How do you pursue homesteading while honoring the wildness of the nature around you? The flowers, animals, and flora that live on the land that you are a guest to all can impact the way you approach your garden. One person who has sought to live off the land while preserving the natural ecosystem of her 2 acre property is Julie Stonefelt. Julie, a full-time park ranger and co-founder of Wild Homestead Living with her husband Kevin, shares her journey into sustainable homesteading. Despite a suburban upbringing, Julie has spent decades crafting a sustainable lifestyle while navigating a full-time online creator job, being a breast cancer survivor, and honoring a dream she first had with her childhood best friend. Her goal is to support others in achieving a self-sufficient life, regardless of their location, while understanding and respecting the wildness around us all. Julia emphasizes respecting nature in homesteading, creating resilient, conflict-free gardens, and forming symbiotic relationships with wildlife. Julie’s interview will leave you with a greater appreciation for the beauty of gardening wildly, and in collaboration with nature itself.Topics Discussed· Experiencing Fresh Food· Being a Full Time Park Ranger· Enforcement Rangers vs Interpretive Rangers· Having a Spouse with Type 1 Diabetes· Surviving Breast Cancer· Reviving Old Dreams· Living in Snoqualmie Valley· Gardening with Nature in Mind· The Human-Animal-Nature Connection· Holding Space for Animal’s Natural Habitats· Beavers, Bears, and Coyotes· Creating Your Dream Life· Dealing with Envy Towards Others· Do You Need to Grow all Your Own Food to be a Homesteader?· Challenges of Being an Online Creator· Facing Your Grief· Starting Wild Homestead Living· Reaching Harmony with Wildlife· Resources and Courses for Homesteading· Cancer Journey and Its Impact on Julie’s Approach to HomesteadingEpisode Resources:· Listen to The Good Dirt “166. The Human-Animal Connection with Alison Zak, author of "Wild Asana"· Read "Wild Asana: Animals, Yoga, and Connecting Our Practice to the Natural World" by Alison Zak· Hawthorn Farm· Read "Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest" by Suzanne Simard· Read "The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener" by Eliot ColemanConnect with Julie Stonefelt:· Website: https://wildhomesteadliving.com· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildhomesteadliving/· Courses: https://courses.wildhomesteadliving.com/connect━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🌻 About Lady Farmer:· Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community· Visit Our Website· Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram· Email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail!Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you!Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Fast Forward Production.🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:· Wendy Gray