Welcome to A Simple Life Homestead — we are so glad you found us.

We are Julie and Joe, a husband and wife team living and learning on our little homestead in Blaine, Maine — built on a piece of the farmland where Joe grew up. There is something deeply meaningful about putting roots down in soil that already holds so much history, and that sense of legacy and gratitude flows into everything we do here.

This homestead life found us the way the best things usually do, quietly, unexpectedly, and out of love. What began as a simple desire to return to real food and time-honored skills grew into something far larger than we imagined. A life built on scratch cooking, heritage recipes, and the deep belief that the old ways are worth knowing, worth teaching, and worth passing on.

We raise our own chickens and gather our own eggs. We bake in small batches with quality ingredients. We grow what we can, preserve what we grow, and cook from scratch the way our grandmothers did, measuring from the heart rather than the measuring cup.

But more than anything, we teach. Right here in our homestead kitchen, we offer hands-on Simple Life Workshops where traditional skills come back to life, fermentation, canning, preserving, sourdough, seasonal cooking, and so much more. Our guests don't just learn a skill. They step inside a life. And many of them tell us they leave feeling something they didn't expect — a deep sense of coming home to something they didn't know they were missing.

That is what A Simple Life Homestead is really about. Not just the bread or the jam or the sauerkraut. But the connection to food, to tradition, to family, to a slower pace, and to skills that have nearly been lost.

Returning simple living skills to the heart of the home.

Rooted in simplicity, and the grace of God. 🕊️ Julie + Joe

I'm Julie, the teacher, the recipe developer, and the heart behind A Simple Life Homestead. I didn't set out to build a homestead life worth sharing. It started with love, a stubborn husband, and a from scratch muffin recipe. I haven't looked back since.

Beside me every single day is my husband Joe — the muffin tester, the scone maker, the garden grower, and the steady hands that keep this Hearth-Keeper running. He is the quiet backbone of everything you see here. We do this together, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Welcome to our homestead.