Tessa Zundel

Tessa Zundel is the homemaking, homesteading, homeschooling mother of five small children and wife to one long-suffering man.  She currently lives on an acre in suburban Utah, but will soon be making her home in the wilds of Missouri.

After attending some university and living in England (where she frequently stuck her fingers in the rich, dark soil), she served a religious mission for her church in south-eastern Russia.  Blessed by that enriching experience and the dear people she met, it was there she first saw “homesteading” wherever you are enacted as a way of life.  Most Russian women she met knew how to cook from scratch using whole ingredients, everyone knew how to grow food wherever there was dirt available, and many of the dear grandmothers knew how to work with fibers to create beautiful textiles.  All were frugal.  Her time there inspired her to begin her own version of homesteading upon her return to the states.

Her first homestead was a .14 lot with a small vegetable garden, herbs, fruit trees and bees.  Upon marriage, she graduated to a .50 acre lot with larger gardens, bees and chickens.  It was all downhill after chickens and, as soon as they were able upon yet another move, this time to an acre lot, her family added dairy goats, turkeys and ducks to their mix.  The growing spaces have expanded over the last few years to include rotational paddocks with grazing plants for the animals, a small orchard, a large vegetable garden, a children’s garden, a medicinal herb garden and various other nooks and crannies stuffed with food producing plants.  She and her family are excited to begin their new adventure in the beautiful state of Missouri and hope to expand their homesteading ventures even further on their twenty acres.

Tessa is an advanced master gardener and has worked with several community groups in areas of home education, gardening and seed saving.  As a homeschooling mother she has headed up several co-ops and assisted with several more.  She has also authored and co-authored curriculum specific to the needs of those groups.  She has taught classes, lectured at conferences and in general tried to share what little she knows on the topics of home education, homemaking and homesteading in the hopes that it will help others on their journeys as she has been helped by so, so many wonderful people over the years.

Tessa is an author who currently enjoys writing for her blog, Homestead Lady, as well as several other places around the Web including Hobby Farms.  She is the author of The Do It Yourself Homestead, as well as several other publications including the e-book, Herbs in the Bathtub.  Most days you’ll find her hauling her good-natured, adventuresome children around to learn about herbs, small farm livestock, fiber and other lost arts, whole foods and home education.  There’s always something being tinctured, fermented, built or milked around the homestead – just ask the long-suffering man!

To find out what her latest project is, pop on over to Homestead Lady and join the fun!  You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest and Farm Sprouts. If you’re on Facebook, be sure to check out The Do It Yourself Homestead Group – a great forum for newbie and seasoned homesteaders alike!

Tessa’s training sessions:

• 11 Must-Have Herbs and How to Use Them

Tessa was featured in our Summit Online Course.