213. Park Ranger Julie Stonefelt on Wild Homestead Living: From Suburbia to Self-Sufficiency

How do you pursue homesteading while honoring the wildness of the nature around you? The flowers, animals, and flora that live on the land that you are a guest to all can impact the way you approach your garden. One person who has sought to live off the land while preserving the natural ecosystem of her 2 acre property is Julie Stonefelt. Julie, a full-time park ranger and co-founder of Wild Homestead Living with her husband Kevin, shares her journey into sustainable homesteading. Despite a suburban upbringing, Julie has spent decades crafting a sustainable lifestyle while navigating a full-time online creator job, being a breast cancer survivor, and honoring a dream she first had with her childhood best friend. Her goal is to support others in achieving a self-sufficient life, regardless of their location, while understanding and respecting the wildness around us all. Julia emphasizes respecting nature in homesteading, creating resilient, conflict-free gardens, and forming symbiotic relationships with wildlife. Julie’s interview will leave you with a greater appreciation for the beauty of gardening wildly, and in collaboration with nature itself.

Topics Discussed

· Experiencing Fresh Food

· Being a Full Time Park Ranger

· Enforcement Rangers vs Interpretive Rangers

· Having a Spouse with Type 1 Diabetes

· Surviving Breast Cancer

· Reviving Old Dreams

· Living in Snoqualmie Valley

· Gardening with Nature in Mind

· The Human-Animal-Nature Connection

· Holding Space for Animal’s Natural Habitats

· Beavers, Bears, and Coyotes

· Creating Your Dream Life

· Dealing with Envy Towards Others

· Do You Need to Grow all Your Own Food to be a Homesteader?

· Challenges of Being an Online Creator

· Facing Your Grief

· Starting Wild Homestead Living

· Reaching Harmony with Wildlife

· Resources and Courses for Homesteading

· Cancer Journey and Its Impact on Julie’s Approach to Homesteading

Episode Resources:

· Listen to The Good Dirt “166. The Human-Animal Connection with Alison Zak, author of "Wild Asana"

· Read "Wild Asana: Animals, Yoga, and Connecting Our Practice to the Natural World" by Alison Zak

· Hawthorn Farm

· Read "Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest" by Suzanne Simard

· Read "The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener" by Eliot Coleman

Connect with Julie Stonefelt:

· Website: https://wildhomesteadliving.com

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildhomesteadliving/

· Courses: https://courses.wildhomesteadliving.com/connect

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