The Back Story

   Growing up we didn't call this way of life homesteading; we called it survival. We grew a huge garden, had chickens, goats, cows, and hunted. With grocery stores miles away and most everyone being poor there was nothing trendy about it. We canned everything, had a root cellar, and we made do. 

   After transplanting to North Carolina, it was a culture shock, one I wasn't prepared for. I was in elementary school, but it was so huge the change was not missed on me. Grocery stores were everywhere, and very few had a garden. While getting takeout used to be for the rarest of occasions, here there were at least 5 restaurants within walking distance. I lived that blissfully ignorant life for around 15 years. 

  My husband and I bought our first real house in 1997, this was around the time I discovered that green peppers didn't taste like they used to. So, I bought a couple pepper plants on clearance and planted them in the corner of our tiny city lot. My poor husband thought I was crazy until I picked our first green pepper and made him taste it right there in the back yard. If you've never tasted a pepper straight from the plant, warm from the sun, they taste crisper, brighter, and have this tang to them that no store bought one can ever have! 

    Fast forward to some years later, we had lost my mama, we'd lost our home to a fire, times were tight, and we'd found ourselves on food stamps. One morning while filling out the paperwork for our renewal for assistance I said to my husband, " I don't want to do this anymore.". Now you should know, when we lost our house, we used the insurance money to buy a double wide on an acre of land.  Not long after The Witch's Way Homestead was created, and the rest is not yet history!  

   ** It's not too late to taste a homegrown pepper, warmed by the sun, and grown by your own hands and intentions! Even if you only have a tiny yard in the city, or a pot on an apartment balcony! Pepper plants not only thrive in pots they can grow for a couple years if brought inside over the winter! They like the sun and need to stay moist but not drenched.  Pro-tip: save your seeds from the peppers you buy at the grocery store by laying them out to dry on a piece of paper then plant at the appropriate for your area. After that save your seeds from your own homegrown ones the same way! 

Introduction: It's Nice to Meet you!

     Ever since I was a small child, I always felt the Magick in flowers and plants. One of my first memories of my grandmother involves the morning glories, she allowed to grow up her porch rails. She used to tell me not to touch them, they were poisonous. I loved them so much I would still touch them from time to time. Forever the rebel, she says as she drinks watered down iced coffee, wrapped in a plush Hello Kitty blanket!

*I know this is a rose, but I don't have a picture of a morning glory*

   Years later as an adult I was tasked with finding my Magickal name ( it's hard to believe that was at least 15 years ago now), the memory of those flowers and her warning came rushing back to me. I knew I could never be a morning glory, rising with the sun sounds like a torture sentence to me and not at all Magickal. I come alive around 4pm, though I do start my day long before then. The moon calls to me like Moana and the ocean, it gives me clarity and strength, unlike the sun which wilts me quickly. After many days of struggle and study, MoonFlower was born. 

  I wear many hats around here, I am Nan, Mom, wife, the Witch of the homestead all wrapped in one Magickal Being. I've been a Witch for over 25 years and a homesteader for around 15 years. After I began homesteading did, I realize the great connection between the two parts of me. So come on over I'll make up some tea, have a seat on one of the cushions I've made, and hopefully learn you a bit about working with Mother Earth, to bring you closer to the Divine within yourself as well as around you. 

-As Above, So Below-