana, are the parents of three children and live in Boise, where they enjoy the many outdoor recreational opportunities that area has to offer.

Memberships:

Water Environment Federation Program Committee, Water Reuse Committee, and Small Communities Committee
Pacific Clean Water Association
International Living Future Institute (Affiliate)

Justin Schwartz is Owner and Founder of Regen, PLLC. where he is Principle of our Architect lead design build firm. Justin’s forte is high performance, sustainable design, and construction. His prior experience as a Founder of Retrolux, a Boise based SaaS company and artistic director for ESL Vision, a SLC Based, lighting manufacturing company, highlights his diverse business experience. Through the development of these businesses in disparate yet related industries, he has honed his skills in design, development, and project management. Justin has experience with historic preservation projects as well as several adaptive re-use projects. He was project manager on the team that won a historic preservation award for the work on the King building in downtown Boise while at Hummel Architects. Justin is an accomplished designer and builder who recently completed the Ironworks residence which was awarded the Excellence in Sustainability for BOMA Idaho’s 2021 Building Excellence Awards. He was also awarded the Mayor’s Choice in Building Excellence from BOMA in 2018. Justin is an avid outdoor enthusiast and enjoys rock climbing, paddle sports, backpacking, snowshoeing, and fishing from Boise, ID.

Marc will speak about the concept and philosophy of the Life Steading movement, the financial side of life steading or how to monetize your farm and how to raise pack goats.

Marc Warnke owner of Packgoats.com and Ripple Ranch has raised a variety of goat breeds to join him and pack gear on backcountry adventures for the last 10 years. After moving to Ripple Ranch, Marc expanded on his idea of homesteading and began living the Lifesteading movement. In addition to raising a variety of animals and plants on his land, he has made his ranch available to meditation and yoga events, community gatherings for personal growth, pack goat education events and now the first Life Steading event. This event is designed to educate and inform others on how to live and create a more sufficient life in an experiential way.

Ben Missimer

Ben is a designer who specializes in digital illustration and cartography. He uses drone, satellite and LiDAR data to depict a high degree of terrain comprehension. He is able to operate globally through remote sensing techniques. He uses QGIS, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Premiere Pro to create maps and animations for the world’s leading designers of regenerative agriculture. These assets are vital for comprehensive design work to be performed from afar. Designing drought proof, fireproof, famine proof landscapes that work passively with nature is the path every homesteader should try their hardest to emulate. Maps are the key to unlocking that potential.

Ben will use Marc’s property in the presentation to explain how he can use this mapping system on your property. Layered mapping allows you to design your landscape effectively because you will see where the water is predominantly located to grow feed and how the terrain changes allow for the proper use of land.

Ben Missimer at Pearl River Eco Design

Consultant – Designer – GIS Technician – Digital Artist

https://www.pearlriverecodesign.com/

601-365-1119

Carmen Willmore

Carmen Willmore – Forage Specialist speaking on forage types for goats and pasture rotation.

Carmen is an Extension Educator for the University of Idaho based out of Bingham County. She has been with the University of Idaho since the spring of 2015 working in the areas of Livestock, Forages, and 4-H youth development. Her extension program focuses on best management practices for livestock producers and youth. She works closely with local livestock organizations and community groups to enhance their knowledge in new farming practices. She also owns and operates a herd of Boer and Nubian goats with her husband and family in Eastern Idaho.

Carmen will be speaking about the different forage types for goats and the importance of pasture rotation. The goal is to provide winter forage types and low water forage types for areas that are drier to optimize the grass seasons and lower your cost for purchasing grass hay.

208-785-8060

cwillmore@uidaho.edu

Sam Rosenthal

Sam Rosenthal – Permaculture

I have a B.A. in Environmental Studies- Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems from UC Santa Cruz. I studied Animal Science- Pre-Vet program, at Chico State University where I focused on genetics and pasture management with Cindy Daley. I did my P.D.C and Earthworks and Water Harvesting course while living at The Permaculture Research Institute with Geoff Lawton. I have designed properties in every continent aside from Africa and the Poles. I worked as a Grazing Manager and Regenerator for Managara Station, a savory hub in New Zealand as well as dozens of other regenerative farms since 2010. I grew up in the high desert on a horse ranch, and added poultry, pigs, sheep and goat small business on my parents ranch as a teenager and have continued them as much as possible ever since.

*Sam will be speaking about Permaculture design on Marc’s property using Pearl River’s mapping system.

Joshua Chapman

Joshua Chapman – USDA/NRCS

Joshua.chapman@usda.gov

Speaking on agricultural government funding options for land optimization.

Melissa Mitchell

My name is Melissa Mitchell, I am co owner of the Farm on Galloway in Middleton, which I run with my sister in law, Ashley. I was born in Nampa, Idaho but am originally from Melba where my dad worked as a ranch hand. I grew up mainly in Boise but would spend summers on my grandfather’s grape ranch in Madera, California. As I got a little older I always dreamed of a life in the country with a small farm or a herd of cattle, but life took different turns and I spent the majority of my adult life in the suburbs. I became very interested in a more self-sustaining lifestyle about 10 years ago, mainly focused on improving the health of my family through natural means. I started gardening and attending local farmers markets, which I have to say many have a lack of home grown produce. I coveted a life where I could be more self-sufficient and offer my family a better life. So, 4 years ago we bought our property with the idea of creating a family farm where my brother and his family could build a home and help make my dreams a reality. In the planning stages of them taking over part of the property to build, the neighboring property came on the market and with the purchase of that property we expanded to 6 acres. I honestly did not have a lot of experience with poultry, but my sister in law had been raising a backyard flock for a few years and with her tutelage and a whole lot of googling, I’ve become an “amatuer” expert at the keeping and care of poultry. We decided to expand on the backyard flock so that we could have eggs as an offering for our future customers. We also knew that we wanted to start a breeding line of Bielefelder kennhuhn chickens, as we already possessed a few and enjoyed the breed. We invested in and built our largest coop, which is 12×10 and houses around 70 hens. We house our breeding flock of Bielefelders in a different coop and run. From there we expanded into Bourbon red turkeys and began raising meat chickens as well. We have hosted multiple backyard chicken classes on our farm, as it is our goal to help those within our community work towards a more self-sufficient lifestyle and saw a huge boost in participation after the covid pandemic. We currently have a breeding contract with the Meridian Feed Mill, supplying them with Bielefelder chicks and Bourbon red turkey poults. Our main focus on our farm is our poultry operations and market garden, but we have also expanded into breeding Nigerian Dwarf goats. Our goal has always been to do what we can and grow as we go.

Kevin Estela

Kevin Estela
Director of Training | Fieldcraft Survival 

m: (860) 214-3629
e: estela@FieldcraftSurvival.com

Kevin Estela is the Director of Training for Fieldcraft Survival. He is the best-selling Author of 101 Skills You Need to Survive in the Woods and a Magazine Writer with close to 200 articles in print and hundreds more in digital format. Estela is an avid outdoorsman with interests in hunting, fishing, canoeing/kayaking, and backpacking. He is a former High School History Teacher of 14 years and Lead Survival Instructor at the Wilderness Learning Center. Rounding out Kevin’s background is a extensive experience in martial arts, firearms training, and world travel. 

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