Hey you. I’m Amber. I live outside of Kansas City with my partner, Andrew, and his two teenagers.
In the fall of 2019,
Andrew bought the house I wanted: a 125-year-old farmhouse sitting on top of a hill on a ½ acre lot. Before we even toured the house, I knew this was the house where we would live in sin. It has a flat, fenced backyard perfect for raised beds. There’s a hidden root cellar for our larder and a bay window in the dining room for all of our indoor plants. What’s not to love!
I had big dreams for this little piece of property from the first time we drove up the obnoxiously steep driveway. I wanted to grow all.the.things and make this place into my starter homestead. (What’s a starter homestead? It’s like a starter husband, but with less paperwork.) I dream of canning our harvested food, eating tomatoes at every meal, making household products, giving chickens punny names, having a stand at the farmer’s market, and building a window greenhouse. (Ahem, Andrew will build the greenhouse; I’ll watch and eat a plate of caprese salad.)
Not only has Andrew been hoarding the tools and knowledge to build anything we need, he brings to this relationship the experience to make it all happen. He spent his weekends showing cows and goats at FFA as a kid. He has also kept gardens as an adult in his pre-Amber life. He’s so sexy, and he’s all mine.
But, to be honest, I’ve never grown a single thing in my life. I couldn’t even keep one of those basil plants from the grocery store alive. And, succulents just come to my house to die. Aside from one summer of canning with my mom, I don’t know how to do anything else.
I have zero experience in this homesteading world – ZERO.
So, what do we do? We moved in, got unpacked, and started over 200 plant starts. We built 7 raised beds, a compost station, planted a few flowers, and passed out from mere exhaustion.
Dirty Skirt Farm was built!
Today,
I spend my time making handmade products, like soap and soap-adjacent products, that I sell nationwide. I also spend a lot of time in the garden, which then turns into canning, trying new recipes, and sharing goodies with the people I love.
What does any of this have to do with you?
- Maybe we have something in common.
- Maybe you are already a homesteader.
- Maybe you’re a wannabe-homesteader.
- Maybe you like a little bit of snarkiness mixed into your daily life.
- Maybe you just want to do something a little different.
- Maybe you want to see if this whole thing is plain chaos.
I don’t care why you’re here. I’m just happy you’re here, dangit.
Welcome to Dirty Skirt Farm.