Leininger Homestead

Hello and welcome to our Blog!

My name is Hannah Mathiot and My Fiance is Edward Leininger. My Fiance and I started this blog (and our YouTube channel of the same name) in order to provide more information about what we are learning through our transition to camper life. We will be living in a camper for the next five to eight years as we work towards our end goal. 

Our Dream

We dream of having a sustainable homestead of our own. Ideally, we will be completely self-sustaining and free of debt. We will have goats for milk, chickens for eggs and meat, ox for labor, and children to raise as disciples of Christ. 

For me, a huge reason for working towards this is for our future children. Kids don't really get to experience the outdoors and learn a trade anymore. I want our children to get to run around on our land, work with animals, learn to build a chicken coop, play in the stream, and build a fire in our wood stove. When I was a child, growing up in the Bay Area and then moving to Coastal North Carolina, my parents went out of their way to make sure I got to experience the outdoors and travel. I became a curious and adventuresome spirit. I embrace new experiences and throw myself into opportunities to learn. I want the same opportunities for our future kids. 

But how on earth are we going to get there? After my cross-country road trip last summer, I moved in to my folks house to figure out what my next step was. Ed moved into a spare room to help my parents with some re-modeling projects in the home. We were both unemployed as my seasonal job had ended in September, and Ed had quit his job at Wal-Mart to travel the country with me. 

Where We Are Now

I began working as a sales associate at our county's Habitat for Humanity Re-store, and Ed began working there part time as a truck driver. I am still very grateful that God allowed us to work in the same place! It meant we could share a car and bring our teamwork into our jobs. We got engaged in April and we are getting married in October! 

We just bought our Camper a couple of weeks ago.

Our Plan

Our plan is actually pretty straightforward. Edward wants to go into sustainable forestry and work for the Forest Service or start his own sustainable logging consultation firm. In the spring, he will be starting school. He's going to a community college for forestry management.

I will be working!  Ed will have to work part time as well, and we will be living in our very own 25ft long I-GO camper trailer by Evergreen (who by the way, doesn't exist anymore! How crazy is that?). 

When Ed is finished with his degree, I return to school and finish mine. Then we may re-locate to look for work, attend folk school classes, or travel and work seasonally. During this whole process, we will be saving up for our dream home, and when we are ready, we will start our homestead.

This Blog

In this blog, I will be writing about many aspects of Goal-Oriented Tiny Living. You will find:

Tips on downsizing and living small,
How to be thrifty and save money,
Sustainable and natural living,
What it's like to live, clean, and cook in a camper
What God is doing in our lives. 

In our YouTube Channel, Leininger Homestead, we will be documenting our journey with videos about every-day life, experiences, and how we are chasing our dreams. I will post links to videos here occasionally, but please be sure to subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any! Thank you and God bless!

~Hannah