We live on a small homestead in north Idaho with a goal of food self-sufficiency. In late 2020, we sold our 20-acre place and downsized to something smaller, so we're  starting over in a new location.

Originally we were products of the suburbs, so we had a steep learning curve: Milking cows. Making cheese, butter, and yogurt. Planting, scything, and threshing wheat. Dehorning and castrating calves. Growing a garden. Raising chickens. Canning and preserving.

Followers of my blog, Rural Revolution, have watched our exploits over the years. They've seen our victories, they've seen our failures, and they've watched us build a homestead from scratch.

For decades, our primary means of support was a home woodcraft business. Because that meant our income was unpredictable, we learned the art of frugality to the nth degree, a subject that continues to fascinate me.

We've been blessed with two wonderful daughters whom we homeschooled through high school. Both are now adults and out on their own – so now we're empty nesters (just another phase of life).

Our older daughter worked for many years as a certified professional nanny.  Later she took over our woodcraft business and made it her own. Now she's working as a Certified Nursing Assistant and attending nursing school. Our younger daughter spent nine years as an electronics tech in the Navy, stationed in Japan and Italy. Now she's a civilian again, working on satellite communications for a defense contractor on the West Coast.

My two biggest hobbies are canning and reading. I love to can, and often cover canning issues on my blog. We also have an extensive library, about half of which can be seen below.

The skills of the pioneers fascinate me, and these are often incorporated into my fiction writing. You've been warned.
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I can be reached at authorpatricelewis@mail.com​