You may know a lovely reader of ND Nice named Esther Donohue through her own blog, The Phat Hen, or through her food truck, Sweet Prairie. Esther is a rural North Dakota homesteader, educator, and mother of three living in Nelson County. She shares stories of prairie life, livestock, chicken care, from scratch cooking, food preservation, and self-sufficiency at The Phat Hen, where she celebrates simple living in North Dakota. She has kindly offered a few thoughts on homesteading for you all on this crisp February day; enjoy.

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FROM WHEAT FIELDS TO CHICKEN COOPS: HOMESTEADING IN NORTH DAKOTA
By Esther Donohue, The Phat Hen

I haven’t always thought of myself as a “homesteader.”

For a while, it felt like just another trendy buzzword, something social media created to describe those of us who live off the land, raise our own produce, and put meat in the freezer for winter. A polished label for a life many of us in rural North Dakota have simply always lived.

But if you ask me what homesteading really is, I’ll tell you this:

It’s not an aesthetic kitchen with wood countertops and perfectly scored sourdough loaves. It’s not floral dresses and cute chickens.

Every person has their own definition of homesteading. To me, it’s more of a mindset than anything else.

Yes, it’s a lifestyle.
Yes, it’s intentional.
But it’s not always pretty like social media likes to portray.

Because everyone who lives in rural North Dakota knows that if you’re heading out to do
chores, you’re not wearing a cute floral dress. You’re wearing heavy coveralls. A stocking hat that won’t blow off in the wind. Mud boots that can handle manure, mud, and whatever the prairie decides to throw at you that day.

The wind is strong here.
The cold is biting.
And the mud? It runs deep.

My entryway is never clean for long.

So when people ask, “What’s homesteading like in ND?”

I tell them the truth.
It’s dirty.
It’s messy.
And sometimes it’s very, very cold.
But it is incredibly rewarding.

North Dakota was built on agriculture and ranching. Our laws protect livestock ownership and farming because this way of life isn’t new here; it’s foundational, our state was built on it.

For families who choose to homeschool, our state offers strong support and flexibility. For those who choose to raise cattle, chickens, or pigs, or plant gardens, there is room to do as you choose.

Our growing season is short; you plant quickly, tend, and harvest with gratitude. We joke that we have two seasons: winter… and road construction. Or maybe three winter, a very short summer, and then winter again.

But in between our weather extremes, something beautiful happens.

Life slows down.

There are no traffic jams in my small town. No crowded highways. When traffic backs up, it’s usually because we’re following a combine down the road. No rushing from one obligation to the next. Instead, wheat fields are stretching toward wide skies, and the roads are empty.

There are early mornings feeding livestock before the sun fully rises. There are evenings when the only sound is the wind moving across open land, birds singing, and the sound of nature.

And there is community.

That might be the truest definition of homesteading in North Dakota: The sense of belonging.

When you break down on the side of the road or get stuck in a snowbank, someone stops. Often, because they recognize your vehicle When it’s harvest time, and a farmer needs help getting the crop off, neighboring farmers gather to help, no questions asked.

If someone’s cows are out, we know whose cows they are — and we help get them back in.

And when someone in our community is fighting cancer or facing hardship or loss, our
communities don’t hesitate — we cook, we donate, we gather, we pray, and we carry each other through.

Homesteading here isn’t about isolation. It’s about interdependence and community.

It’s about raising children who understand responsibility because animals rely on them every single day. It’s about freezers stocked not from fear, but from preparation. It’s about gardens grown not for aesthetics, but for nourishment.

It’s about knowing how to take care of what God and the prairie have given you.

From wheat fields to chicken coops, homesteading in North Dakota isn’t a trend. It’s not curated or filtered. It’s rooted in heritage. It’s resilient. And it’s beautiful.

And in this state, under these wide skies, brutal winters, and beautiful sunsets, I wouldn’t have it any other way.