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!